Ten Bay to Rock Sound

The awning worked as hoped last night, it kept the squalls away. There were actually no squalls at all. 

After taking measurements for the bungees on the other awnings we prepared to pull up the anchor. I pushed the button to start the engine fan and when it beeped I pushed the starter button. The engine turned over once and everything shut off. Oh no! What could be wrong?  George’s first thought was that the key for the engine battery has been jostled when he was moving things in the “garage”. He turned the key, I tried the engine again and the same thing happened. He checked the engine battery voltage reading on the control panel and it read 13 volts. To be sure he checked it with a voltmeter. That also looked good.  George looked at the battery to make sure the connections weren’t corroded. They looked good.  I scanned the manual but didn’t find anything helpful. Finally, George used a flashlight to make sure the battery key was actually in the “on” position. It wasn’t. He turned it to on and the engine started right up. Phew!  Crisis averted. 

We motorsailed south to Rock Sound. After dropping the anchor we dinghied to shore and walked over to Dingell’s Motors where we inquired about laundry. The cashier said there is a woman named Janet who will wash, dry and fold it, or we could take it to a laundromat. I said we would like to have Janet wash it. She called Janet on the phone and handed the phone to me. Janet and I agreee that I will drop the laundry at Dingell’s before 8:00 am and she will return it by 5:00. We had read on Active Captain that other people have used her service and thought it was reasonable. 

As George and I walked back toward the dinghy dock we noticed the sign for Ocean Hole. We turned at the sign and eventually came to a small park beside a very large blue hole. It qualifies as a blue hole because, even though it is on land, it is fed by seawater. The sign said it was 600 ft deep. As we looked down into the water we saw several fish, including a few very large tropical fish. I suspect they are very well fed.