Lost My Money & My Toe in Atlantic City

Lost my money, and my toe in Atlantic City. Actually it was just the tip of my toe. The money is gone, but we taped the tip of my toe back on.

When we first got here on Tuesday we picked up an empty mooring ball. I knew a storm was coming so I used the extra thick anchor line so I would sleep sound knowing we wouldn’t break free.

The wind was intense, I was wide awake, I thought for sure that someone‘s boat was going to drag and crash into another boat. I was glued to the window, all set to watch the circus that was sure to unfold.

I left my place at the window for just a few moments to make some more popcorn. When I returned I noticed two new boats where along side us. “Oh no!” I thought, “There is going to be a collision, and we are going to be a part of it!” But the boats didn’t get closer. And we didn’t move an inch. Then it hit me.. “We broke the mooring, we’re grounded.”

I rushed outside wearing only a rain coat and my underwear. The rain was coming down in big drops, the wind was roaring, and the lightning was striking.

It sucked.

I was cold.

Turns out we didn’t break from the mooring ball, we drug it across the anchorage! There was a sailboat next to us who had also drug a mooring ball. The captain was on deck, but like me there was really nothing for him to do. I dropped a small anchor and went back to bed.

When the storm eased up I went back outside. I lowered our dinghy into the water and set to work freeing our main anchor line from the useless mooring ball. Our neighbor (Ray) came out of his boat. He suggested we help each other out. I rowed over and picked him up from his boat.

We rowed out 100 feet from my boat and dropped the anchor, went back aboard and winched it down tight. We then did the same on his boat. The tide was dropping, the boats were sinking harder and harder into the mud. There was no hope of getting them free at that point. So Ray and I went back to bed.

As the tide dropped the boat tilted more and more to the side. It was like trying to sleep on a hill. I set my alarm to go off every hour. The wind was blowing us towards rays boat, I didn’t want the tide to come in and lift our boat, and then slam us into Ray. We had had enough surprises for one night.

The tide finally lifted us off the mud around 3:30 AM. Ray moved his boat first. Then I moved mine. We both learned a lesson about taking mooring balls. Had we used our anchors we would have probably never moved!

I have no pictures.

**Update:
I didn't lose any money. Just kidding. Sorry for not clarifying. As for my toe, just kicked a stupid cleat. It's not so bad.