Monday - 9/5

During the night, Mahalo Nui had broken her anchor rode and was bounced further down the rocks and eventually about 75 feet off shore in the shallow beach area.  The bottom was still rock and she was bobbing in  the waves.

We coordinated with the dockmaster and a local dive master and salvage company.  Ruben's plan was to further secure the boat by adding additional anchors to keep her from drifting anymore and place plywood and tires under the hull to prevent additional damage from bouncing on the bottom. The dockmaster, Gerardo, arranged to get immigration to come to us so we could check back into Mexico as it looked like we would be staying here awhile. Armondo, the dockmaster from El Cid, came over to bring the exit paperwork that was lost on the boat and commiserate with J and Jerr.  The process of further securing the boat took quite a while as Ruben had to get the materials so nothing happened before noon.  J and I made a few trips out to the boat and got the bilge pump working again but that was pretty futile as the water level inside the boat was equal to the water level outside which makes about 1/3 of the interior of the boat underwater.  We made several trips to the boat removing personal items and trying to salvage what we could.
Ruben's plan was good but difficult to implement.  Fortunately several guys vacationing at the resort swam out to help and we were able to get the boards under the boat and Ruben got the tires in place.  Because of the angle and where we suspected the hull breach was he was unable to put an emergency patch in place.  The seas were still pretty rough and he thought the weather might calm enough by Wednesday or Thursday to attempt to put air bags under her and float her off the beach.  Part of the floating plan would be to use a gas powered pump to get most of the water out of the interior and keep it out until a patch could be put into place before allowing her to be uprighted.  As dark approached, Ruben continued securing lines and the boat while we went back to Second Chance to clean up and have dinner.  Nothing was done in the way of repairs on Second Chance as there were other higher priority projects and once things calm down, we will be ready to go with Mahalo Nui when she is ready to go to Isla Mujeres for haul out and repairs.  Isla is the closest haul out port with the necessary equipment to make repairs.  Mahalo Nui may have to be towed but all this is speculation at this point until we get her off the beach and can inspect the damage.

The news of the beaching had spread all over Puerto Aventuras and J and Jerr became celebrities.  We went to dinner at Gringo's Cantina and had a good meal. We have run across a couple people from New Orleans and J and Jerr reminiscing about home made them feel better. Numerous rounds were bought for them and the story was retold many times.  We have met some great people at Puerto Aventuras and if things had not transpired as they did, we might not have met them.  Only time will tell what our destiny holds here.  J and Jerr are currently riding a roller coaster of emotion and frustration but overall they are in good spirits and we do the best we can to help them.