May 12,  2013, Sunday  Leaving Yelapa for Manzanillo, Mexico

Today is the last day of the Feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe.  We were told that the fireworks would start at 5am and that the blessing of the fleet would be soon after.  Well the booms of the firecrackers did indeed start at 5 when it was still dark but nothing much else happened.  More fireworks at 6:30 and more at 7.  Finally at about 8 we could see everyone gathering at the pier and getting into the boats.  Eventually they set off in procession around the bay with about 10 boats, the priest in the first boat and everyone singing. 

Meanwhile, we are up, fed and ready to cast off.  We untied the mooring and were headed slowly out of the bay when suddenly there was a horrible racket from the stern and the tiller jerked out of my hands.  I had carefully avoided our mooring line but managed to tangle in another one that I had not seen.  Quickly shut off the engine.  Alan immediately dropped the anchor so we would not drift while we figured out what to do.  The bay is not very big, but deep, about 150 feet and there are lots of other boats.  Unfortunately since we had been moored not anchored, he did not have the windlass turned on to let the chain out slowly.  Once he let it go, it raced out, to the end of the chain and half of the extra rope he had added.  That is 275 feet of chain and 100+ feet of rope!

Now that we were sure that we would not drift onto another boat or the shore, Alan went overboard to check out the situation while I got on the radio to Rafael, who owned the mooring. Turned out the damage was not really very bad.  The mooring line was indeed wrapped around the propeller but there was no other damage.  Rafael showed up in his Ponga, concerned about his mooring.  He was quick to let us know that if we have cut the line or damaged the mooring it will cost us $400.  Luckily Alan was able to free the line after diving down several times.  Time to hoist the anchor and leave, again.
 
This is actually a good test of the new anchor line that Alan added.  The windlass will not pull the rope.  It just slips.  So it takes both of us to pull it up and feed it back down into the chain locker.  Eventually we get the job done.  The rope is up and we have come to the chain.  Now we can wrap it around the windlass and it should pull up easily and we will be on our way again.  Except that it doesn’t.  It slips and pulls and chews up the pulley.  We get about 50 feet up but it is obviously stuck on something.  We have 20 feet of chain our in 150 feet of water and it won’t budge.  Time to call Rafael again to see if he can find a diver to go down and see what the problem is. 


Of course everyone is all involved with the Blessing of the Fleet and the Mass and other festivities.  Eventually Rafael shows up again and after some discussion goes off to find a diver.  Turns out they are across the bay working on the other moorings.  Here they are.  3 guys in an open skiff with a compressor bolted to the seat and not a word of English among them.  The next 2 hours are great discussions.  Diver down to check.  More discussions.  Ropes hooked and pulled in various directions.  Diver down again.  More ropes and pulling.  Several tries with the windlass until the deck is black with the dust from the rubber pulley and rivulets of brown that look like blood but are sawdust from where the chain is rubbing on the wood of the pulpit and the shaft is down to bare metal.  While this is going on we are also drifting closer and closer to the shore.  We are almost into the surf line.  I am on the tiller and finally cannot stand it any more.  I put the engine into gear and move slowly forward until we are away from the shore again.   And the process continues.  Suddenly everyone realizes that the chain is actually starting to come up.  Slowly, slowly and then more quickly.  It is free of whatever it was hooked on.  A great cheer and sigh of relief.  We are free and did not loose our anchor.  Last minute negotiations with the divers and we can leave.  It had cost $150 for 3 divers for 2 hours.  Not too bad. 

Later on Alan figures out that the anchor was not stuck at all.  The water was so deep that the anchor never even got to the bottom.  The weight of the anchor and all of that chain was just too much for the windlass. Each time the divers had pulled it at an angle it created enough slack to pull it up a little bit more.  Finally enough weight was off that the windlass was able to pull it.