Throwing in the towel...

We don't give up easy.  But, the situation with the dredging has made it frustrating to try to get our boat out.  The only exit we have is a canal two over from ours that has a low bridge... we can fit under that bridge at low tide, but that means you have to also come back in on a low tide.  We talked about going out yesterday, but low tide was early in the day, and it was a bit too chilly for that early of a departure.  Pretty much, the stars have to all align to get: a low tide happening at a time of the day you want to go out, knowing that it will be a short outing so you can get back in before the tide is too high for the boat to fit under that low bridge.

Looking at the tide charts and the hourly weather reports, I said to Joan, "Let's just pull the boat out today - we can stage the trailer in the Welcome Center parking lot, get out of here while the tide is low enough for us to get under that bridge, stay out as long as we want, then go to the ramp, pull the boat, and call it a winter boating season.  We're going to head out sometime in the next couple weeks, and I don't want to get caught with having to pull the boat when the weather isn't cooperative."

She was with me.  It was a lovely day - cool, crisp, not too much wind, and plenty of sunshine.

Heading out our canal...

Getting ready to slide under that bridge...

I was just looking to enjoy some boat time - no destination, no plan.  We turned left, and were surprised at the commercial traffic in the turning basin...

That tug pushing the barges above didn't turn like we anticipated; we moved closer to our island to give him plenty of room and see what he was up to... looks like he was going to raft up to another tug with barges already there.  This big tug was coming in the Port Isabel Channel...

Looking back into the turning basin...

Of course, we always hope to see dolphins, but want to pull the boat at the warmest part of the day since I will be cleaning it in our driveway.  As luck would have it, our first view of dolphins today...

We came across 4 small groups, just two or three moving together, as we cruised down the ship channel.

These two came close to the boat, but were moving steadily east...

None of the groups were playful today, but we were delighted to get to see them one more time.

Knowing that we'd be pulling and cleaning the boat, we only took our pocket camera along - a new challenge for Joan.  We were out there long enough for Joan to put on a jacket.  It made it to the upper 60s, but the water temp is now cooler than that.

One last shot of two dolphins in the sparkly water before heading for the ramp...

Another look at the unusually busy turning basin docks...

We made a plan for retrieving the boat: we'll tie off at the dock at the ramp, Joan will walk up to get the vehicle and trailer. she'll back it in, and I'll drive the boat up onto the trailer.  Coming in to the ramp area...

No one else is there, and the gate is locked.  We have the combination for that lock, so all is good.  As Joan was unlocking the gates, two women pulled up with a boat to launch.  OK, new plan: I'll back off from the ramp dock, let them get launched, when they pull their trailer out, Joan will back ours in, and I'll drive it up on the trailer.

That plan almost worked - if you look close, you will see that the boat in the photo above has their prop out of the water.  She started the engine - couldn't understand why the boat wouldn't back off the trailer.  I hollered to tell her to "Put the motor down!"  She gave it more throttle; yes, with the prop still out of the water.  She tried to put the motor down, but it wouldn't go.  "Turn it off, raise it a bit, and release the the motor rest!"  She was close, she did all of that except turning off the motor.  All told, she ran that thing for about 2 minutes without water getting to the motor... hopefully, she didn't fry the impeller.  I was looking for a pee stream as she went by, but she was hauling ass.  I said to her, "You don't have to hurry - this is a no wake area!"

Once she was clear, I headed back towards the ramp as Joan was backing the trailer down.  I drove the boat up, she hooked the bow strap, I hopped off the boat and pulled us up the ramp.  Back to our house to start the clean-up.

It had only been about 3 weeks since we put the boat back in.  During that time, this was only the 4th time we were able to get out; two of those times were on either side of Christmas Day when the dredge operation was shut down.  I used the power-washer, but the hulls were pretty clean.  We took all the "soft goods" off the boat, I flushed the motor, disconnected the fuel line, and ran the remaining fuel out of the motor.  I washed the sides of the boat with soapy water and rinsed it all down - it is looking good.  I siphoned the remaining fuel out of the boat tank and put it in the Honda.

Tomorrow, we'll put it away in our storage unit.

The weather weasels are predicting a chance of rain Tuesday through Thursday, so this is (hopefully) good timing.  I'll miss having the boat at the dock.  The dredge operation should be done (no guarantees of that, since it was supposed to be done 10 months ago) by the time we get back from Arizona.