Always an Adventure

This morning we borrowed the marina’s courtesy car and drove 20 minutes to the north side of the island to Harbourside Marine. George did an excellent job of remembering to drive on the left side of the road, and managed to avoid most of the potholes. Once we arrived at Harbourside the process of buying the new motor went smoothly. A staff member even took the motor out of the box and helped load it in the trunk. Then, when George tried to start the car, the engine turned over once then not at all. It wouldn’t even try to start. After a few phone calls George was finally connected with someone familiar with the car. She said it was probably the battery terminal. Sure enough, George opened the hood and found one terminal was quite loose. After turning it and tweaking it a few times—we had no tools—the car started. I wanted to stop at the store for some fruits and vegetables but we decided George should remain in the car with the engine running while I did the shopping. We made it back to the marina just under our two hour limit.

George returned our car keys and asked if someone could help get the motor out of the car and onto the dinghy. We had a plan all worked out where we would put the dinghy in the water, move it around to the bow of Breeze On, and use the spinnaker halyard to lower the motor onto the dinghy. In the end, one guy lowered himself into the dinghy, the other guy took the motor out of the cart and handed it down to the first guy, who attached it to the dinghy. By the time I grabbed my phone to take pictures it was all done. They made it look so easy.

We celebrated by taking the dinghy out for a spin through the marina and then dinner at the marina restaurant. Our dinner entertainment was watching the setup for an outdoor wedding. Unfortunately, the wedding was rained out but was moved inside and everyone seemed to take it all in stride.

We plan to leave Palm Cay Marina tomorrow morning. It is tight quarters in here and I am a bit nervous about how it will go with the crosswind we have. I will let you know.