The Whaler is Fixed!

Yesterday was a great day.  The Whaler was fixed and Pam and I took it out for a shake down cruise.  I motored at a leisurely pace until I got outside the no wake zone, and then I opened it up.  The 40 HP Evinrude put the 13 foot Whaler up on plane easily.  We were zooming along, wind in our hair... OK, Pam's hair... when the motor sputtered and died like it ran out of gas.   I got it restarted and ran up on plane again, and again it died.  On the next restart, a buzzing alarm went off.   The motor seemed to be running fine and it was spitting water like it oughta so we slowly motored up to the little beach just south of the Skidaway Bridge.  This is a nice little park right on the ICW.  

For you fishermen and women passing by on the ICW, there's also a bait shop here, Band's Live Bait, open seven days a week from 6:30 AM to 5:30 PM.   No debt, cash only reads the handmade sign.

I think this is a great idea- loaner life jackets for kids.  Kids don't float!

I love the birds in Georgia, which are plentiful.    This is a grackle, I think.

Another.

Laughing Gull.  

Red Breasted Georgia Peach.

We then motored back to the marina.  The engine ran perfectly all the way.  Maybe it just needed to be run for awhile.  We picked up Ruby and Chevy to take them for their first Whaler ride.   Life jacets a must until we know how they handle "the little boat".

Nothing fazes Chevy, but Ruby was very nervous and shook like a leaf the whole boat ride.  We told her she was going to go swimming and I think she thought we might throw her off the boat or something.  Once we headed for shore, though, she got very excited.  She leapt off the boat just as the bow hit  the only-slightly-muddy beach.

Chevy just stood there, checking his bearings.  Not Ruby.  She needed to run!  Chevy got the idea and they were off!

Running is fun, but it's more fun in the water!

Know what else is fun?  Blowing  bubbles!

Run run run!

Blow more bubbles!

Run some more!

The Georgia low country is most beautiful.   We were on a little island with the ICW on one side and a marsh on the other.

Sammy says he's seen alligators on the far side of that marsh.

Is that an alligator track?  A fresh, just made alligator track?

Fun facts- alligators have five toes on their front feet and four on their back and leave a trail as they drag their tail behind them.  See the tail mark along the lower track?

The tide was going out and the Whaler was getting beached.   Time to go.

We even saw dolphins on the ride back.  A perfect day!

Perfect for us, that is.  The dogs thought it was great too until they had to get their baths to wash off the low country mud.

In Gertie news, no news yet.  Still waiting to get the results of blood tests.

She looks and acts fine, except for the wheezing when she can't breathe.

Tomorrow's blog teaser-  meet someone doing the Great Loop in an unusual way.  I was going to put it in today's blog but I want time to research him in more depth to do him justice.