Hardly worth starting the engines -- update

After three long days of boatin', today we were on the water for about ninety minutes. Our new home for the next few days isn't a marina, per se, but a working shipyard. That said it's extremely well groomed -- clean, mowed, picnic tables about, sturdy walls to tie up onto.


Russ picks up a rental car tomorrow, which we'll use a bit over the next three days while folks work on the boat. At least we hope that's the plan.

That floating log is an alligator. Pic taken at our dock in Indiantown.
And THAT'S why we wanted not to anchor.

Riverforest Yacht Center. Pretty nifty.

Update:

Wow. Everything can change in a moment. Tonight it did. Thankfully, everyone is safe and sound (I thought I'd give you spoilers and not leaving you hanging on the edge of your seat).

Eight pm in the dark and quiet is when we take the last walk of the evening. You can see from the picture that the wall is quite high compared to the deck of the boat. Additionally, we have fender on the wall plus a fender board to keep the boat from getting scratched. That does, however, push us a couple of feet from the wall.

Russ went first, stepping up onto land, and preparing to get a dog when ... Lizzie just jumped. My fault. I should have held them back. She didn't make the leap and fell between the boat and the wall. Her harness held for a moment then she slipped out of it and, ploosh! Into the water she went. And just as we were scrambling to get her out, Savannah also leaped, also missed, and also slipped out of her harness. Russ jumped into the water at that point. We had a flashlight with us, thankfully, and I could see the two pugs swimming between the boat and the wall. Russ grabbed one, Lizzie. In that time, however, Savannah vanished. "I can't see her!" Russ yelled over and over. I could hear her, though. I followed the splashing sound. "She's behind the dinghy," I called to him. The water was both warm and shallow (about 3 feet) so Russ easily moved about while holding one dog. He handed Lizzie to me on the swim platform in the back, then swam out to get the other dog because the twit(!) swam away from him when she saw him coming. I kept the flashlight on the second pug so he could see her. He got her. She and he safely got back on board.

They still needed a walk, though. We did better on the second attempt, getting the dogs safely to shore, walking them, and getting them back on board. That calmed everyone's nerves a bit, including the dogs. The events had us all shaking. We raised such a ruckus that a neighbor came out to see if he could give us a hand.

I wanted to give the dogs quick baths before bringing them into the house. I had brought pet shampoo. While Russ readied the hose, I got the bottle. When I got out, just as we were hosing them off, the skies burst open and a deluge of rain drenched all of us. I proceeded to wash them anyway only to discover the shampoo was ear cleaner.

Now I need to dry the rats. Towels we keep on the fly deck. Me and the dogs hustle up there, as it really starts to pour, while Russ went inside to peel himself out of his clothes and take a shower. We remained there for several minutes as the storm passed.

In hind sight, these were the best conditions for this to happen, calm water, warm water, shallow water. Now we know if a dog goes in (I hope it never happens again, but we are on a boat) what we need to do to get them out quickly. Next time we won't have to panic about what to do. Because now we know.