Dinghy Tag - You're It!

We've moved! Just a bit. We're now anchored off of Honeymoon Beach on Water Island in St. Thomas.

North 18.19.014

West 64.57.629

 

I love the cruising life, and our cruising friends--but you already know that.

Our dingies are crucial to our happiness. We need the dinghy for pretty much everything – going ashore, going to visit on another boat, going to the beach. Once we get into a port and on the hook, the dinghy becomes our only vehicle. When a dinghy has to be repaired, while there may be “service stations” or repair shops, there are no “loaners”, and that can be a problem.

For a couple of weeks, we had two Lunah Landahs. The Old Gray Mare, the incredibly disintegrating dinghy, the former Lunah Landah still works, but not well. She has an inflatable floor that doesn’t, so it’s a really squishy step from boat or dock to dinghy. Nevertheless, our friends on s/v Sanctuary asked us if we would please bring her back from Puerto Rico so they could borrow her while they repaired their dinghy.

“No problem,’ said EW. “We’ll have to use her while we paint and put Keel Guard on the new La Luna, anyway. You can have her first, and then we’ll take her back for that.”

Then our friends from s/v Kookaburra went back to Florida for a 90th birthday party, so Sanctuary used Kookaburra's dinghy while they repaired their own dinghy. Again, no problem for us, we’ll just get started on our own project – as soon as we find someplace we can safely leave Lunah Landah for two or three days.

In the meantime, EW heard that Sandy Dreams had a new, used hard fiberglass dinghy that they were excited about fixing up. They both have jobs here and wanted to be a “two dinghy” family. Well, actually, they are now a three-dinghy family with their aluminum dinghy, the new/old fiberglass one, and a very large, flat-bottomed inflatable which leaks. Their plan is to get rid of the inflatable, so they have space underway for the two more reasonably sized hard dinghies on their massive deck. (You see where this is going, yet?)

Sandy Dreams stopped by one day to see our new dinghy and offered use of their leaky inflatable and their massive back deck to work on Lunah Landah.  Well, that works. Then, Kookaburra stopped by to ask if they could use/have our The Old Gray Mare, because they were going to be a two career family for a while and needed a second boat. We listed all of that dinghy’s problems, he said, “No worries,” and EW dumped the dinghy and it’s pump onto their hard fiberglass tender.

Have I lost you, yet? Everyone who needs a dinghy has a dinghy, and we had space to fix Lunah Landah. How big is Sandy Dreams massive deck? I’ve said that three people could easily do yoga on it. See?  

Even better, that space came with a sweet resident dog, Sissy, who greets each guest – with kisses—as they come aboard. EW and I worked on the dinghy for two days (well, OK, I only worked for one day) and Sissy helped. She also, stayed out of the paint. Good dog.

Now that we’re done, Sandy Dreams will take back their dinghy (which we have named The Barge, because it turns like one) and will haul up their new/old fiberglass dingy and repair that. Afterwards, they’ll sell The Barge. One of us will take The Old Gray Mare to the dump when Kookaburra and Sanctuary (who has more repairs to do on their dinghy) are done with it.

And…*drum roll* …on Monday morning we dropped off The Barge, and retrieved Lunah Landah  in her new finery. Isn’t she beautiful? As Jenn from Sandy Dreams said, “This dinghy says  ‘I AM TAKEN’.” She’d be hard to steal. That’s the idea. Hopefully, she’s protected from sun as well.

Many thanks to Jenn, Ryan, and Sissy from Sandy Dreams for the use of their dinghy and deck. I love the cruising life.

Comments

[Heather]

I haven't been following your blog, but I will now. What a great look into a world entirely unfamiliar to me! Thanks for sharing it.

[joan]

like

[Darleen najera]

Awesome job! And Barb great posture! Hugs

[Barb]

Thanks, Darlene!

Loving the photos of Ava on Facebook!

Hugs!