Lesson in humility yesterday

    What a day….


    DuQuesnay, Mo and I went out despite multiple thunder storms in the area. We got hit by three. But it wasn't very windy so…
    We arrived about two miles inside the reef on the back wall where the bottom goes from about 10-15 feet deep down to 40-50 on the backside of the barrier reef, or inside wall. Duquesnay wanted to try and see if there were fish because he figured on one else dived there.
    So we anchored in about 10 feet of water. As Mo was dropping the anchor in about 11 feet of water Duqusnay says, "don't let out too much line"…..and Mo complied, which we later regretted in a big way.
    And since we were only in shallow water……waaaaaayyy inside the reef….what could go wrong anyway??


    About 10 minutes after diving and looking around…with no fish, I see a big black cloud wall coming in from the north NE. The wind picked up and I just happened to look at the boat, and thought, have I swam that fast for it to be that far away? Then I noticed the boat was broadside to the wind. Thank God Mo had the boat drift over him and he thought he was in a strong current so he climbed aboard.
    I started swimming for the boat and after 20 seconds or so, looked up and wasn't any closer. I started yelling to Mo to let out all the anchor line (because he left ti short and was now in deeper water and it was off the bottom), but he couldn't understand me because the wind was now blowing 20 kts and he was about 50-60 yards away.
    After yelling many times Mo finally realised something was wrong and he let out line but it didn't hit bottom because he was drifting too fast. Finally he heard me tell him to start a motor, which I taught him to do in the last year.
    As he came back into the wind, the anchor dropped down and bit and I reached the boat….exhausted.


    It was my fault. I'm the captain and I should have let out more anchor line….then set it. NEVER trust the ocean, even when you're in shallow water and think you're safe. But if Mo hadn't climbed onboard we would have had to sleep out at Long Caye last night, about a mile from where we were, and hoped no one stole my drifting boat.


    DuQuesnay was laughing about it and asked it that was the first time I had to swim for my boat. I said, "yes….". He said it happened to him many times. :@:@. But the old fart can swim. He was on Jamaica's swim team years ago.
    I dropped my weight belt. Lucky I had another on the boat. It was overweighted so I could lay on the bottom in the shallow water.


    What a day. Then we got stuck in the mud because our canal needs dredging. Then there was a termite hatch and we had them in our face and everywhere while washing gear.


    But I did get a nice yellow fin grouper, a mutton and a dog snapper. no pictures:D What a day….kind of embarrassing but I wanted to share it. I thought I was getting to be pretty experienced. I feel like a dumb rookie :(

    Edited 3 times, last by hank ().

    You know sir, if you can tell the story it ain't that bad. And if you learn a lesson then and get dinner, well then that is pretty alright


    Glad you are safe and sound brother. Sounds like a little scary

    i like to spear fish

    Hank - thanks fr sharing, so easy to get complacent and mother nature can, and does, teaches us a valuable lesson from time to time. I suspect we have all done something similar.


    So glad you taught Mo the basics. Might be good to discuss basics to everyone new on your bat "just in case."


    The bugs and no see ums would have made your night miserable had you had to spend the night waiting fr someone to get you while your wife would have suffered more than you.


    Glad you are safe. Still pissed at your envious life :laughing:

    Quote from Treebilly3

    That sucks! I just upgraded the anchor chain on my 25' boat because of that. now running 30' of 3/8 :D it sucks to pull but I don't worry about it slipping anymore.


    You're right Treebilly, I DO have 8 feet of chain on my anchor. It's an aluminium danforth type. I've used the steel ones but they get bent to shit down here. I've had this anchor for 8 years and it always set pretty well with chain.


    And yes, training the guys. Jake is the best. But he was busy yesterday tuning a weedeater for someone and couldn't come. And I hadn't been out for almost 8 weeks. Shit weather. Out of sync and practice. They say the pilots that crash airplanes are the ones that fly a few times a month. Same concept I guess….


    Thanks everyone. Great bunch of people here. :thumbsup2:

    Bruddah what a scare! Man the stories I could tell about it going wrong, move on and be grateful your a wise enough captain to have taught your young crew enough to save your boat! Great share, the more we talk about what can go wrong and has gone wrong the better off we will all be.

    A bad day at sea is better than a good day in the boatyard
    George Steele

    Yep lots of extra anchor line, and setting it important. It's nice to have the reminder and you being humble about experience.


    I like swimming down to the anchor and have a look at it if it's not to deep.


    Got a nice spot that is too deep and too much current to free dive. Got a saddle on a pinnacle that sits about 30 foot. We get the anchor in the saddle and then go down the line to verify the setting and do our dive, then back up the anchor to the boat.


    Anyway, had a 16 year old boat driver so post dive we can just surface and flag for taxi ride. We screwed up and assumed driver knew how to free the anchor. Line was at say a 60 degree angle and decided to just pull it up. he couldn't do it and was in panic as we were floating out to see.


    Took us 5 seconds to realize we need to do Plan B. I got all the gear ( guns, fish weight belts, BC/tanks in a tangled mess and continued to float HI.


    My Buddy a lumberjack swam into the current and to the boat. Showed him how to use the engine to free the anchor. The Driver should have just cut the line and came for us. anchors are cheap.


    Anyway we failed to verify his skills and assumed. Got a clip on anchor line now and a gallon float jug for solution in future. Never needed new setup yet, but could use anchor and float to mark a spot if we needed to.


    I sure didn't like the 15 min wait with all that dead fish on me as I waited for pickup.


    Was a humbling experience, but we did react properly with Plan B. Plan C would be for me to dump all the gear and swim at an angle to current for shore.

    Edited once, last by Linghunt: spelling ().

    Well it worked out and a lesson was learned so that is something to be thankful for. Be careful! On the flip side isn't it nice you got back into the water?


    SR1

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member to leave a comment.

Register a new account
Sign in now