6th - 7th May.2019 Back Aboard

sunrise in Factory Creek, Beaufort SC

After our visit with Bob and Helene, we had use of the rental car for some extra time …. there was very little difference in cost for a 4 day vs. a week's rental …. which made life a little easier when we needed to pick up the outboard after its' servicing, and complete some shopping. 

While we had the car we revisited Hunting Island. We had been there decades ago with our children, Bob and Helene and their children, and my sister Margaret. It's a semitropical barrier island designated as a State Park where no development is permitted. It's pristine beaches are unique....

Hunting Island State Park

mother nature left alone

signs of erosion

Serenada's stay in Beaufort, SC was coming to an end. Servicing of the outboard brought it back to life :)  Woo hoo! No more rowing.  Gil went back up the mast one last time to reinstall the anchor light that Bob had helped him repair.

up there for the 4th time - reinstalling the anchor light

We reprovisioned. Gil picked up a crab pot (from Walmart). It seemed as if things were finally looking up for us :)  It seemed that way until... sputter ... sputter … sputter .... the outboard quit! WT_?   We hadn't had it back for 24hr.  

Thankfully we hadn't returned the car yet. Row...  row...  row your boat back to shore; try not to throw our backs out while lifting the outboard off the dinghy, onto shore, and up the boat ramp and into the trunk of the rental. Back to Butler Marine where we left it one more time. Would we have to replace the outboard? Would we ever get the family car (our dinghy) back? 

Before we got out of the parking lot, Butler Marine was already phoning us. Could we please bring in the gas tank and line? Turned out that the outboard wasn't getting fuel because the fuel line was blocked. I wished I had taken a photo of the blockage - we didn't think that issue was possible. We were thankful that a new fuel line was all that was needed; but we were also left wondering if that was all that was needed since the get go? Since Florida? We've been rowing and trying to fix it ourselves for how long? Jeez. We're getting too old for this.