March 9, 2023
As mentioned in my previous post, there’s an island near Beaufort, SC called Morgan Island, but is better known as Monkey Island.
4,000 rhesus monkeys infected with Herpes B inhabit this small space. Even though we aren’t able to set foot on the island, we wanted to cruise by in hopes to catch a glimpse of a monkey.
Coda went ahead to the next destination (he didn’t want to get bit by a monkey and turn into a zombie) while Lil Sudden and Saga took a small detour to try and spot some monkeys. I was pretty confident we wouldn’t become zombies.
Boris manned the helm while I searched the coastline with binoculars; however, the lush vegetation made it difficult to spot anything. Just as I was about to give up, I noticed a mamma and her baby high up on a tree branch close to the beach. Boris radioed over to Lil Sudden so they could see it too.
There we sat, letting the current slowly carry us while we watched the monkey in the tree. When we were finally ready to continue on our trip, Lil Sudden calls over: their dinghy tow line got sucked under and is now tangled around their propeller and shaft.
Both boats quickly drop anchor and Boris gathers his dive gear to swim over, hoping to untangle the line and be on our way. Unfortunately, Lil Sudden informs us that there may be damage as there is water inside.
Boris dives down, discovers that not only is the dinghy line caught, but there is also a line from a former crab trap wrapped around. The current is picking up and he is unable to untangle the lines.
Current continues to pick up and Boris is unable to swim back. I lower the dinghy and head out to tow him back. He grabs onto the side, but is too heavy and I am unable to return to the boat. I continue to veer left with the current while the boat is on our right. He tries to switch sides, but are unsuccessful. Finally, he removes the gear and throw it into the dinghy and I finally manage to get us back to Saga.
It is decided that Lil Sudden will operate on one engine (with Saga following) to a local marina and see if a mechanic can assess the damages. While at the marina, Boris does one final dive and has success! He is unravels the tangled lines from the shaft, but Lil Sudden still has needed repairs, but I’ll let Lil Sudden continue their story on their blog.
While we waited for a decision on what to do, the Hodaks had a paper airplane flying contest.
We are able to finally leave, but not able to catch up to Coda and decide to anchor for the night. We will catch up tomorrow and hopefully reach Charleston.
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