Picking Up a Mooring

Bareboaters... Here's a tip:  The term "picking up a mooring" does not apply when you are leaving.

Gallows Bay Moorings, Christiansted, St Croix, US Virgin Islands
(Click photo to enlarge)

I heard someone's anchor windlass going and I thought "oh, the catamaran must be leaving... but wait, they're tied to a mooring".

I looked outside and yes, they were still tied to their mooring but there was a person in the water diving between the cat and the mooring ball... The chain is going tick-a-tick-a-tick-a.

Why did they drop an anchor on top of the mooring they were tied to? What is the state of that mooring now? It's probably not that they don't care about the probable damage done, but they more than likely don't have a clue that they might have pulled out one of the two mooring screws and have made yet another one of these moorings unsafe.

This is why you should always dive and inspect the mooring you have just tied to... especially before leaving your boat unattended. 

So it goes...