Mentor was on a mission as Cindy's dad was on his death bed and she needed to catch a flight home. Although the Papagayo winds were still howling a good 40 knots, Mentor left the next morning. They called to report conditions as they rounded Key Point to Blue, because they were trying to decide whether to leave that day or wait until the next day. We listened in to Mentor's report "It's not bad, blowing about 40 knots". Pacific Northwest sailors certainly have a different perception of conditions! Blue decided to go anyway but we decided to stay put that night and leave the next day - hoping the wind would die down.
Tom was really sick and loosing weight. He had very little appetite and was feeling lousy. We went ashore in the dinghy anyway, just to get out and stretch. We went with Passion, but had trouble locating the hiking trails described in the cruising guide.
It was getting rough because of the wind and Passion wanted to go up the estuary. We decided to go back to the boat. Tom decided we wanted to put around the shoreline in the dinghy, then we found a protected gravel beach that looked inviting. It was a fish camp, with a fire pit, old nets, shells, etc. We hung out and walked the shoreline for a bit.
We were ready to leave and hopped back in the dink. As we got closer Tom said "Is that an optical illusions, or is our boat REALLY CLOSE to Passion?" I said "It must be an illusion." But as we approached, it was clear that our anchor had dragged and our stern was about 3 feet from Passion's bow. I was off the dinghy before we tied up, fired up the engine and put her in gear to keep from hitting Passion. Tom quickly ran to the bow and pulled up the anchor. We moved closer to shore and further from Passion. There we were, in this great big bay, only one other boat and we drag anchor to Passion - like a magnet. How does THAT happen??
That was the second time our secondary anchor had dragged, so we were losing faith in our ability to continuing anchoring. We looking at the guide books and there was only one marina within 100 miles: Marina Papagayo. It was expensive, but safe. I was starting to feel sick too and we might need to find a doctor.
We decided to head to the marina the next day at first light. Fortunately, waiting a day had been a good move. The wind had died, so much so that we had to motor the 40 or so miles to the marina. With the seas calm and no wind, we were fine with using a little fuel to reach a peaceful place.