Sounds in the night.

MMMM, that is a new sound. Tackata, tackata, tackata, tackata, it goes in a fast paced non stopping rhythm. I Iay in bed thinking “ Will it stop? No probably not. Can I go to sleep with it going on all night, maybe. What is it? I know, I forgot to zip the sail cover up and it is the grommet hitting the boom.”
That ended up being the least of my worries for sounds in the night. We sailed from Dominica to Iles des Saints in Guadeloupe. It was nice to be back in an English speaking country for a few days even though the last day was cloudy and wet. Now we are back to French.
The seas were boisterous and the winds blowing 25-30 knots as we sailed across. This was only double what the weather report had told us it would be. All you can do is suck it up because we are we are in it now. We let Mile High Dream do her thing and roll over the waves. The twenty one miles went by fast and we ended up looking for an open mooring ball around 1:00. There were none to be had so we anchored in 40 feet of water with 25 knots of wind blowing in our face.
The anchor is holding nicely but I am awake listening to various sounds. Oh I forgot to mention that on our sail over, the cabinet which held all of our dishes decided to unlatch. From up above all we could do was listen to glass breaking as the plates and bowls came flying out of the cabinet.
“Do you want me to look and see how bad it is,” asked Coleen.
“Nope. Probably just better not to know,” was my reply.
The good thing for the evening was that were fewer things in that cupboard to clang around as the boat rocked and rolled. Our bottles of rum and wine were clinking together. My Can of shaving cream was on it's sided rolling back and forth, banging on the door every forward movement. The wind was whistling through the lines and shrouds sending a humming sound throughout the boat. The dingy was banging against the stern of the boat bouncing the swimming ladder up and down. The creaking of the anchor line crescendoed as the wind increased in its attempt to break us from our safe place.
I stuck my head out of the forward hatch to make sure the boat was still where it was suppose to be. It was so I crawled back down to my berth. The boat rolled from side to side so I tried to sleep crossways in the bunk. It is a little too short and all it did was cramp my legs. The sounds just kept on coming. Finally I moved out into the galley. This is the center of the boat where the rolling would be less intense and also further away from the anchor noise. But closer to all of the kitchen noises. My fatigue finally won over and the clinking of the bottles and the clanking of the pans as they shifted from side to side no longer kept me awake.
This morning we got up and raced to a mooring ball as soon as one opened up. We hope tonight will be a little more restful.
No, everyday is not just another fun day in the sun with gentle waves lapping at our boat. Some times it can be down right ugly. It is just Mother Nature wearing a different dress.