We had a fun few days in Falmouth, meeting up with friends we haven’t seen all season, and getting a few boat chores done.

Roberta’s left knee gave way so she coddled it for a few days – ice and advil! – while Michael went hiking up to Fort Shirley with friends. (Still not feeling right – a swim with fins agitated it again – darn it!)

We decided to go back up to Jolly Harbor and possibly to Barbuda or around the north side of Antigua, so we got up early to pull up the anchor. THUNK! Chain not coming up! So… we opened up the laz, took out the things necessary to get the swim ladder and snorkel gear, and Michael went to examine. We were wrapped around a rock. At a 22 ft depth, he could not stay down long enough to do much. After directing Roberta to drive the boat in a couple of circles this way and that, the anchor chain still wasn’t coming loose. SO… down goes the dinghy and on goes the motor, and we travel in to engage the services of divers.

They discovered that the chain had caught a rock that was on a ledge and knocked the rock off the ledge and onto another part of chain! We had chain wrapped around a big rock that was sitting on top of more chain. (Visions of losing brand new anchor chain!!!). Luckily, the chain and rock were on sand, so the chain could be pulled from under the rock… but not with the anchor attached. SO… out came the tool bags to find the allen wrenches to disconnect the anchor from the chain. The divers put a float on the anchor to mark its spot and pulled the chain out from under the rock. We pulled the chain most of the way into the boat, leaving a bit out to reattach the anchor. Again luckily, in busy Falmouth Harbor, there was an available mooring ball we could pick up while the anchor was off the chain so Roberta didn’t have to “hover” without ground tackle! Our heroes Kevon and Germaine from Maurice Underwater Services, recovered the anchor, reattached it to the chain, and waved goodbye. From discovery to freedom, it took about 3 hours.

After all that stress, and the boat once again a minor mess, we decided to spend the night in Falmouth and swam that afternoon with friends from Viking Angel. Next day, we had a nice motorboat ride up to Jolly where we found the friends we sailed with upon entering the East Caribbean – Dave and Alex on Banyan! They were headed to Five Islands Harbor, around the bay from Jolly, so we led the way and had a great reunion over dinner on Celilo. And we are now anchored in a nice big patch of sand off a quiet beach with the best (and free!) wifi we have seen in ages.