Date: 06/09/07/Depart: 1900 PI Fingers / Arrive 2120 SPI Sea Ranch Marina / Wind: SE 12-15 / Temp: 86 deg F / Water: Stained / Seas: 1-2 (Bay) / Skies: Prtly Cldy

The tides can either work for you, or they can work against you

- Captain Ron

After so much work the past several weeks, we had talked about just getting away for a couple of days, take the kids and maybe go over to the Island and catch the Bongodogs….turn off the phones….sleep late, you know the whole enchilada.

Tried to catch up on a few things on Saturday, including the gawd-awful lawn. It was about 18” high and by the end, I hated it more than ever. Finally after some heated discussion, we just threw a few things in a couple of bags, and headed down to ‘Div.

I opted to motor across as I had not exercised the engine in awhile and daylight was falling by the wayside, not enough time to rig sails. So we cleared the harbor mouth and the treacherous sandbar on a falling tide, sliding out into the bay. Kicking the RPM’s up to 2500 we slipped along at 7 knots. ‘Divs iron heart is vastly powerful for her size – 30 horsepower, and she’ll bury the stern platform under heavy throttle…..like her former owner Art likes to say; “You could pull a shrimp net behind that boat”, and so I thought about him too as we slid along across an almost empty bay, motoring past Double Sunshine and a couple of runabouts.

Making the turn into Sea Ranch harbor on the South end of the Island, I cut the throttle to idle, nosing up to the old fuel dock, which now belongs to the County. I had checked it out with the park manager on Friday and learned that it is only leased out during TIFT. There was a pontoon boat and a sport fisherman side tied, so I decided to tie outside the pontoon boat, waiting until the sport fisherman (whom I assumed were dining at Dirty Als) left, at which time we could side tie next to the dock. We managed to get things sort of tied off just as the crew of the sport fisherman appeared and motored off. Kelani hand lined the bow from the deck of the pontoon boat, handing off the line to a bewildered looking kid of about 14 on the dock whom I had hailed and asked for a little help.

After we got everything squared away, we talked to the kid and his family. They were from Poteet (Strawberry capital of Texas) near San Antonio, and he had only seen sailboats “in a video game”, so I invited him to check out  Olivias quarters, her engine and gear….now that he was officially “crew”.

He left the boat wide eyed.

So we cleaned up, got a taxi to the ‘Dogs who were playing at Wanna-Wanna, and closed down the show around midnight, Getting back to the boat around 0100, we fell into an exhausted sleep……

Sunday we planned on going to Schlitterbahn Waterpark (across the road) for a little cool off time. Daytime temperatures are already enough to sear fajitas, and the water sounded delicioso. Alas though, we had left the passes in Port Isabel, so opted to ride “The Wave” (free shuttle), which took an hour or so to get there. No matter, by late afternoon we were in the water along with about a hundred thousand others…..

Earlier I had rigged the sails in anticipation of delivering the boat back to Port Isabel, but foolishly had neglected to consult the oracle….the tide chart, and to my horror when I returned the tide had fallen substantially. This of course would make it impossible for even Olivia with her shallow 3-foot draft to clear the treacherous sandbar at the entrance, so we had no other option but to stay another night………

We barbequed burgers, sausage and ribs for dinner, finally going below around midnight…..

And so yesterday I planned on sailing across at lunch time, which would’ve still given us sufficient water to clear the bar, but drats!, meetings and chingasos filled up the day and so once again, we lay alongside the County dock for the night, opting to stay aboard again, right in the middle of all the action.

I have covered up the main and mizzen again, unhanked the jib and baby sails and am remaining flexible about “when” we will cross back to the other side. We have entered another period of neap tides, all during the day and so……anybodies guess…

Today, I am taking my father to the doctor, so it looks like we won’t be able to catch the tide window again (insert gnashing of teeth here)…..but actually…..this Island living could get a little addictive….it’s sort of like a dress rehearsal, a prelude of things to come. The girls are comfortable, and Schlitterbahn beckons this evening…..maybe a little shrimp barby this evening, a few cool beverages…

Hey…being stranded by the tide might not be so bad after all!