Okay, everyone...We are now back in the Islands. The trip down was it's usual adventure, flying and all. We ended up spending the night in Puerto Rico at the airport hotel...not too bad, but surely wasn't on the agenda.
We arrived full of energy to get the boat ready to be relaunched at the marina. The 1st few nights were spent at Scrub Island with Joe and Karen...sure was fun and relaxing. After we got the boat ready to relaunch, we had it lowered and got as far as a foot into the water when a leak was discovered. Had the boat rehauled to fix the leak (overnight) and spent the night on the boat hanging in the staps of the travelift. Whoopee.
The next morning we relaunched...and tried to start the engine...then came the starter problem...how does a starter go bad in 5 months without being used? Anyway, we had to have the boat towed to a slip, about 1/4 mile away, by a dinghy with 17 yr old Jeremy driving. I felt like we were in Keystone Kops movie. It was just a difficult tow...not that he didn't do a good job.
We are still waiting for our new starter to be installed. It wasn't on-island so had to be ordered...that took 6 days and it's been in the mechanic's possession since last Monday, 6 days ago, and we haven't seen him yet...I guess we are being reminded that we are now on "island time".
With 2 weeks here at the marina, we've had time to get reaquainted with old friends, make new ones...all the while spending time "sprucing" up the boat and making it nicer! Who says we don't know how to use our time wisely?
We are going to take pics and include them in the next blog...and we still haven't finished some of the ones pending for our "land-based" fun and traveling.
More to come soon...
Sandy and Karen
We (including Cody) were invited to raft the Cobarton run of the N. Fork of the Payette River with Tom and Krista. Tom's daughter and son-in-law, Terra and Garrett rode down with us in the cataraft. The scenery and the wildlife sure was great to see. We did see a small black bear cross the road in front of us as we headed up the hill to the area where we were to put the rafts in...don't get to see that often! We also saw some osprey and lots of other bird-type critters...no deer/antelope/elk/wolves/badgers, etc. I have a video of this trip posted on our YouTube website. Since this trip, I have visited relatives over in Yakima, WA...we are talking of a return to this river for a rafting trip next year. Tom and Krista are family now, so we'll probably talk them into it. You'all are on notice...mark your calenders for ~ July '11! 
