The West Coast rains have moved in

The last six days have been wet, very wet.  The drought that has plagued the islands for the entire summer seem to be giving way to the rainy season...a little early I'm afraid.  It's needed through.  It was so sad to see how dry and brown these beautiful islands had become over the summer months.  There are water usage controls and fire bans everywhere.  It's been scary in terms of the fire potential, and sad looking at the gardens and park areas, so water is good. 


We had planned to go on another extended adventure in R'Dream over the next days, venturing north to Lund.  But the unpredictable weather and a scary event with the boat changed our minds, and we're going to ride along with friends instead.  


The scary time came on the way in from retrieving the crab trap on Sunday.  The weather wasn't very good, but the trap had to be brought in, it'd been left out long enough.  We headed out when the winds died to a manageable level, were rewarded by one Dungeness keeper in the trap, then headed back to the marina. 

Within minutes of when we should have arrived at the marina, the boat gave a lurch and a chug, and came to a halt.  The motors were running, but something wasn't right.  We limped her back into the marina, and scratched our heads. 


The next day we headed back to the boat.  I did some work on the computer and Cecil began exploring possibilities of what it might be that caused the problem.  After looking over all the parts that he could see, and finding nothing wrong, he decided that it had to be in the prop, guessing (correctly) that something had been grabbed and wrapped in the propeller. 


After waiting for the sunny day that never came to tackle it, we headed to the marina yesterday, and much to his chagrin, Cecil climbed into the freezing water to see what he could find.  He was right, as he cut of chunk after chunk of green, shredded tarp that must have been unseen just below the surface of the water as we rode past. 


He came close to getting it all done, but the cold water was getting the best of him, and I convinced him that he had to get out of the water.  I was afraid that hypothermia was going to set in if he didn't get in and get warmed up.  He finally agreed, frustrated that he didn't finish the job. 


Today we headed back over and did manage to complete the task.  Another shivery day for my husband, while I cheered on from the dry, upper deck.  It was a nasty job to have to do, but he did it, which left him feeling very satisfied that as things come up with the boat, we will figure them out and tackle them one thing at a time. 

So now she's ready for us to do more exploring next week, if Mother Nature decides to work with us.  If she doesn't, we'll figure out a plan 'B' as we go along!