What a Drag

We finally made it to Balandra Bay, just east of La Paz. It is a picturesque bay that is known for its beautiful water, excellent snorkeling, and the famous mushroom rock. We were happy to have the anchor down and ready for a good night’s sleep.

We were sleeping soundly until I heard a siren at 2300 hrs. It took me a bit to realize it was our anchor alarm. I did not know how to turn it off so I hit a button that turned off where our anchor was originally set. I looked around outside and did not see that we were in danger. Mind you this anchor alarm has gone of in the past because I had the settings wrong. I went back to sleep and did not reset the alarm. Yes I know…

Around 0400, I woke to lapping waves. That is NOT good. I looked outside and saw a wall of rock and that we were in 6 feet of water. Dave and I went into action. We hauled up the anchor and got to safe water and idled there until we woke up more and talked about what to do. Do we wait and re-set the anchor in the daylight or go north to Isla San Francisco our next destination. Isla San Francisco won.

Many lessons were learned that night. The most important is WAKE DAVE UP! Next trust the alarm and wake Dave up. Before bed, make sure the boat is ready to leave if there is an emergency. That means items stored, the cockpit is clear of equipment, and recheck your surroundings to make sure your anchor is set. Things I learned to check, depth, GPS coordinates, bearing to points on land to make sure they are the same as when you dropped anchor and the anchor alarm distance to anchor and make sure it is about the same as the ammount of chain you have out.

We were very blessed that there were no boats, rocks or land in our way as we dragged to the next bay.