EXCITEMENT ++++ !!!

The past 24 hours has seen a lot of excitement in the Spanish Waters anchorage. It started yesterday morning about 0845 when a call was heard on the VHF asking how to contact the fire department because there is a fire at Sarifundy's. The information was given to call 911 which was done. Now you may be wondering what is Sarifundy's. It is a floating bar/restaurant that serves as a social gathering place for cruisers. That's where the shopping bus pick-up is and it is the mailing address for cruisers in this anchorage. About 0900 we headed in the direction of Sarifundy's to pay for our internet service and sure enough it was on fire. The fire truck had just arrived. From what we could see the back of the building was totally engulfed in flames. That's where the washrooms, laundry and inside kitchen are. What amazed me was the number of cruisers in dinghies that were tied up to the dock. You have to realize that the cooking fuel on most of these islands is propane and Sarifundy's has two big propane tanks at the back. Fortunately they did not blow or I'm sure if they had many of those cruisers would have regretted being where they were. The results of the fire were that Sarifundy's is probably going to be closed for awhile. The restaurant part, which is on a floating dock, and the bar were not damaged by flames, but had smoke and water damage.


After we left the internet boat we headed over to one of the marinas to drop off our laundry, but no one was there so we decided to take the bus in towards Willemstadt to another laundry that had been mentioned on the cruisers' net. We were waiting for the 'big, green bus' when it started to rain and soon it was downpouring. Soon the tree we were standing under was not much protection. Fortunately for us there was a couple just finishing a bike ride and getting into their car. They asked us where we were going and then gave us a ride. They worked for a Canadian and actually knew where Alberta is. The rain had stopped by the time we got to the laundry so we decided to walk to the store and then try walking back to the fisherman's wharf just to see how long it would take. After we had been walking for 30 minutes a fellow stopped and offered us a ride. We accepted and in about 2 minutes we were at the wharf so it wouldn't have taken us much longer to walk the rest of the way.

Now to the rest of the excitement. That morning when we woke up the wind and current had shifted and we were now facing into the bay and were quite a bit further north than we had been (you can check our position at the position report link). We stayed that way all day. About midnight we awoke to wind and rain. The wind had picked up to about 20 knots. We were hearing airhorns, use to alert boats to danger, from around the anchorage. Griff went on deck to keep an eye on things and noticed a little boat had broken loose from its anchorage and had run into Gabrielle which is the boat in front of us. The little boat seemed to have stopped so we figured its anchor had probably hooked on Gabriell's chain. The rain and wind settled down about forty minutes later only to return about 0230 with a vengence.

When daylight arrived, no sunshine, the storm was still in full force. We checked the weather from the National Hurricane Centre to discover that the Tropical Depression that was stationary about 250 miles south of Haiti was now moving southeast at 2 - 3 knots and warnings were being given that it was likely going to turn into a Tropical Storm. At that point it will get a name. That movement has put it about 150 miles north of us and we are feeling the effects of the edge of the system. Hopefully, for us, it will move as forcast and turn to head northeast again. We will probably have this weather until Thursday.


Back to the little blue boat that had hit Gabrielle. We were right about it being caught on Gabrielle's anchor chain. They hailed us on the VHF radio at 0800 to tell us that it had now broken free of their chain and had drifted some until its anchor took hold, but it is only a 10 pound anchor. Griff sat on deck to keep and eye on it and soon someone came in a dinghy and started the boat and moved it back into the bay. Not much activity in the anchorage this morning other than on the radio.

Update - As of 1100 the tropical depression has been upgraded to Tropical Storm Omar which is still moving southeast. The difference in categories is the speed of the wind. In a tropical storm the sustained winds are 45mph. They are forecasting gusts up to 50 today and possibly 65 tonight. It's amazing how much stronger even 20mph winds feel at anchor rather than when you are sailing. And it definitely feels stronger than a similar force wind at home on the acreage. There is a lot of wind chop on the water today. That is the effect of wind over waves. It isn't as bad in the part of the anchorage we are in because there isn't an open expanse of water in front of us. We will add pictures later when WiFi is working better.