Rolling around
The dying winds and the directional shift made for a notably rough night and day aboard. All the boat were lying broadside to the relatively small swells but would get rolling around uncomfortably every couple of minutes.
I didn’t sleep well, despite tucking myself into the corner of my makeshift sea-berth. Had I slept on the bed I would have fallen out.
The day wasn’t much better, and I was feeling pretty miserable and couldn’t decide what to do. I need to pick up some items at the airport delivery address, then I can clear out and leave; but the strong showers passing through held me back. I also needed to pick up my laundry and get it back aboard (hopefully still dry). Getting onto the dinghy was difficult with the boat rolling around but I got the 2 fuel canisters, my garbage and my sandals loaded and went inside the lagoon.
The two canisters were filled at the Island Waterworld fuel dock, then the laundry and a case of beer loaded at the next stop, Lagoonie’s. While returning to Zanshin I saw that a spot had opened up inside the lagoon! Oh Joy!
Midafternoon
I drained the fuel into the main tank and loaded the beer into the fridge. It was now 16:00 and I knew that I was going inside with the 17:00 bridge. After preparing the boat for departure I got into the dinghy again with my depth sounder and went inside to make sure that the spot was still available and deep enough. It was still free, and the depth was more than sufficient.
Entering the lagoon
A Helia 44 catamaran was ahead of me in the queue for the 17:00 inbound bridge and I hoped that they would go elsewhere to anchor. Once inside, I followed close on the heels of the catamaran as it headed directly for “my” location. I noticed with dismay that another boat had used the half-hour interim to anchor in the spot I’d chosen; but it seemed that there was still enough space for me to anchor and only be partially in the channel.
Then I saw the catamaran start to turn to approach the anchoring spot from downwind. I waved and pointed at my VHF and managed to contact them; begging them to anchor elsewhere since this was the only spot deep enough for my boat’s draft. They kindly acceded and I dropped my hook right behind the boat that had taken my spot, wondering how they got there, since there was no incoming bridge that could have let them in.
I anchored and am partially in the channel but have little choice. As soon as the hook had set, I got in the dinghy and zipped across to the catamaran to thank them and say that it was “my shout” at the bar afterwards to thank them. Then, on my way back, I stopped at the boat that had anchored in my chosen spot to say “Hi”. It turns out that they are Swiss, and they’d filled up on fuel and changed their anchoring spot. They also said that they might be leaving tomorrow, so I’ll re-anchor when they depart.
Sleep
After happy hour at the SDB I returned to the boat and made just a sandwich for dinner, then called it an early night and immediately fell into deep sleep.