Whilst on our summer sailing holiday with family and friends on a charter boat in the Ionian we pulled into a small bay that had been mentioned in various guides as being a good place to park up for lunch.
As we rounded the point it became obvious that others had the same idea. Going further on was not an option as the beer and sandwiches were already on the go and the kids were sorting out the snorkels and flippers.
Due the number of boats we were going to have to be further out in deeper water than we would have liked. After much circling to find the best spot the sounder was still reading 14 meters below the keel but as we had a long chain plus plenty of rope on the end of the chain it should not have been a problem.
So I dropped the anchor. All the chain went out, but then the rope didn't. It had snapped where it attaches to the chain! Eeek! It all disappeared to the bottom of the sea.
I looked round at the crew for inspiration but they had all cast their eyes heavenwards and appeared to be shaking their heads and mumbling!
After much thought (and a few beers) it was decided that we would have a go at snagging it with a hook on a rope. No chance. We couldn't find anything suitable and none of the boats near us had anything of use either - so no hook and now we couldn't even see the anchor.
After a bit more milling about we were about to give up and set off to leave when another boat pulled in. He was very perplexed by our manoeuvres and asked what the problem was. We explained our predicament.
He said not give up just yet as his girlfriend was a good diver. I told him that unfortunately the anchor was down too deep, about 40ft under the keel. "No, she is a very good diver," was the reply.
Up popped a blond lady wearing just a small yellow thong. Our jaws dropped. Could this be our wonder woman? She said she thought she might be able to swim down to it but it was deeper than she had ever dived before. She explained that she was an underwater model and still held the title for having the longest underwater kiss! We were very very impressed.
I looked her in the eye (well, tried to) and said it was only an anchor and not to take any chances. We attached a spanner to some thin cord and once having located the anchor again let the cord and spanner down so it could be tied on to the chain.
Our heroine then did some deep breathing exercises then set off down to the depths. It took forever. We were watching closely. She managed to attach the line to the chain and after considerable effort and help from her partner we managed to retrieve the anchor.
We never did find out their names. But many thanks to them.
