Day 18 - All the buzz in Garden
South River Bay is a really nice place and we like it here. However, the weather has been crappy and the shore access is hard with Kona. I’m not liking getting her to shore only 2x a day so after we lazy slept in and took Kona to shore we hauled anchor and took a short sail up to Garden Bay. We had sails up right away and had a real sail. It was only an hour until we were at our destination and we enjoyed having the engine off.
We dropped anchor and spent a few hours aboard making breakfast and catching up with news and friends as we had some cell service again.
Around 4pm we decided to get Kona to shore and found that we are also half a mile from any landing spot here in Garden as well. To me, as a puppy mom, I’m starting to get very frustrated. We have an electric trolling motor for our dinghy. We have three golf cart batteries we use in rotation that we charge via solar power. Each battery, at full charge, gets us about two miles and we hardly ever have a full charge. The lake levels are down making approaches very shallow. I am going to order Kona girl a new grass mat and re-teach her to relieve herself onboard. I know she thinks too much of herself as a lady, however I feel like I’m pushing her bladder limits and that isn’t fair or healthy for her. Shore anxiety was one of my biggest stressors last summer as well and something I need to keep in mind as we explore more remote places with a dog.
We took the dinghy all the way to the end of the bay and went up Garden creek. It was a beautiful ride among the wet lands. The water thick and black with tannins. We had to play frogger and go around pods of lily pads; their flowers closed for the day, but really neat to see up close.
The end of the little creek was met with drainage culverts. And a “bridge” for the 5 cars that go over it every day. There was a concrete block at the end with a rebar hook so we tied up there and then scaled the culverts and on to the street.
Garden is a beautiful very small town. We landed about a block from the post office. We walked the little bit of town. Found one of the restaurants, the township hall and what looked like an really old elementary school that was about to fall in with a creepy “books” sign outside. I’m pretty sure this would be a trap for any of my bookworm friends. Ha!
We headed to the gas station as we had heard they had an amazing little grocery store with high quality meat. Captain also wanted to see if they sold diesel just incase he wanted to fill a jug for Ciara. We ended up being very impressed with said meat selection, I even bought a package of their inhouse homemade beef jerky. Captain forgot to check if they sold diesel.
The few locals we met had all suggested the other restaurant in town over the one we saw. That place was a mile down the road. Half way from where our boat was. We decided to take Kona girl back to the boat and go out to dinner. We moved some stuff around with batteries so we could feel confident making it all the way. We have had three days of overcast. We have yet to have to use our generator but the solar is starting to not keep up. I hope we get sun soon.
The approach to the Dock Bar and Grill was shallow. The water is clear out in the bay and we glided over old hard wood making it evident that there used to be shipbuilding or foresting here at some point. The entrance to the little marina to the restaurant was super shallow. Just barely scrapping in to the empty marina. We joked we must be the first boat customers of the year as they will need to get that dredged before anything larger than our little dingy can get in.
We came in the back door of the restaurant and sat down at the bar. The bar had lovely large picture glasses overlooking the bay and very nice.
We hadn’t even ordered drinks and the gentleman next to me started chatted. “Wait, where did you guys come from? You came up those stairs there from the water??” A little confused I gave him our calling card and starting chatting about where we were from and our boat and all that.
Being the small town it is, he was interrupted by other locals and Captain and I ordered or drinks and dinner. It was during this time the gentleman revealed to all the other locals who we were and before we knew it, we were surrounded by a group asking for our card, asking about our adventures and giving us open invitations to come be social with them at their homes/properties. We had a grand time and we closed the place down leaving about 8:45 after they closed at 8. We felt like local celebrities and hope we can see some of them tomorrow. And it turns out…we were the second boat customers of the year…just missed the title by half a day. And my prime rib dinner was delicious.
We got back to Ciara just shy of 9pm. Which means our little rides take over 10 minutes! I played Taps and we enjoyed a rather pleasant sunset up on deck while I indulged in a freeze-dried ice cream bar.
I hope to spend at least one more day here. The weather forecast is improving. There is supposed to be a big blow on Tuesday and I’m going to have a serious 1st mate chat with Captain about moving down to Fayette either later Sunday or Monday to save my Kona potty anxiety as I don’t think we will be able to get her to shore on Tuesday at all with the blow. Fayette is only an hour from here and is one of our favorite places. Kona loves it and I know I can take good care of her for our last few days here before we head to Cedar River, our home marina for the first time.
Tomorrow I’d really like to test defrosting our freezer unit as the frost as finally taken over. We are still trying to maximize the use of things efficiently and the refrigeration has always been a delicate balance. I’m also highly considering climbing down into the bilge to tighten our packing. It is a really hard job and it takes a lot of mental work up for me as not to freak out with the tight space. I’m the only one who can fit down there. The main bilge is going off about every hour. That means our drip rate is just a little too much and I need to go down and tighten them a bit. Don’t worry, all of you who don’t know boats. There is a hole in the boat where the prop comes in. It is meant to leak very slowly to aid in lubrication. Eventually it needs a little tightening as it wears down the seal. Captain tells me when Ciara is on the hard every many years he has to completely change the packing. That is only done OUTSIDE of the water though! We are rapidly coming up on our three crazy exchange weekends that will kind of break up things here for a bit. I need to get my lists in order and I’m not looking forward to the “logistic” days of driving a lot, doing laundry, grocery and all the work. However, I am looking forward to seeing the kids!
