It was past one o’clock in the morning and I was standing on our stern steps with a flashlight beckoning a naked woman I have never met to come aboard. While swimming, she was yelling at a guy in a dinghy “Go away, you want to kill me”. Gail was on the VHF speaking to the Grenadian Coast Guard. How did we end up in this mess?
We were anchored in Prickly Bay on the South end of Grenada. It is a large anchorage, popular with cruisers. Early in the evening we had hosted friends to watch the movie “Charade” from 1963. We had all enjoyed the movie and Two Fish went to bed to prepare for the trip East early the next morning.
A screaming noise bolted me upright. I headed to the cockpit driven by instinct and not fully awake. It was such an odd situation that it took time to figure out what was transpiring. Was someone in the water? I grabbed our emergency flashlight that we always store under the helm seat and saw a woman in the water. I asked Gail to grab the life ring. I now could see that the swimmer was a woman and that she was being closely trailed by a man in a dinghy. Looks like we were in the middle of a domestic squabble. Not a good place to be. Her illogical communication with her partner clearly indicated some form of chemical impairment. Messy situation.
Gail had the dark thought that the two people might be enacting this as a ploy to rob us; she is a New Yorker, so tends to be suspicious. I was focused on not letting anyone drown. The wind was light and there were no waves, so all we had to worry about was an aquatic domestic squabble fueled by alcohol? As she swam closer to the stern I deployed the stern ladder. She released an exhausted burp and some more diatribe directed at her partner. The partner was holding a short distance away and encouraging her to come aboard Two Fish. And she did! Wearing only panties she climbed aboard. I went below and grabbed her a shirt and a towel. I offered the shirt and she replied “what is this?”. The comedy of the moment was missing since I was genuinely concerned she might drown. She turned down the shirt but did accept the towel.
Once aboard, she repeated herself many times – a defining characteristic of someone who got more than their fair portion of the rum bottle. She declared that she was embarrassed to be naked. Gail thought that the swimmer had plenty more to be embarrassed of and told her “Don’t worry, he is not looking at you.”
Gail had been busy giving the Coast Guard our details, including our Lat/Lon. This process had taken about 10 minutes. In the meantime, our drunk swimmer had had enough of Two Fish hospitality and decided to enter her partner’s dinghy. This was inspired by knowing the Coast Guard were coming. The dinghy pulled away, but after 5 seconds her fury re-ignited and she dove into the water. Oddly, she also confessed to him how much she loved him. We realized at that point that they were from a boat in the anchorage. The evening was not over.
We were now eager for the Coast Guard to take over. I engaged a flashing light to help them find Two Fish. Two nearby boats with good intentions also helped guide the Coast Guard closer to the swimmer. Finally, the Coast Guard was on the scene and the crew of Two Fish went below to unwind. It took a few hours to relax before we could fall asleep.
Despite our shortened sleeping time, we were in no mood to stay in the harbor for a minute longer than needed. We sailed out at daylight, hoping for more peaceful surroundings the next evening.
Lessons Learned:
1) I was quick to judge these people at their worst. I hope this was a one-time occurrence. I wish them well, but will keep our distance.
2) Good to have safety gear in fixed locations. Light, floating ring, heaving line and knife are useful.
3) Break up the task. I was keeping an eye on the swimmer. Not because she was naked! Gail was working the VHF.
4) The other boats were slow to help. It was the middle of the night but it would have been great to have another boat come by in their dinghy. Also when Gail asked for the name of the other boats speaking on the radio they would not give their name. Odd?
Tall ship sailors used to hope for a topless mermaid to swim aboard. I would tell them a good night’s sleep is better.
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