It was a wild night with very little sleeping going on aboard our boat! Myeerah came perilously close to us sometime after midnight and clipped our dinghy line causing the line to break and the dinghy to float away. We were glad to be beside the yacht rather than downwind from her, though. About 2 am her anchor slipped and she drifted quickly upon the two sailboats below her. Fortunately, the yacht captain awoke just in time and moved the boat back to where she had been and reset the anchor. We were up most of the night watching the boats around us and listening to the wind and the rain.
At 6 am, Maureen was in the cockpit watching the big boat and saw her slip again. She called to Gale who then awakened Joel and Mary. We stood by helplessly watching events unfold. In a matter of moments, Myeerah was upon the small Canadian sailboat with two guys aboard and then she slipped down on the 40-foot sailboat, Quest, below her. There were four people aboard Quest. Myeerah was able to keep from pulling Quest loose from her anchor and then freed herself from the Canadian sailboat.
After the sailboats were safe, the captains of the four boats involved (Myeerah, Quest, Blue Heron and the Canadian sailboat) communicated by marine radio making sure no one was injured and reporting any known damages. At 8 am, the park service ranger was contacted by the captain of Myeerah to let him know what had happened. The ranger requested that the four captains come in to the office as soon as it was safe to do so. At that time the winds were still extremely strong, around 30 to 35 knots. Myeerah was moved into the channel and safely anchored. Since we no longer had a dinghy to get to shore, the captain of Quest came by and picked Gale up as well as the captain on the Canadian vessel and they all went ashore to file an official accident and damage report. Myeerah’s captain met them at the dock.
After the report was filed and everyone was back aboard their respective boats, Myeerah’s captain called on the radio to let us know that he had a check from the owner of the boat to reimburse us for the loss of the dinghy, motor and safety equipment. He dropped off the check and Gale signed a liability release. We weren’t certain what kind of deal was worked out for damages to the other two boats, but we were happy with our own outcome.
Around noon, we saw Myeerah leave the safety of its anchorage and head out into some very tough sea conditions with 25 knot winds and 7 to 9 foot seas. There was no question that the boat was seaworthy; however, we doubted that the people on board would enjoy the cruise back to Key West very much. Quest also chose to pull anchor and made her way toward Key West. We stayed put, made sure our anchors were the way we wanted them and settled in for the rest of the day. The four of us worked on a group project related to the head that wasn’t the most pleasant job but one that needed to be done.
The rain quit during the afternoon and the winds decreased to 20 knots. Gale and Maureen were able to nap for about an hour in the late afternoon while Joel and Mary fished off the back of the boat. They caught several fish and even attracted the big grouper who decided to hang out beneath the boat and grab every fish he could as soon as it was on the hook!
Before evening, we weren’t totally surprised to see Myeerah coming back into the channel. It must have been a miserable trip for them to turn around. We were hoping that Quest would come back, too, but we didn’t see her again.
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1 comment:
Glad all is safe.
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