Why it is never boring
After spending too much time since mid-March fretting that we were not going to get back on the water as planned (paint job a month behind, planned to be back on water early April - as always - didn't get onto water until 8th May - which if you put it like that, isn't bad actually so maybe I should shut up before I even begin), I'm up at 6am, nursing a coffee and biscuits (naughty) as a treat for being shocked into action at first light by dragging anchor at incredible speed in the (forecast) gale which arrived last night.
There are no truly decent places to hide out in a southerly blow in the Boka Kotorska. The best position is in 5m, mud, at the SE end of Tivat Bay. But you are very alone down there - and it is low lying marshland - and when the lightning is pinging around, we are definitely the tallest metal object around. So we decided to drop anchor in a different position (near Solila marina) last night. Had trouble getting the anchor to dig, strangely, and it was a lot deeper than we thought it would be - 12m - and the wind turned to NW at that moment and we wanted to anchor for SE. So that was all a big hoo har. Awoken around 2am when winds switched to SE - lots of wind, surprising amount of seastate considering no fetch at all - and it popped the anchor and we dragged it along for a bit, then it eventually reset with more chain down. Used depth meter as anchor alarm/a semi-awake Tim on anchor watch - a front passed around 5am and we found ourselves careering across the bay almost the whole way to Sveti Marko island before we got the anchor up against howling winds and lashing rain.
A nice wake up shot of adrenalin. Re-anchored in the SE spot - much more sensible - much calmer, much better holding, have sent Tim back to bed to warm up while I keep an eye on things until this wind dies down. It was an experiment - it didn't work. And it hasn't thundered anyway.
And biscuits for breakfast; naughty but nice and there is something very comforting about getting soaked and a bit scared, having some action then being safe and dry with a hot drink.
This is the second time we've moved at 5am since being back in Monte (9 days!). Typical May crazy weather.
There are no truly decent places to hide out in a southerly blow in the Boka Kotorska. The best position is in 5m, mud, at the SE end of Tivat Bay. But you are very alone down there - and it is low lying marshland - and when the lightning is pinging around, we are definitely the tallest metal object around. So we decided to drop anchor in a different position (near Solila marina) last night. Had trouble getting the anchor to dig, strangely, and it was a lot deeper than we thought it would be - 12m - and the wind turned to NW at that moment and we wanted to anchor for SE. So that was all a big hoo har. Awoken around 2am when winds switched to SE - lots of wind, surprising amount of seastate considering no fetch at all - and it popped the anchor and we dragged it along for a bit, then it eventually reset with more chain down. Used depth meter as anchor alarm/a semi-awake Tim on anchor watch - a front passed around 5am and we found ourselves careering across the bay almost the whole way to Sveti Marko island before we got the anchor up against howling winds and lashing rain.
A nice wake up shot of adrenalin. Re-anchored in the SE spot - much more sensible - much calmer, much better holding, have sent Tim back to bed to warm up while I keep an eye on things until this wind dies down. It was an experiment - it didn't work. And it hasn't thundered anyway.
And biscuits for breakfast; naughty but nice and there is something very comforting about getting soaked and a bit scared, having some action then being safe and dry with a hot drink.
This is the second time we've moved at 5am since being back in Monte (9 days!). Typical May crazy weather.
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