Dinghy Freedom!

I don't think I can begin to describe the excitement we feel at finally being owners of a real dinghy.  Not than our other dinghies (yes, plural) weren't "real" - but neither of them worked well.  Actually, neither of them worked at all, truth be told.

The first dinghy was the one my family had on my mom and dad's boat when we were children, that is to say it was about thirty years old.  It was an 8 foot Achilles inflatable and the motor (which also saw it's hay day in the 80's) was a teeny tiny Johnson 2 horse that was actually so slow it was humorous to watch (when it worked, that is).  People actually pointed and laughed.  Hey, it was all in good fun.  We laughed too.

Then we lost that dinghy and were stuck in Georgetown, Bahamas for two weeks trying to scrounge up a new one.  Being dinghy-less more or less leaves you stranded on your boat which can get old, fast.  Desperate times called for desperate measures.

Luckily for us, we finally found and bought a used dinghy WITH a 5 horse power motor for $300.  We were thrilled!

What's that they say? "When something sounds too good to be true it usually is?"  Yeah.

Both the dinghy and motor were nothing short of lemons.  We cursed them regularly and they became the bane of our existence.  The motor was seen by at least three different mechanics in the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos and Hispaniola, to no avail.  When used, typically it would get us about half way where we wanted to go and then die.  Then we'd row.  Inflatable boats, by the way, don't row well at all.  After three months, the dinghy itself actually began to fall apart.  Something had to give.

And give we did!  We gifted that old thing to our Rasta friend, Ashley, as soon as we got to Grenada (full disclosure) and boy was that a happy day.  We wanted that thing gone and Ashley apparently wanted a project boat.  Good riddance!

We thought we were doomed to a life of dinghy dodginess until Island Water World came along and came to our rescue.

They made us a deal we couldn't refuse on a new 8 foot Carib Light and a new two-stroke 8hp Mercury engine.  We are so thankful, and we couldn't be more pleased.  The staff here in Grenada (and St. Maarten, and St. Lucia - we've actually shopped at all three) are fantastic and so helpful.  They were just as excited as we were about our new ride and made us feel right at home!  We even got Island Water World shirts and hats!

This opens up a whole new world of opportunity for us; we will now be able to go places much farther and much faster, we'll be able to safely check out far-flung snorkel spots, visit friends on boats a couple anchorages away and so much more.  Having this new dinghy to us is not unlike getting your first car.  The world opens right up!

HUGE thank you to Island Water World!  Sean and his team over there are excellent - check them out on Facebook to get all sorts of information from store deals to local happenings!