And the winds came.
15 September 2013 | Derawan!
Bill
Last evening, a storm full of wind but no rain descended on the anchorage shortly after sundown. As is our normal, we'd already removed our outboard motor and hoisted Puff alongside the boat out of the water. She was safe should something like what was coming should come along and we like the feeling of security that nothing can happen to our cherished dinghy. Without it, life would be a whole lot harder.
As the storm descended, we went out on deck and simply pulled her over the lifelines and dropped her on deck, now really safe and out of harms way. Should something happen in the anchorage or to our mooring buoy or line, we were safe to go. Many of the other boats here in the anchorage just leave their dinghies on lines behind their boats. Ever since Mexico, we had done what we just did. We even do it in calm weather. We have about a 3/4 moon but with the cloud cover, it wasn't the easiest thing to see around the anchorage but with every one running their anchor lights it was easy to keep tabs on all the boats in the mooring field. These moorings are new. Really new. Like two weeks old new and have never been tested in a big blow. Twenty to thirty knots is just an average wind for a storm so not that big a deal. The bad thing is that who ever placed these moorings, put them much to close together. With the current that passes through here during the tidal shift, we can get currents of over 4 knots easy. Toss in an opposing wind and it can get a bit crazy. Then, add in darkness and the fun begins. As we sat in the cockpit watching a show on the computer and watching the boats around us, we heard a call over the VHF radio from Carissma( a big catamaran) to Chakira(another big catamaran) about their situation. Chakira had come into the anchorage apparently just as the storm was hitting and dropped their anchor about where we had put ours the night before. Carissma was beside us then also. They were now concerned that Chakira, on anchor, would swing and come to close to them and perhaps hit them. Now, we know Lee and Bob on Chakira, having met them way back in French Polynesia and having spent two months with them at Oceanview Marina in Davao. It's a big boat with an even bigger anchor. Where they had dropped it was a field of coral bommies that their anchor would easily catch on and hold like a rock. They were not going anywhere. I called Lee and let him know of our time there and all seemed well. As of this morning, Chakira and Carissma were not really that close to each other. Not sure what happened but all seemed just fine as the sun came up.
This storm came in spurts. It blew to 20+ knots about 2000 and then slowed down for a quiet night, or at least most of it. About 0400l, it came back and we went right back to the 20-25 knot winds where it still is now (0700). The current is still flowing through the anchorage and the wind is still blowing. It's going to be an interesting day.