07032011.0800
What a night! But before I get to what happened I just want to touch on what transpired during the day. If you remember yesterday I told you about our fuel gauge problem, well it was still bugging me and I decided to nosey around by checking the tank connections and the circuit board connections. No luck still not reading properly. Once again I stored it in the back of my mind for later. Mary and I did go into town today and went straight for the Tikki Bar for some fresh oysters and a 32oz rum punch, which we shared. Their conch salad would not be ready until 4pm so we need some supplies and decided to get that out of the way first. On the way Mary wanted to stop in a jewelry store and look around. Now, remember this is our anniversary cruise and I had already bought her her anniversary gift back in April at the spring boat show, it was a beautiful ring that we both liked. Mary doesn't like me buying her things so when I get a chance I jump at it. Last year I surprised her with an IPAD and she told me to return it. I kept it for myself. Getting back to the store, she found another ring she liked and it was on sale for 50% off so now she has her birthday gift. Only Christmas to go, I'm doing good! We went to the Acme picked up a few things we needed and went back and got our conch salad, which was outstanding. Well worth the wait! We finished up in town and got back to the boat around 6pm. I listen to the weather report and they were calling for severe thunderstorms for the night again. Checked the anchor, let out about another 10ft of chain, our neighbor had departed, and kicked back buy playing cards with Mary. We were in bed by 9pm, boaters midnight. Mary and I were in a deep sleep in the forward bunk when this very bright light and I mean bright, hit my face through our open hatch in the room. Did you ever see Close Encounters of the Third Kind? I jumped up pulled the screen back stuck my head out the hatch and looked up to a helicopter hovering above our boat. Now, I work for the government but they would never send a helicopter out to get me. I woke Mary up and she told me to stay inside but I'm just too nosey, have to find out what the hell is going on. By the time I got topside, the police helicopter had spotted almost every boat until they found the one they wanted, which was not ours. It happened to be the boat to our starboard side. The next thing I know a police boat approaches and pulls beside our neighbor, a few words were exchanged and off they went. Boy I would love to have been a fly on the wall at that time. By the time I woke up the next morning my neighbors had gone. Never did get to find out what the hell was going on. One other note before I go, after the police helicopter incident I went back to bed. Around 4am it started to rain and Mary and I both jumped up at the same time because we had our hatches opened. Mary went for the closest hatch which she could reach, while I got the one in the salon which she could not reach. Mary went back to sleep but I had to wake her up an hour later because we were going to get hit by the storm and just in case we had to do some dodging I would need her help. The squall came through with 40 knot winds and then leveled out to 20. We watch the light show from the helm and I must say this was the first time I ever saw red lightning. The only answer I could come up with is that it was only 20 minutes to sunrise and I thought that might cause the red in the lightning. I'll have to check on that later also. All in all it was one hell of a night!
Be safe and may your anchor always hold!
Dave