Wednesday 19 November – Rowan gets the anchor back

Our spare anchor held us well overnight which was a major relief. Rowan managed to organise with the Lodge for a long boat to take him back to where the anchor is, about 12 miles away. The lodge was full with new guests so their diver could not go with Rowan, they just provided a driver with a 15 horse power engine, it may have been quicker in the dinghy which is 20 horse power. I stayed behind to keep an eye on PolePole, I was pretty anxious Rowan heading off on his own with a guy who doesn’t speak English or dive. It is a 55kg anchor, so not the easiest to manage on his own. Rob and Pip had already left the anchorage and were heading to the little village Yellu where Ted and Anne-Marie had moved to, they were all looking for provisions. Rowan sent Ted and A-M a message to see if they were interested in a dive, they are both keen divers. They very sweetly agreed to join Rowan, I was hugely relieved Rowan had company. It was a long one and a half hours in the open long boat with Abu the driver, in the sun with no canopy. They arrived and once Rowan dived in he spotted it quickly, he said the bottom was full of enormous boulders, not sure that it should be marked as an anchorage. Rowan had taken a big bag attached by rope to the boat, the plan was to fill it with air from his tank to lift the anchor. Sadly the bag was a mesh weave and all the air escaped! In the end they used Ted’s BCD tied to the anchor and lifted it by inflating the BCD. They finally got it to the top, but then it was a big mission getting it up and onto the boat with its steep sides. Poor things another hour and a half back, dropping Ted and A-M back at their boat. Rowan got back just after 3pm having left at 9:30am. A long and exhausting day, but we had the anchor back.

It was quite an effort getting the anchor attached back onto polepole. Rob and Pip on Lioness had come over to the anchorage here at the Lodge in the afternoon. Ted came and added some muscle power and good tips for getting the bolt out of the old anchor attachment, so we did not have to get the angle grinder out. Sadly Rowan never found the pin that must have come loose, he did find the spacer just not the crucial pin. We had to get the old swivel attachment off and find a shackle big enough to replace it and reattach the anchor. Luckily Rowan had a suitable one and by 5pm we had the old anchor all attached and ready to go. Phew!

We went to the Homestay with Pip and Rob for supper. So interesting how the guests at the Lodge are mainly young Aussies and Europeans, coming for diving. It is pretty basic accommodation and the diving is very affordable. It was a good evening which we could celebrate Rowan’s successful anchor rescue mission!