Always fill up

It's over... Memorial Day Weekend. It was great though, one of the best times I have had in a while. I LOVED having today off, it really made all the diferance.

So Friday night was fun, we went out, got some pizza, a few drinks and turned in before 12 in anticipation for Saturday. Saturday morning came and I was in my boat, on the water at 6:45 a.m. I love it. It's still cool out, no one is around, the whine of the outboard and the cool sea-misted wind in your face. There are few things better. I drove around looking for some shots and decided upon Little St. Simons Island. I parked the boat and, illeagaly because you are not supposed to go ashore here, hopped out with my gear and walked around. I got some good shots (which will be shared on Friday!). I wound up picking the rest of our party up at the boat ramp at around 10 a.m.

We had a great time on Pelican Spit. It's a little island off the coast of Sea Island, St. Simons and Littls St. Simons that is only accessible by boat. We played frisbee, went swimming and all got burned. This was about the time I started to wonder if I was going to have enough gas for the journey home. I had a extra 5 gallons in a can in the back of the boat, but I burned more than I though I would with all the folks in the boat. Luckily we had another boat with us so, if all else fails (I thought), we could have them tow us... We began our departure around 4 and I soon emptied that extra 5 gallons I had and shortly aftern that, was out. I hailed to the other boat, who reluctently confessed that they too were almost empty. We tied my boat to theirs and begain the 3-mile tow back to the ramp. After what seemed like hours (we were going VERY slow) the ramp came in sight and we neared our destination. 200 yards to go, the other baot cuts out... they just ran out of gas as well. Great. Again, luckly we knew another boat load of people that were out and hailed the on the radio. They were back in a jiffy and tied up to the boat towing us and brought us the rest of the way to the ramp. This is where the fun really began.

Because we were both out of gas, towing both of us to the dock was a challenge. The plan was to let me go, I'd set my anchor and wait until the they brought the other boat to the dock. The current was ripping here and the Mackay River ramp is a very tricky one to get to when the current is pushing. Everything would have went smoothly, had my anchor ACTUALLY caught. I couldn't get my anchor to grab as I drifted closer and closer to the oyster-covered bridge pilings knowing I was going to crash dead into them. About one minute to impact, the boat with gas finished towing the other boat and realized my predicament. They rushed over to throw us a rope, and in doing so missed and the rope was caught in their propeller and their boat stalled out. Here we both are, heading towards a concrete column, with the current and momentum from the other boat driving us. A guy from the newly-stalled boat has his arm down in the water attempting to untangle the rope when we collide together with the column. His arm gets crushed (although not broken as we thought), my boat gets scratched up, the other boat's whip-antenna gets broken (we are underneath a bridge at this time)... it was all pretty crazy.

My anchor finally set and they rushed the other guy (with the hurt arm) back to to the ramp while we waited. We eventually got back with no more problems and were back out at a party in about about an hour. All in all, a great way to spend Memorial Day weekend! Sunday was spent taking it easy, lounging on the beach and drinking and dancing my pants off at Gnat Fest!