Learning to row, row, row your boat...

Bobbie, another boater on our dock, gave Max an inflatable dinghy in exchange for Max doing some work for her.  He faithfully went over every day after school and helped clean up after the workers left her boat for the day.  He is now the proud owner of his own little boat now.

Max and his new dinghy

 Since there is no engine, we've decided that Max can row his new dinghy between A and B docks (there's no current there) since he'll have to learn to row anyway.  He has now started asking anyone sitting still if they will watch him since he has to be supervised.  I was able to snap a couple of photos while he was busy:-)

Time to move the boat

Max's first real dinghy ride

So it's time to move the boat...finally.  Unfortunately, the woman that was supposed to move it seems to think that whenever she gets to it is fine by us.  I've tried to explain that we have to have it moved and be living on-board by the 31st of the month, but she doesn't seem to get it.  Thankfully, the harbormaster at Rivers Edge has volunteered to help us out.  Smitty (a long-time resident) has agreed to captain our little boat for the move.  I am so thankful for the good people at the marina!

Max and I, along with Smitty and Paul have decided that the best course is to dingy out just before high tide and bring her in with the tide behind us.  I'm a newbie, so that's fine by me!  On the way, we'll be delivering a wooden dinghy to someone in Fish Island Marina.  Sounds like an adventure!

When we arrived at our new boat, we discovered that a little "piracy" had been going on while it was anchored unattended in the bay, but that's a story for another time.  Smitty and I pulled anchor while Max and Paul got our boat tied up to the dinghy for the push to Rivers Edge (did I tell you the engine had disappeared?).

After a lovely trip through the salt marsh, I am happy to say that our boat is secured to the docks and we are ready to start moving on.  Now the hard work begins...

Off to the races...the cardboard dinghy races that is!

Now that we have settled on which marina we are moving into, we are starting to socialize a little more with the residents.  Max has made a wonderful friend at Rivers Edge and has been invited to join in the cardboard dinghy races.  As you can see, their dinghy is rather elaborate (thanks to Jake's father) and was the most unusual in the race.  Unfortunately, they came in second (third actually, but the second one cheated and grabbed onto a powered boat to pull them over the finish line).

We wish that Jake lived full-time in the marina, but he and his father are from England and have to go back in a week for school.  They have promised that they will be back next year and may visit sooner than that.

I am so happy that everything seems to be working out well so far.  Let's hope that there are no mini-disasters between now and when we move the boat!