Fri., June 7, 2013
Sorry, readers, but we have returned to Home Port , Louisiana
The anchor was not retrieved from the bottom of the Mississippi Sound off Ship Is. We knew the probability was low because
neither Capt. Mike nor Capt. George had the necessary equipment and because of
wind, currents, low visibility underwater, etc.
It was worth a try, nevertheless.
The day after our “misadventure” George, Mike and Nick made the two-hour
run from Gulfport Small Craft Harbor & Marina to Ship Is. on George’s cat,
Añejo, to sweep the area surrounding our anchorage spot, roughly within a
one-acre diameter. They tried: (1) using mask and snorkel but visibility was
no more than 3 ft.; (2) they tried using the dinghy and dinghy anchor to snare
the chain or rode to no avail; and (3) they tried using a heavy fishing pole
with hooks and weights but only snagged weeds.
No luck! One day somebody will
stumble upon our 35 lb. Delta!
Should our cat, Aventura, proceed on its course to Western Florida with a secondary anchor, a 28 lb.
Fortress with only 30 ft. of chain and 200 ft. of rode? Even under good weather conditions, using a
light anchor with a 14,000+ lb. fully loaded cat would represent an anchoring
challenge. Now, add in the probability
of frequent thunderstorms and other low pressure phenomena, and that sounds
like too high of a risk. So, getting a
new anchor became paramount. In fact,
getting a better anchor rose up on Capt. Mike’s priority list.
Finally, given the prediction of a very active storm – read
hurricane – season, we needed to rethink what trip(s) we could take nearby that
would put us in close proximity to home port or other shelter. Yes, there are
always the communities around Pontchartrain
Lake
Stay tuned! And, oh,
I can truly say that the phrase “calm before the storm” has new, rich meaning
for us!
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