Last night, after a hard days work on Milagro, Larry and I retired somewhere in the vicinity of 9:00 p.m. (often know as cruisers' midnight around here.) We were both awakened from a sound sleep by a loud tapping on the boat hull. This is the cruisers answer to knocking on your door or ringing the door bell.
Larry, as captain and man of the abode, went up on deck to see what was going on. Susan, one of our neighbors had been awakened by another neighbor who thought the unoccupied boat next to us was taking on water. We all gathered around and listened to the rather loud gurgling sound coming for the stern. We all agreed that the boat was most certainly lower in the water than it had been; the dinghy on the stern, which had been hanging at least a foot above the locker at the end of the dock, was now resting on the locker. And since the docks here are floating, everything should have been at the same level.
Susan woke her husband and called our friend Mike who was taking care of Orontes II until the owners returned. Mike had a combination for the lock....but it didn't work. At this point we gathered an extension cord and a grinding tool and the guys cut the lock and went below. All of this is going on as a marina guard stands by, confused but willing to let us move ahead. After all, he can hear the mysterious gurgle as well!
No water in the bilge, no water anywhere else. Relief swept through the now somewhat larger crowd although several of us were a bit red faced. This morning Mike, always the gentleman, thanked us (for getting him up in the middle of the night!).
Maybe it was the full moon, but we all agreed that Orontes II was low in the water last night. And gurgling. For whatever reason.
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