Spanish Wells

01/15 s/v Trouble Update: I was awoken at 4 am with a low battery voltage alarm. I knew it was low but I thought I could get through the night. The previous couple of days have been overcast, so the solar is not fully charging the batteries. I started the engines, which will charge the batteries a bit, but it’s very inefficient. While I was watching the voltages come back up, the anchor drag alarm went off. This alarm is basically a circle around the boat that if the boat goes outside that circle it sets off the alarm. I knew this might happen as I was in very shallow water and knew the wind was going to shift 180 degrees. There were some cool coral heads with “fan” like plants (sorry I don’t know my aquatic plants) that I didn’t want the boat to drift into. I started bringing in the anchor to get away from it. It was still pitch black, no moon dark. I shown the flashlight to make sure I was clear. But then I could tell the anchor was not holding. I put the engines In gear and just started motoring away while bringing in the rest of the anchor. I only went about 200 yards and dropped the anchor and let out some chain. The whole bay is only 12 feet deep so you could anchor anywhere. I shut the engine down after an hour and then got some sleep. I got up at sunrise, made coffee, and planned my day. I then started motoring up to the town of Spanish Wells. On the way, I looked at a few possible anchorages as some weather was coming this afternoon. I ended up moving the boat behind a little island called Meeks Patch. All the other cruising boats I saw were in a spot that would be uncomfortable in the forecasted wind direction. I put my anchor down, double-checked all the weather sources, and felt like this was a good spot for the forecasted weather. Nice and quiet all by myself. Four hours later, all those boats came over to where I am, as the wind and rain start coming in. Today I worked on managing my electrical power better when it’s overcast/raining. The weather will be like this for at least another day. It’s not all blue skies and warm weather in the Bahamas.