Mooring Ball Mishap in St John, USVIs.. and a BIG SHOUT OUT to a fellow Sailor for Assisting!

We put into Caneel Bay on St John, USVIs for the night, anchored just off of Honeymoon Beach outside of the main harbor of Cruz Bay. Was a beautiful calm evening and night, but overnight the reversing currents decided to throw us a little curve ball! Woke up the next day to continue on our journey, but to find the mooring ball line had become entangled in our keel.. oops!

I dropped a GoPro in the water to survey the situation, as for me to get in the water when sailing alone would not be prudent, given that as soon as I freed the boat from the mooring ball pennant, it would immediately start to drift downwind and in the current that caused the problem in the first place.. and I’m sure our downwind neighbours would not be thrilled to look up and see ‘Sophisticated Lady’ drifting down on their bow with the captain in the water! Lol

Luckily the problem was not severe, but difficult to solve on my own.. that’s when a fellow sailor on a small powerboat entered the scene yelling at me from the bow.. I couldn’t make out what he was saying at first, but then heard “LOVE THE VIDEOS!”… Ah.. a Youtube fan, Lol… Great to hear, but not the best time for a chat.. but then he quickly saw that I was having a problem with the mooring ball, and without question or hesitation he was in the water with his mask and snorkel to help assess and rectify the situation. Within minutes ‘Sophisticated Lady’ was free of her bind, and we were on our way again!

Little things like this make me very grateful to be part of such a helpful community.. boaters are like none other, if you are in trouble or need, they will always be at the ready to assist in any way they can… so to this fellow mariner I say “Thanks Rob!” Your help was greatly appreciated, and next time I see you, the beers are on me! 🙂

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