On Saturday we sailed the 56 miles from Rum Cay to Thompson Bay in winds that started out at 10 knots and built to 30 along the way, mostly aft of the beam. It got a bit rowdy until we rounded Cape Santa Maria then had a sweet broad reach to Indian Hole Point. We sailed into the anchorage near the beach late in the afternoon.

There were 15 or 20 boats already there but I found a nice hole near the church, about 80 yards wide between two other sailboats. (It would become clear why that gap existed.) As we came into it the guy on the boat to port came out of his full enclosure and sat on the cabin top glaring at us, arms crossed, in the typical anchor nazi pose. I was mostly ignoring him as we anchored but could see him giving us a shooing away motion with his hands. I set the anchor and was reflaking and tieing the main when he pointed at us and said "I would have preferred you to anchor a bit further that way." We were a good 40 yards away in 8 feet of water so I just ignored him. In a louder voice: "I said I would have preferred you a bit further that way!" I replied "I heard you and I'm not moving." He stomped back into his enclosure and kept glaring at us until I went below.

In the morning the wind had clocked to the east and we moved a mile south to Basil's dock for a shopping trip to Hillside Market. (Hillside has become an excellent grocery store, better than Exuma Markets in my opinion, and less expensive.) After we had reanchored, a dinghy raced toward us and came alongside. It was the anchor nazi. Oh, boy, now what, I thought. He had come to apologize and did so profusely. He said we had been perfectly right to anchor where we did, that he never should have said anything, and it was really bothering him how badly he had behaved. He told us that a couple of years ago a boat had dragged down on him and it was such a traumatic experience for him and his wife that he still had issues to deal with. It seemed a bit extreme but was a nice apology.

We had a good chat and erased any bad feelings that could have lingered otherwise. It must have been difficult for him but it showed integrity. I hope I would do the same if I ever found I had acted like such a jerk. Now, we would all be quite happy to find each other again in some future anchorage.

Just a little cruising story I thought you might enjoy.