Eau de la Vie

We had an interesting evening night before last.  We were sitting at anchor in Spanish Waters, Curacao where we have been for about 2 weeks now.  It was after dinner and we were relaxing in the cockpit.  We had noticed the above vessel with their running lights on and thought that they were going to leave after dark.  Not unusual at all – two other boats left about 1-2 hours prior for Aruba.

Anyway, this vessel has been anchored for several days off our starboard quarter almost ¼ mile back (D says I exaggerate so a football field).  The day they came into the anchorage, our friends on Celtic Rover said they had dropped the hook in front of us and almost drifted into our bow.  Anyway, I digress.

As one can see from the picture, it is a beautiful and pretty new boat.  We have spoken about the vessel a few times and Darrell commented that if he had a great big pretty boat like that, he wouldn’t store 29 fenders on the deck.  First red flag should have been raised. 

Anyway, last night the two boats left the anchorage and one was a catamaran in almost the exact position of this boat now – a boat length or two off our starboard beam.  The catamaran left around 6pm while it was still fairly light outside to get through the channel leading to the ocean.  About two hours later, this boat decided to move.  No big deal, right?  Well, they had to use spotlights to see the anchor as they were lifting it because it was now dark.  As the anchor chain came up, they moved nearer and nearer our boat.  A second red flag should have been the dinghy that was not raised for ocean going as they dragged it over the water by it’s lift points, beam to the waves.

Finally, Darrell got out our spotlight (after several repositions with their loud bow thruster) to be sure that they were not going to dislodge OUR anchor chain.  YES, they moved nearly a quarter of a mile as they pulled in anchor chain and had dropped it almost on top of our chain!  They proceeded to re-anchor in almost the exact same spot and drop back a reasonable amount.

Anyway, this picture is taken the next morning from our cockpit.  Not sure what that was all about the other night but they are now closer than I would like given questionable judgment and the number of fenders that they deem necessary in their cruising lifestyle.  We will see what the next couple of days brings.  Eau de la vie – means water of life.  A French name for a German flagged vessel??