Surrounded by Help!

So last you heard, we were still sitting at anchor off Sapelo Sound trying to fix our engine. Well, don't worry, we aren't still there; I've just been a slacker at keeping up with the blog. So, here goes:

Brad worked on the engine all morning while I did a few things around the boat, including a bit of blogging. Almost as soon as my blog hit the internet, we had help. A family friend contacted us and gave us the number for a good friend of hers who works on trawlers and is great with engines. Our boating buddies on "Bluewater Cat", who are currently up in Charleston, gave us a few options to mull over and try out. And, our brand new friends on "Iemanga" who loaned us the tools the other night, emailed us to give us some ideas as well.

We immediately contacted the engine guy and Brad spent some time going over the problems with him. With a couple of pictures sent back and forth and a bit of trial and error, he was able to quickly diagnose the problem - it was somewhere down our cable from the batteries to the engine. So, Brad set to work checking out every inch of every cable. Luckily, the problem was very obvious once he knew where to look. One of our connectors at the solenoid had completely corroded, to the point that when he touched it, it just came crumbling off in his hand. And then - as if our lucky streak had changed - we actually had the spare part we needed to fix it on board!! What a miracle!!


This is starting to be a common sight on our boat - Brad with he head in the engine:

Within an hour Brad had the part replaced, hooked up and the engine running. Hallelujah!! We hauled up anchor, even though it was afternoon and decided to get a few miles under our keel. Right as we were pulling back onto the ICW, our friends on "Iemanga" hailed us on the VHF. They were right behind us and had seen us hoist the anchor. They were happy we had gotten the problem fixed as they had been racking their brains for a solution, digging out tools that might help us and were planning on stopping to see if they could help!

So, our luck seemed to have been changing back in our favor and it was all due to the quick thinking of some great friends and a few strangers! The generosity of strangers never ceases to amaze me - especially in the boating world!!

We made it ten miles up the Ditch and then anchored for the night next to our friends on "Iemanga". We headed over to their boat for some sundowners and to finally get to know these people who had been so enormously generous with us!

We traveled with a few other sailboats in the afternoon - one of those is "Iemanga":

The following morning we upped anchor and traveled the rest of the way to Savannah. Instead of heading in to the marina however, we opted to anchor just a mile South and spend the evening on the hook. It was a beautiful evening and we had a few things we wanted to get done before we headed in. Tomorrow (Sunday) we will check in to the marina bright and early - we are eager to finally make it to Savannah!!