Anchor fun at Monjes Del Sur

Monday 13^th December.

With lots of help from our wonderful neighbors we happily pulled away from the slip and around to the fuel dock.  Edi brought the dinghy around ready to bring it up on the davits while the diesel tank was filling.

I was so excited, it actually looked as though we were leaving and could even arrive in Cartagena on Wednesday, in time for Niki, Scoop and Danni’s arrival.  Why was I so excited, I really should have known better. 

All our neighbors stood on the dock ready with any assistance we may need, Andy filled the tank for us while Bob did a systems check, and Edi brought the dinghy up, or should I say, tried to bring the dinghy up!  The port davit didn’t work.  Edi started to dismantle the davit to check the wiring, then XJ arrived to tell us there was a fishing boat coming in for fuel and we had to move off the dock. 

We motored around to the bay and dropped anchor, where we spent the rest of the day and evening working on the recently fitted brand new alternator, which had also decided to stop working.

Tuesday 14^th December

We weighed anchor at 7am and headed out with flat seas and absolutely no wind.

The passage was uncomfortable because Daisy was rolling from side to side traveling under motor with no sail.

For a short time we raised the sails in an attempt to use the 5 knots of wind that had picked up, but it was hopeless, without the motor we were only traveling at 2 knots, it would take us until Christmas to reach Cartagena at this rate, so the sails came in again and we continued under motor.

We reached the rocks called Monjes Del Sur at 4:30, and motored slowly around to try and get an idea of how we should tie up.  A fishing boat was pulling up so we hung back and watched them; it looked fairly easy (I thought).

Monjes Del Sur are two rocks in the middle of the ocean about 20 miles off the Venezuelan coast, there is a coast guard station and a lighthouse.  A man-made stonewall connects the rocks creating a small bay, and a line has been attached on either side for boats to pick up and tie up to. The idea being you drop anchor and motor back to pick up the line which you tie to your stern, hahaha yeah right!

I dropped the anchor a little too early and as Bob reversed I ran out of chain, so he said, “just attach the emergency line, that will give us another 300 feet”.  Well I’m not the tidiest of people and my emergency anchor line was in a big mess at the bottom of the anchor locker, I got all flustered trying to get it out and untie it, eventually we were able to attach the shackle, and in my haste I pushed the button to let out more line and almost went overboard with it.  I’m sure the fishermen who were all stood watching found the spectacle very amusing.  Being such a dumb blonde at times provides endless entertainment for anyone who happens to be watching my clumsy efforts at crewmanship!

Thank God for Edward who came running to help as soon as he heard my screams.

After a few moments of heated discussion we decided to bring up the anchor and try again, with me waiting this time before dropping it.  Second time around it worked like a charm, although the coast guard watching us from the shore indicated that we should attach a second line which involved Edi having to get in and swim to reach the line.  He wasn’t excited about it as the water was black because it was so deep, and the fishing boat next to us were cleaning their fish catch and casually throwing the fish remains in, a great way of attracting sharks!  Despite the freezing water, and the possibility of big bitey things circling underneath Edi swam to the line attached it and was back in a heartbeat.

By 6pm we were settled and relaxing  with a beer, hoping for a good nights sleep before we head out in the morning.