Mile Hammock

Five boats spent the night in Mile Hammock Bay. By 0800 this morning 4 of them were on their way further down the ICW. Kintala remained behind for a long awaited rendezvous. When we left Boulder Good Friend James was finalizing plans to head East as well. We have been keeping track of each other's progress and heard that Chardonnay had been lifted from Carlyle lake, loaded on a truck, and currently resides at Swan Point marina, located just over two miles from here. Kintala is allergic to dock fees at the moment and this is the closest anchorage; so this morning James headed this way. His boat is still on the hard (of course) so he drove to the parking lot that lies along side the bay. That still left about 400 feet of cold water between us.

Bridging this final gap meant flopping the dink over the side and reuniting it with the outboard for the first time since Back Creek in Annapolis. That was when we discovered that our newly purchased motor would not actually motor anything. Randy fixed it in Oriental but we never had a chance to try it out. So I admit some trepidation when reaching for the pull cord. (This is no reflection on Randy's skills, just my experience with anything mechanical related in any way to Kintala.) And for a moment it appeared my fears were well founded. There was much relief when the motor eventually sputtered, caught, and then kept running. I smiled and waved at Deb which resulted in the motor immediately dying. That whole kill-switch-attached-to-the-wrist thing sounds like a good idea, but … I actually killed the motor several times this way. Good thing no one was close enough to see. Keeping hand on tiller I made a couple of circles around the boat and then Deb jumped aboard for a couple of more. I know it sounds pretty dumb but I've never driven a dinghy with a motor before and figured I should give it a try; lessen the risk of dumping James in the drink from the dink.

The dink is an unwieldy thing but it does get the job done. Loading James, some Captain Morgan Black and a six-pack of Blue Moon aboard we headed back to the main house. (Never miss a chance to have a friend pick up some needed supplies.) We had a great visit that included a couple of dolphins nosing around. Tales, catching up, a fantastic dinner, some more catching up, and it was after sundown when the dink made the return trip.

(Dinking at night must be an acquired taste, particularly on a cold, misty, pretty dark night. Can't say I enjoyed it much.) Getting the outboard secured and the dink on the deck after dark was another first but went well enough.

Tomorrow morning we intend to head out with the other two boats who have joined us for tonight.