Friday, December 9, 2011

ANCHORS AWEIGH!

Miami Beach, FL 25º47.239N | 80º08.847W -- ish

A storm front moving into Miami.

Ugh. Nothing like pulling up the anchor at 1:30 a.m. and moving. Yeah, it's inevitable, I guess. You drag anchor. Your neighbor drags. It had never happened to us before.

We anchored in the midst of other boats but with plenty of room. However, the small sailboat in front of us had me a little worried. All of us were facing southeast, with the wind, when we went to bed knowing there was a northern blow coming in the night.

It's called Anchor Insomnia, listening, jumping at unexpected sounds. I had it.

We had each checked several times, but when I heard a big gust just after 1 a.m., I went up to the cockpit to have a look.

"Chip! You better get up!"

That little sailboat, which should have now been behind us was right beside us. Apparently he only had put out only half the chain that we did, putting us alongside once we both spun around. We're not sure, but perhaps we dragged a little bit too when we swung around.

Chip started the engine and pulled out bumpers while I got the anchor ready to pull in.

It was nice of South Beach to light up the night sky for us. It was hardly like anchoring at night. I put on my head lamp but didn't even need it!

We moved nearer to shore in the wee hours and have now moved again farther away from everyone, looking forward to a good night's sleep.

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