wrote in message
oups.com...
| First time in a really long time... in fact, the first time ever
| outside our home waters... we stayed at anchor in a lovely cove
all
| day yesterday instead of moving on. The charts & cruising guides
did
| not show any place that looked good to stop until getting into
the
| next town.
|
| How does everyone pick an anchorage? Charts can show good shelter
but
| generally give only vague hints about holding ground, shoreline
| property/development, etc etc. Most cruising guides give the
*BEST*
| anchorage for a long way and don't mention any alternates
(indeed,
| some "cruising guides" don't mention anchorages at all).
|
| Today while running upriver we saw two nice creeks that probably
would
| have been fine for an overnight stay, and closer by a few hours
to
| today's destination.



The best advice I can give you is when you do find and explore a
possible good anchorage with your dinghy and find it to your
satisfaction and even desirable then LEAVE as soon as possible and
go look for another or do something else like anchoring in a crummy
place somewhere close by to cook some dinner until about ten
minutes before dark. Then when it's getting dark return and anchor.
If you anchor too soon in the afternoon, the chances are good some
jerk(s) will come along and see you and say, "Oh look, a good place
to anchor." Then they will barge in and anchor right on top of you
acting like they own the place and they're doing you a favor.
They'll run a generator all night long, they'll play loud music,
they'll have a dog or two that barks constantly, they'll have a
couple kids who'll go round and round in the outboard powered
inflatable until you want to ring their necks, they'll have one or
more of those obnoxiously noisy wind generators. In other words,
they will ruin everything. If they were TRYING to ruin everything
they couldn't be a better job of it.


Wilbur Hubbard