Back to Pier 77

     Sitting forlornly hard aground off the channel, we watched as the barges and occasional pleasure boat glided easily by.  The occupants straining their necks to see the yacht stuck in the mud.  Rick Ryan appeared in a boat to aid us and after assessing the situation indicated the best course would be to wait for high tide and try to get off, rather than take a chance on doing damage to the boat by trying to tow it backwards.  We cooled our ambitions and waited. Even though it was only about an 8 inch tide we were able to power off and return to Pier 77 on our own.  Rick and helpers were waiting to help us get tied up.  Next morning Docs Holiday was lifted. I fully expected to see major damage to hull, shaft, struts, and props....Thank you  Chris Craft...They built one hell of a stout boat..only some paint off the keel and minor damage to props. Struts rudders and stabilizers...no problem.  The props were sent back to the prop shop and while we waited for their repair the boys got busy waxing and compounding the minor scratches out of the the hull. Back in the water Jan. 17,  I paid the bill and thankfully noted --no charge from Pier 77 for coming out to assist us or for touching up the bottom job.  Rick and Robbie were both there to help us launch and with a friendly hand shake we said we would test the boat for vibration ...if none...we would keep on going.  Ugh, we should have stayed.

                                         
                                                 Going back into the water.....round 2!!
                                                                             
      Oh, the boat ran fine, up to 17 knots, no vibration, and handling well.  No the problem was not the boat.  No, how should I say this?  The problem was ..ahem... a slight miss-calculation in anchoring. Even though Beth said, "I don't like that spot--active captain ( the web site we use to determine not only if there are any obstructions to passage, but the quality of marinas, repair yards and yes...anchor sites) says its rocky/rolly and the holding isn't all that good."  I decided it would be OK for the night if we anchored and checked our holding when the wind change occurred in the evening.( It was giving a front moving in with 15 to 25 knot winds which would clear out this thick fog that was now settling in...gulp!) Maybe I was a little bit nervous about crossing the gulf with night approaching almost as fast as the fog was, but damned if I was going back to Pier 77 and embarrass myself again.

                        Only good thing about this anchorage was the dolphins in our bow wake.

     Well the fog surrounded us and the wind picked up and I realized we were in trouble when Docs Holiday slid from about 100 yards to 20 yards from the sail boat that was anchored behind us.  The anchor alarm didn't sound.  It was only because of our alertness ( due to the feeling of impending doom when we couldn't see the huge tankers rocking our boat in the fog!!!) that we averted a disaster, lifted our anchor, (along with half of the mud from the bottom of Galveston bay) and pulled into the Galveston yacht club fuel dock and tied up safely for the night. Aw, come on...nobody could have this much trouble in the first week of what was to be a journey lasting at least 6 months...or could they? What's next??  When I asked Tom, "When are we going to start having fun?"  He looked at me and smiled, "I'm already having fun!"