Our guests were to depart by a very early flight on Sunday,
so we had arranged for them a night’s stay at Grooms Beach, a stone throw’s
away from the airport on Saturday. We brought them back to Belmont on Friday,
and decided to take a ball before we solved the problem of slipping anchor chain.
Seems easy, since Belmont has many mooring balls; however they seem to be
diminishing every time we look.
When we came to Belmont after a short but bumpy ride
(current and wind pushing us west), which turned arduous when we headed north east
after turning around Saline Point, Al spotted a ball very close to shore, and
protected from the howling wind. There was a mono-hull moored to the next ball.
When the guy there saw our intention of taking the ball, he hollered that it
was no good, and he motioned us the one behind him. Al thought that he was trying
to scare us away from himself, but we could not take any chances. We got to the
one shown, and I easily got the lines through the pennant, but Al and I were
tying the lines, something snapped and we started to move back. Release the
lines immediately, try once more! We looked around and found two, but Al
insisted on the one very close to several boats all around. Captain’s orders,
what can we say? I hooked on to the rope under a knot, but was not able to pull
it up to slide the line into the loop over it. My hook got stuck, which I had
to let go, after it got bent from the pressure. Al idled around, and we saw a
young man in a dingy coming our way to help out. He had to plunge in the water
to bring out the pennant, which was so long that it was covered with mud,
scraping the bottom for ages. Aren’t sailors amazing? Everybody watches everybody
else, to come for help if needed, sometime without being asked. I love this
life!
Saturday right after lunch, we got Richard wait for us at
Port Louis, to take us Grooms Beach, to spend the afternoon swimming, after
they settled down at the hotel. We went to the beach of the La Luna Resort, had
a drink afterwards, bid farewell to our friends and came back to Ruyam II before
it got dark.
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