December 24, 2010.

Now that we’re in Pipe Creek we’ve decided to stay for the Holidays. There's a bit of a blow forecast to arrive on the day after Christmas so since the protection here is pretty much unparalleled, we’ll sit the front out here.

You could probably fit 50 boats comfortably into the various Pipe Creek anchorages. When we arrived there were about a dozen boats all jammed into one smallish pocket of deep water. We have always anchored in a more remote area of Pipe Creek known as The Mice.

There was no one there when we arrived so it was perfect for us as we slipped in. At the end of the rising tide the next morning My Destiny, First Edition and Savage Son all arrived and took spots near us behind The Mice. Later that evening the wind built and veered a bit and the evening turned into a bit of anchorage hijinks.

The area between The Mice and Rat Cay is so narrow that the boats anchored there have to anchor in a single file row. Theres easily room for a dozen boats behind The Mice and with only 4 of us the evenings bit o’ breeze was a non event for all of us. The others however….

The full keels were hanging to the current, the fin keels turned to face the building breeze and the solitary power boat in the crowd was wildly sailing about. Some had 2 hooks down because they’re jammed in so tightly that they can’t afford to swing. Some have 1 hook down and they’re swinging as the conditions change. It ended up being a pretty lively night on the radio as this boats swinging into other boats while another boats been driven aground. All night anchor watches and just general mayhem for everyone.

So there was some complaining on the radio this morning about what a crappy night it had been. So I was pretty surprised that nobody pulled their hooks and moved to better or at least more widely spaced spots. If they thought last night sucked wait until they see what rolls in on Sunday.

We hit the water for the first time on Thursday and came home empty handed. Grouper season is still closed so of course I saw a couple of really nice ones. One of the 2 lobsters that I saw was undersized and the other guy was living under a rock that was ravaged by the current. I’d get swept past his lair before I could grab onto a ledge and take a shot. By the time Christy picked me up in the dink and brought me back upstream we had covered 200 yards. We’d drop me off where I thought we were before only to find myself rocketing past the staring lobster 40 feet off to the side. After a half dozen exhausting futile attempts we had to throw in the towel and head home.