November 15/05 -- Almost Boarded in Porlamar

Cliff was still up at about midnight last night, when he heard voices at the bow of the boat. Assuming that it was an attempted boarding, he grabbed the million-candlepower spotlight and ran to the bow, shouting for all he was worth, "Get away from my boat! Get out of here!". Shocked and startled by such aggression, the would-be boarders also started yelling at the top of their lungs. Orma jumped out of bed, grabbed the radio, and called for help in the midst of the melee. When the shouting died down, the spotlight revealed a convoy of two dinghies tied together, wrapped around our anchor chain, and two frightened old salts, drunk as skunks, rowing around in circles trying to undo the tangle. They were quite annoyed that the chain was there in the first place, and that they were being yelled at in their sorry circumstances. We apologized for scaring them as much as they scared us, and had to 'fess up to a false alarm on the radio. We had a great laugh after it was all over and we heard them on the radio reporting that they made it safely back to their boats. It is a wonder that more cruisers don't get washed out to sea on dark and stormy nights, making their way home while less than sober.