A Dramatic Arrival

We arrived on Sunday night well after 22:00. Nighttime anchoring of course such FUN - NOT. This is officially the 7th time we are doing a nighttime arrival. I have counted grrrrrr........I am done, done, done, not doing this nighttime stuff anymore.

Before arrival we were both fully aware that this place has a reputation for being a tricky anchorage with sketchy holding and a seabed covered in grass that seems to get offended by anchors. Add some swell and wind to the mix and that is the recipe for dragging.

Anchoring felt brutal, we dropped and lifted at least 7 times, and every time we had to lift due to not holding,  a new problem presented itself. First anchor is full of grass, so much so that there would be no possibility to grip, we clean it and try again, then the retrieving line twists itself into knots around the chain, of course on the next round the bridal was feeling lonely and decided to catch a cuddle all around Rocna (anchor name). This is how the night continued. Not to mention the fact that our flashlight died, and we had to resort to  a cell phone light. I can tell you i was grateful for Alex, giving me that extra set of man hands. Eric all the while getting very frustrated up at the helm by now and not understanding what is happening upfront, as all he is doing is the usual port, starboard, port starboard, backwards, forwards and so it goes 😤 

Finally, we got a grip. After a long-haul anchoring saga, we finally felt secure enough to do our cheesy arrival shot and photo. I kid you not...........directly after that, there goes the anchor alarm again, so now we start all over grrrrrr! GOT IT she is finally holding solid, we hope.

Thankfully we all got a good nights rest all the way to sunrise before the drag show started all over again 🤪

Below are two photos of how the anchor looks on our system, when the red line is all over the place we are dragging, when the red is tightly bunched together we are secure.

Customs and Immigration time has arrived, early rise Monday morning, to deal with the formalities. Since all 5 of us need to be at the officials, we pray that Rocna is holding us steady in our absence.

From what we have heard from other sailors and on NoForeignLand, we are fully clued up on the fact that this clearing in process is going to take time, as in 2 days, I guess it might be some kind of job creation. 🤔 The pile of paperwork just for one boat is just crazy, it feels like they have the entire forest stashed away in their archives.

We had to see all the usual authorities who all happen to be on different sides of town, for the first time we had some extras, the doctor and agriculture. It happened over 2 days as we expected, after day one, we headed back to Intle Breeze who thankfully had not dragged in our absence. Another first for us customs boarded our boat for a detailed inspection, and yes of course we have loads of alcohol onboard our boat, since we battle to find what we like on small islands, we tend to stock up when we find the good stuff.😂

Fortunately, he was really nice and just put a blanket price on items he could see and found only one hiding place, he might have decided to do this as the anchor started to drag while he was on board, not actually a great situation because Eric took him back to the boat while I was dealing with agriculture. Thankfully one of our hitchhikers Alex, was on the boat with Eric to help him re-anchor 🙈 another blessing is that Alex was with me anchoring the night before which was ann insanely challenging anchoring, so he had a crash course on how to anchor a catamaran with a bridal and a remote control 😂

In the meanwhile the girls and I had finished at agriculture and sat blissfully happy at the pub overlooking the anchorage, while watching Intle Breeze from a distance, with a margarita in hand. This glory was to end soon though, as by the time Eric came to collect us with the dinghy we started to drag again.

On the final day of clearing in, the wind is howling it is pouring with rain, and we are all well soaked from the dinghy ride, we are back on board Intle so our hitchhikers could pack their back packs and disembark.........SURPRISE..........We are dragging very badly, the anchor alarm is screaming! Eric bolts to the helm, the rest of us to the foredeck and I start to bring the chain up, the bridal comes off relatively easily, and I secure this. "Thank you for small mercies" I continue pulling the chain up and suddenly it gets so tight I could not move it, but weird, because it is hanging directly below me, so it should be easy, but noooooo, apparently life is not easy.  Eric moves back and forth with the motors and still no release, I continue to pull (thankfully with a remote control) and she is coming up but oh so slow, with the winch groaning very loudly as though in pain, of course I know this is not right. As I get her up to water line it is with dismay and fear that I see a bonus anchor tightly hooked to ours. First things first I look all around me a little panicked to see if we are dragging another boat along with us. The good news is that this was thankfully not the case. Alex and I wiggled and pushed and shoved from above to try and release this unwanted gift, but no luck.

Once again i was incredibly grateful to have him on board in that moment, as without hesitation he jumped into the cold stormy water and managed to release the unwanted hitchhiker from Rocna's grip. Stressful moment for me as a Mom, as I really did not want to have to make a call to this kids Mother and tell her that my anchor had harmed him. 😩 It ended well, and he swam to the stern, and we got him back on board and managed once again to re-anchor.

Finally we were able to take them to land for a last lunch and waved then farewell, on the rest of their challenging journey, may the force of kindness and safety always be with you.

Everything on the boat that we love but gives us a hard time gets a name, kinda like a child 😂

Side note: After this last anchor we have held solid for 10 days now so I guess we found the sweet spot.......Although still a little nervous to go to far from the boat especially when the weather gets funky.