The Adventures of s/v Agave: Arriving in Martinique and... running aground!

It is hard to post as the internet connections are rare and weak.

So where to start - it's been awhile? Well we left Rodney Bay, St Lucia a bit late as Sayan was not well. We sailed across the channel and got to Le Marin, a crowded anchorage. As we were ready to drop the anchor, Sayan finds out the windlass (which bring the anchor chain up and down) is not responding. A quick check: it is not the fuse; resetting it does not work. So fairly fast since there is not too much space between the boats, we decide to go and find a mooring ball to tie up to. A few weeks earlier, Avi had observed a boat navigating a crowded anchorage where the skipper, a woman, was standing up next to her helm, and turning the helm with her foot while she had a better vantage view of the anchorage standing erect. Avi thought that was really cool. So here he is in this anchorage doing the exact same thing, and discussing with me (at the bow) as to which mooring ball to aim for... well the downside to this navigation-by-the-foot technique is that you don't look at your charplotter/gps, and, guess what.... sure enough we ran aground !! right in the middle of one of the most crowded anchorage! It was too late in the afternoon to have a good light to read the bottom... and here we are stuck in 2.5 feet of water thankfully in very soft mud. So one hour later, in the dark, and 320 euros poorer, we got unstuck by a tow boat and got ourselves moored feeling as sheepish as one can be. Thankfully the sailors have all these saying about running aground to make one feel better: "if you haven't run aground, you are not adventuring enough"," if you haven't run aground, you either do not go out much or you're lying," etc.. And above all, there was no damage to the boat, phew!

We finished the evening on our buddy boat Felina who cooked us a nice meal to cheer us up, and laughing about it all! Thanks Wendy!