You know what day it is?
That’s right!
Belgian Waffle Sunday!
And you know what’s better than Belgian Waffle Sunday?
Sharing it with friends.
AND adding mimosas!


I’m Nervous
We had such a wonderful breakfast that I almost forgot that we will be anchoring out for the first time today.
Gulp!
We don’t know HOW to anchor out.
Fortunately, the two boats that we are traveling with are seasoned professionals!
How awesome is that?!?

Short Ride to Get There
We only had about a two-hour ride to get to where we were going to anchor.
But Gilligan only had a three-hour tour.
So, there is that.

But it was a beautiful trip.
And not nearly as many boats out as I expected on a Sunday.







Here We Go
The time has come.
We found our spot.
We were instructed to look at the depth finder and when it read anywhere from 10 to 20 feet, we could anchor.
There were already two sailboats there.
Idyll Time III and Whisky Business waited for us to find our spot.
We didn’t find a 10-foot spot only a 20 so we multiplied 20 times 7 and were going to put out about 140 feet of chain.
Sam and I have the headsets and I was out on the bow.
We have marked our anchor chain every 25 feet with Red, White, Blue, and Gold and have 300 feet of chain.
When we get to Gold, that’s 100 feet.
When Sam was ready, he instructed me to lower the anchor with the down foot pedal.
As I released the chain, I reported the colors so he would know how much chain was out.
After about 130, he put the boat in reverse for a couple of seconds for the anchor to set.
I didn’t feel the tug so we brought it up and tried again.
Same thing.
We decided to test it.
We picked a point on the shore and watched for a while.
It seems to be sticking.


Let’s Leave
So what do brand new anchoring mates do once they “think” the anchor is set?
They hop in the dinghy and go to the nearest restaurant!
Sure.
Why not?
What could go wrong???
Now, we have only been in our dinghy once before.
In Cape May.
We forgot our life jackets, our radio, and our cell phones.
We jumped in and went!
It wasn’t a highly successful run since we hit a big green piling and I let out a blood-curdling scream but we did somehow get it back onto the Freedom Lift.
And at least this time, we were with two other dinghies who knew what they were doing.
So off we went.
Parking was interesting.



We found our way back to the Here’s To Us!! and miraculously, it was still there!
I would call that a very successful anchorage!
But will we be able to sleep?
Our Thoughts
Our Trip

I would say it was indeed successful anchoring!! Maybe it will be more fun next time?!
I’m thinking it won’t be fun until the 20th time! LOL
Great to hear your first time on the “Hook” went well, without incident.
Keep in mind you need to include the height from the water line to the anchor roller when figuring the 7 to 1 scope rule. With 20′ + 5′ you would need 175′ of chain out. 140′ = 5.6 scope. 5 to 1 is OK in a calm anchorage. We sleep better with 7 to 1 just in case the winds pick up during the night.
Just a friendly heads up.
from the “Fortunate 2”
Oh, brother! It’s a good thing it was calm! Thanks for the info. You know we don’t know what we’re doing but we’re going to keep on going! LOL
Great experiences are still coming your way. You are still having fun and learning new skills.Bravo Zulu
Thanks so much, Cousin Rus!