Anchors Aweigh

When Did You Last Drag Anchor?

Tom & Naty in El Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica

March 2009

Puerto Jiminez, Costa Rica

As Ketch 22 is generally very well behaved and predictable, this should not be construed as a complaint or a criticism, but I feel compelled to talk about the day she ran away. Naty and I were taking a break from our extended stay in Golfito and were on a weeks cruise in Golfo Dulce and anchored just off of Puerto Jiminez. As I said, we had been on an extended stay in Golfito, and wanted to get a little variety in our lives. The town is located on the Oso Peninsula near the Southwest corner of Gulfo Dulce and we spent a couple days there just prior to our return to Golfito.

Puerto Jiminez is a small frontier town near the south west edge of a large Costa Rican National Park , one of the many protected tropical rain forests in Costa Rica. The town caters mainly to sport fishermen, eco-tourists and the occasional cruiser like us. There is a small central business district with the usual services offered in a small Costa Rican town, as well as the tourist attractions where you could arrange for rain forest excursions , zip line outings and such. The city core featured paved roads, but most of the town had unpaved dirt roads that were dusty in the dry season and muddy in the wet.

On our last scheduled day in the area, we took the dinghy to shore and locked it to a tree in front of one of the fishing resorts, as theft is an issue seemingly everywhere in Costa Rica and the proximity to the fishing resort would prevent casual thievery from taking place. Acting as tourists ( not cruisers) for the day, we did a side trip to the local lagoon, where the alligators roam wild. Naty got tired of that in a hurry as she had heard once that alligators are fast runners and although a distance runner herself ( Honolulu marathon, 2000 ), she's not a sprinter. A few pictures later, we were on our way to flag down a cab to get into town and grab some lunch.

After an unremarkable Mexican cuisine lunch and a leisurely stroll thru town, we flagged down a cab and got a ride back to our dinghy. As we were approaching the tree where the dinghy was locked, I became increasingly nervous, as I couldn't see Ketch 22 anywhere. Frantically, but hoping it was only an illusion because of my obstructed view, I quickly paid the cab and nearly ran to the beach to get an unobstructed view of the water, where I was able to confirm that Ketch 22 was not where I had left her, safely at anchor. Horrible thoughts started to run through my mind as to the location of my passport, my cash, all the electronics on board, and Ketch 22 herself. Just as I was about to despair, I saw the double masted signature of Ketch 22 miles offshore, with sails furled! Quickly unlocking and dragging the dinghy to the water, we jumped in and made haste to the runaway Ketch 22. Thoughts of an altercation with thieves on board briefly crossed my mind who may have been unable to get the engine started briefly surfaced, but I put all questions and fears aside for the moment as I drove the dinghy as fast as I could to get to the runaway yacht.

Approaching a little closer, I saw no one on board, and the anchor chain still attached to the boat. This resolved some fears and raised a whole lot of new questions. Clambering on board, a quick check showed the hatch still locked and everything as we had left, a few hours earlier. No time left for raising even more questions, I had to get the Fortress anchor up and the engine started, as were drifting down on a reef a short but unknown distance to the north. Making preparations to secure the anchor, I noticed that there was a rock stuck in the Fortress anchor I had deployed, that prevented the blades from swiveling as the forces on the anchor dictated. That's when the revelation took place. A change in the tides had caused the anchor to swivel 180 degrees, and the rock in the mechanism had prevented the anchor from setting itself as it dragged over the sandy bottom. Although I added a few gray hairs to my collection, the end result was that we went back to Puerto Jiminez and anchored again, just in time for a happy hour margarita and another Costa Rican sunset.

Life's a beach!