Too much excitement

I guess I'll start at the beginning of the saga of the last couple of days. It makes a good story when there's some fun, some drama and some fright. We waited out the rain storm of a couple days ago fine. Walt on Nowa Days had caught a 7 foot sword fish on his way down here, so they have been sharing it around with everyone. We went over there on Friday night to share Carter's birthday brownies and had a lovely dinner with them and Calliope (from Seattle.) Nowa Days' kids are a bit older, but Casey (11) plays with both of ours really great. She loves to bead, so Ellie enjoys the girl time.

Saturday morning the clouds had gone, leaving us with a scorching hot, humid day. We moved the boat to a calmer anchorage about a mile away and took off for the beach. The white sand, blue water and green foliage make this one of the most beautiful places we have been. No longer are the beaches made up of coral chunks, but actual white powdery sand. We collected some great shells, snorkeled and the kids built a fort with Casey and David. Sunday morning dawned hot and still. No breeze means no comfort, so a day in the water was our best bet. The elusive painted lobster inhabits the lagoon, so off we went in a parade with Nowa Days and Calliope in search of coral heads to dive on. With Pete on the bow and me at the wheel we kept watch for "uncharted coral" and navigated to a large charted head. Wendy, Pete, Walt and Casey dove while the rest of us snorkeled. The visibility was about 60 feet, so we watched the divers below us and swam through clouds of small fish. Skip saw a grouper, which he claims was the size of a Volkswagen! Pete surfaced with a 24 inch lobster in his bag that Walt had shot. Another goal for the trip was fulfilled and what to have for dinner was solved. Walt loves lobstering, so with the excitement of the first kill coursing through them, we set off for another coral head to do more hunting. The kids played in the bubbles from the divers and the guys dove with spears. Sure enough, Pete shot another huge critter and the day was made complete.

After a bit of cleaning up and some photo ops with the lobsters, we headed for a nearby anchorage to meet up with friends on Wetnose and Ohana. The chart book indicates "uncharted coral" in the area and recommends a sharp lookout. We took our stations on bow and wheel and moved off. Casey and Ellie traveled with us, while Carter and David rode on Nowa Days. We brought up the rear of the group this time. Everyone else was settled as were were making our final approach. Suddenly, Pete gave me the "hard over to port" hand signal. I hit the auto pilot "stand by" button and cranked the wheel hard over. A large coral patch loomed ahead, but as we turned we got caught in a current that pushed us right up onto it. Crunch. I hit reverse and Pete ran back to the cockpit, but it was too late. The current was too much for us and we were hard aground in five feet of water. Adrenaline began to flow as the boat tipped over one way in the swell and then crashed back the other way. Every 30 seconds or so we got picked up, came back down with a jolt higher on the coral. The mast vibrating back and forth and the scraping noises were nerve wracking. I watched over the side to see if we were moving on or off at all, as Pete gunned the engine. Nothing. The girls down below chased after their color books and markers that went flying as we tipped over 25 degrees from side to side. I put out an emergency hail on the VHF to the other four boats for help. Calliope immediately responded and came out, as Pete deployed the bow anchor from the dinghy to try to winch ourselves forward. I came back inside to find the girls getting more and more scared. I called on the radio again. "Nowa Days, Ohana, Wetnose, this is Imagine, we're hard aground and need immediate assistance," I said in a shaking voice. This time they all heard and were on their way immediately.

I started to use the electric winch to wind in the anchor chain while Pete took a halyard from the top of the mast to the dinghy and tried to pull us over to one side. We hoped that the boat would heal to port, and therefore not hit the bottom again while I winched us off. It didn't work and Pete went air born for 20 feet backwards in the dinghy as the boat rolled to the other side and brought him with it. The windlass breakers kept popping so I had Casey stand inside and keep flipping them back on as I pushed the button on deck. Three dinghies pushed from Starboard, but we were stuck and still pounding. Walt jumped in the water with snorkel gear and determined that we'd have to back off. Wolfgang deployed our stern anchor in Wetnose's dinghy so we could try the operation in reverse. Pete manned the engine and I cranked on the winch to pull us towards the stern anchor. Quickly we traded jobs, cause my muscles are no match for his. The new plan seemed to be working, and with Pete cranking, Skip and Wendy pushing in dinghies, Walt in the water and me calming the girls, we stared to inch backwards. Ellie and Casey helped anyway we asked, but they got more and more scared and upset as the minutes went by. The noise and the yelling and the jarring made it seem like the boat was going to fall apart any minute. Casey hyper ventilated and they both started to cry. I tried to reassure them that we had friends to help, and everything would be OK with God watching over us, but at the moment I wasn't sure what was going to happen. At some point in the process of running back and forth I took a good fall and twisted my ankle, strained my wrist and skinned my shin. Of course none of it hurt until the adrenaline calmed down half and hour later. Wolfgang took the halyard again and pulled us over a bit and we followed Walt's directions on which way to push with the dinghies and finally we broke free. Nothing felt so good as to be floating again in 12 feet of water.

The girls needed a fair amount of reassuring after it was over. Alicia (age 8) from Wetnose came on board and the girls were able to tell her their version of the story and I think that helped. Then, we had 2 tangled anchor chains to retrieve and a possibly damaged boat to deal with. The other cruisers really stepped up and helped get the bow anchor untangled and retrieved. Paul from Ohana retrieved the stern anchor and Pete jumped in the water for a look. Amazingly, no apparent damage was done to the keel. I can't say the same for the coral. The rigging still needs a close inspection, but I think we're in the clear. Everyone assured us that just 100 yards in front of us, the bottom was unobstructed sand and we'd be just fine. We moved in, got settled and went to Nowa Days for an awesome, and much deserved, lobster dinner.

Now that you think the excitement if over, we come to Monday morning. (Remember we're one day ahead of you all at home.) Before we were even out of bed, Wolfgang showed up in the dinghy with the message that the weather report had just come through from New Zealand and starting today there is a 10 day weather window to do the crossing. After that they are expecting several weeks of unsettled weather systems coming through. The recommendation to cruisers is to go now, or stay for weeks. Since we're in a bit of a time schedule to meet guests and come home, we're planning to go with the pack and head out. So instead of a nice relaxed week at the beach, we're in "get ready" mode. The wind today is too calm to sail but is expected to build by Thursday. We're planning to watch the weather forecasts and probably leave on Wed. I think there will be at least 20 boats going in a pack, so we'll have lots of radio contact, which makes me feel safer.

Well, I'd better get to work, cleaning, cooking, baking and organizing. Never a dull moment!!

-Cheers Kellie

Hope you got all that. I think 3 short messages is better in sailmail than one long one. I just couldn't make the story shorter! :)