Running Away From Chantal

 
Well you really wont believe what happened this week!! You just couldn’t write it…. So I’m just going to type it instead!

It all started well, the guests got on board no problem, they got settled in and sat down to enjoy dinner before we set sail for the week. Once all the dishes were done and the tide was high we set out to leave the dock. We made it to the entrance of the dock and ran aground on shallow rocks. There we stayed as we battled to get free. As I started up the dingy to go and push on the starboard side I had an over whelming feeling that this was a higher power telling us not to leave the dock this week but I ignored it and we wriggled the boat free. We set anchor and I got kitted up and did a dive under the boat to establish a rough damage report. The stabilizer fin was badly damaged and the props had some small dents. After reviewing my photographs the Captain decided it was safe to continue and off we went.

The next couple of days went very well, the diving was good and the guests were having fun and getting involved in some heavy banter. One guest however was having some stomach cramps and had decided to sit out a days diving. No sooner had we got into the flow the bad news started rolling in. A storm cell was forming in the southern Caribbean and it had earned itself the name “Chantal”. After some careful monitoring we had no alternative than to run and hide in the safety of our marina. We joined up with the Aggressor ( the other live aboard here in TCI) and tied down the boats for the night. Before closing up shop Martin and I kitted up and took a dive under the boat to remove the damaged fin so we could leave it at the ship yard for repair.

The storm came and went. When it finally hit us it had burnt itself out and was only classified as a “tropical wave”, nothing too dramatic.

Once again we set sail for a final days diving before the week was out. We managed three good dives and settled down for some dinner before the night dive. After dinner one of the guest went to talk with the captain in the wheelhouse. His stomach cramps had concerned him and he had called the dive medical association DAN. They had advised that he stop diving and monitor for DCS ( the bends). He had taken their advice and took a day off diving. After feeling fine he had joined us for the three dives on the final day. When surfacing from the final dive he was complaining of a pain in his shoulder, a classic symptom of DCS ( Decompression Sickness). With a call to the local recompression chamber on the island and contact once again with DAN its was confirmed that the boat must return to port immediately to allow a full medical assessment. We set sail to Sofadilla bay where we would anchor and tendor the patient in. All went well and upon arrival at the doctors it was confirmed he had a case of the bends and would be kept in for treatment over night so we all retired to bed, still on anchor. At around 2am a very loud bang and the sound of loose chain could be heard throughout the boat, what more could possibly go wrong!!!

I headed to the bow to investigate and found the engineer and the captain starring at the anchor windlass. It turned out it had given way and around an extra 150ft of chain had broken loose. After about two hours of boring stuff I cant be bothered to explain we had retrieved most of the chain but we had not enough power to lift the 500lb anchor from the ocean floor. Cue another dive by me at 3am with the biggest lift bag you ever did see. In zero visibility, at 3am in the morning, I found myself being dragged along the ocean floor, wrestling with an anchor and trying to hold on to the lift bag so I didn’t drift off into zero viz water. The anchor was raised to the surface and we winched it tight and secured it to the deck. Finally we got to bed a 4am…then we had to get up at 5am to take the guests diving!!!

So I write this here, now, sailing home to port with no additional problems. Fingers crossed we get tied up and I get my beer at 5pm!!! I am sure this will go down as the most interesting week to date and it turns out that Chantal was the least of our worries.