Chris came down from Gainsville and spent the night; very fun. nb- for a good time, have Chris over. As he was leaving and we needed a new outboard, he dropped us off at a nearby boat dealer. We were fixed up with a new motor, and proceeded right into the eye of a storm (see weather, Weds 12/2, for Tampa area).
We put the new motor on the old dinghy, and set off across 100 yards of harbor to our boat. First the motor came unscrewed from the panel (sic?). Then it refused to start- wet, probably. We had now blown all the way across to our boat onto the mangroves, so I tried dragging the dinghy to the boat by its bow line. This worked, but we were both so disoriented we left the dinghy tied to the back of the boat- and went to adjust our anchor, as it looked like we were drifting in the wind.
In the process we noticed people on the dock pointing and yelling to us. We had picked up the dinghy and turned it UPSIDE DOWN- with the new motor attached. I ran to the stern in time to see us suck the dinghy under our boat and into the propeller.
Which we still have. We went down and looked this morning, and it's still there.
The dinghy, however, is now a metal sculpture.
I notice that everyone is too shocked to comment on this last post, so here I am. You realize we are all living this with you and are thinking that things actually worked out ok in the end. Put it behind you and start out in the morning with your common sense and brain power and give yourselves a pat on the back. You are doing ok, in my book. It is impossible to think of the gazillion little details at every moment. LOVE YOU!! Elle
ReplyDeleteI know it seems like I'm writing fiction, but I swear, you could not make this stuff up! It is fodder- sheer fodder for blogging.
ReplyDeleteBut we're all alive- and boat dealers in the area seem very pleased with us. They should be ferrying out a new dinghy to us early next week.
I'm with El. This entire adventure is commendable. I well remember Anna Warren's husband Joe's comment when we announced we were packing it in and moving to Maine. "No," he said, "you're neither stupid nor courageous enough." Well, we showed him...we were abundantly stupid.
ReplyDeleteI have a great fondness for those who deny gradual experience and steam full speed ahead into all sorts of mischief and mayhem and beauty. There's a lovely, awkward (afterall you are sexagenarians, averaged together) innocence about it. And a stubborn wisdom too: yes, it's risky but no one survives the couch & TV either.
Sail on Innocents Aboard!
xxxDavid