So, in the previous post I mentioned meeting all the lovely people in the Isla Mujeres anchorage; firm friends that we hope to stay in touch with and who helped us so much. However, I should point out that it was only after a week and a half that we were lucky enough to meet all these people and the meeting was quite a strange one indeed.

 

We dragged. We dragged after a week and a half holding well in all sorts of blows. Except, this time we dragged when we weren’t even on our boat! We were on shore, doing the aforementioned admin online and were returning to the boat when we heard some yelps in the dark. We spotted two men on a dinghy, loaded down with luggage, no lights, calling us over to them. Their outboard had failed, the wind and waves had picked up and they were drifting out to sea in front of the high speed ferry dock. We were happy to rescue them and, they were so laden down and our outboard so small (3.3hp) that it took us a good half hour to get them to their boat. We’d notice them arrive earlier that day and, when they thanked us profusely and asked which boat we were from, we answered airily that we were their neighbours and were anchored just over……oh. Oh dear…

 

See, cruisers, especially knowledgeable world cruisers, are a bloody helpful bunch. In the same day that we were rescuing the drifters, our own boat was rescued and brought to safety by no less then three different boats working together as a team. One boat even delayed his planned departure to Key West in order to help ours as, like something out of mission impossible, they broke in, figured out all our systems, established that although aground the boat had sustained no damage, and drove her off to the safety of a nearby mooring ball, then waited up on deck for our return so that they could calm us down and explain what had happened. That same night three others boats in the anchorage dragged wildly and out of control, including one of the kind souls who helped us.

 

So when I say that we bonded very quickly with the good folks in the anchorage it all came out of the fact that they saved our home and our entire trip from disaster. It makes you think, idyllic though that deserted island anchorage with nothing but a palm tree and some turtles may be, it’s a damn bit more reassuring knowing that you have neighbours at anchor who are looking out for you.

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