Day 93 Snorkeling

The Coral Garden
Finally the day was sunny so we crossed the lagoon to Tautau and dropped the hook. As Guy had instructed, we dinghied to the pass between Tautau and its neighboring Motu and then walked along the shore until we reached the other end of the motu at the outer reef. The current flowed from the reef to the lagoon so by floating above the reef one could ride the current back to the dinghy. Although the coral was very beautiful, the pass was very shallow and there were places where it was necessary to wade in ankle deep water to negotiate the pass. At one point little Kira got stuck in a shallow part and we had to rescue her by getting her back to deeper water. Again, I was impressed with her water skills and her composure. (I expect that William will show the same skills when the time comes).
Altogether, we spent about two hours in the water and everyone was starving by the time we finally got back to the boats.
Because we all needed some provisions, we pulled up the hook and crossed back to the village of Patio on Taha'a. This town (pronounced pat ee oh) is the largest on Taha'a and that means it is very small. Since we were not planning to stay very long, we did not work very hard to choose an anchorage but instead dropped the anchor in 75 feet of water. Usually we would look for a shallower spot in case we needed to dive to release the anchor from a submerged encumbrance like a coral head. Since coral usually grows in shallower water and there is not much rock in these waters, we felt pretty safe to anchor briefly in this depth.
We were safely anchored when Liahona pulled up beside us and proceeded to release their anchor chain. Our attention was drawn to Wendy and Jim scrambling as the chain went out so we were all watching as the last of their 200 feet of chain payed out and headed for the bottom. This was a pretty bizarre sight. Usually the "bitter end" of the chain would be attached to the boat or at least to a line that was attached securely to the boat. Also, it would be normal that the chain's progress would be controlled by a "windless" that would moderate the flow of the chain and stop it when activated. (a windless is a motorized spool with groves that the chain fits into. The motor is used to wind up the chain again when the anchor is being retrieved). It is hard to capture in words the look on Jim and Wendy's faces as the chain disappeared into the depths.
Immediately, Mark called them on the radio and told them to hit the "MOB" button on their GPS. MOB stands for "man over board" and it placemarks the position of the boat at the time it is pressed. The use in retrieving a man over board is obvious but it can also be used to mark the position of the boat at other events - like losing your anchor and chain. Mark then instructed them to tie up to the stern of Southern Star and he went forward with Kurt and Andy to deploy a second anchor since we would need to hold the force of two boats.
Next came the creation of a plan. Since it was getting dark, we used the dinghy and a hand held GPS to mark the location with a small anchor attached to a 100 foot line and a large buoy (actually a red boat bumper). This would allow us to locate the position the next day. We knew that Liahona had a "hookah" which is a compressor that can be used to breath under water so our plan was to send down some divers in the daylight to find the chain and the anchor.
Once the plan was in place, it was easier to be calm, go to the store, get some provisions and play a half-hour of water polo before sunset and dinner.
Andy slept on deck as an anchor watch and Jim and Wendy spent a restless night worried about the fate of their anchor and chain.