You know you have arrived at the Benjamin Islands by the distinctive red rocks that make up the islands. They can be seen from quite a distance and there are a lot of them. We navigate a tricky rock area and enter South Benjamin Bay. There are several boats there but it is a nice serene location. With a lovely sunset, we end the night with anticipation of tomorrow and going ashore to explore.

When we first get the dinghy down it is surprising how easy it was. Then we attached the motor and… nothing. It just runs a bit and dies. Shawn tries for a long time and we finally realize that we have to bring the motor back on board and take it apart. It is probably the carburetor. Oh goody.

While I hold on to the motor Shawn takes it apart right in the cockpit. The carburetor is full of gunk and he is able to clean it up just fine. It takes about 4 hours. No kidding. Ugh. We have high hopes that it will work as we lower it back on the dinghy. No go. We will not even start now so back on board it goes and we plan to row ashore.

As I bring the oars to the boat I start to walk down the ladder with them. I realize that I am not able to walk down the ladder with 2 oars and get into the dinghy. The problem was that I already had forward momentum by the time that I realized this. In the water, I go with 2 oars and a smack on the head. Such fun. AND to top the day off we lost a fender. Not our best day.

The islands here are made up of huge rocks. I mean larger than boulders rocks. We climb up one area with the hopes of crossing the whole island but it seems the rocks do not connect and there is a very dense forest in between. We end up walking around the little bay where we had pulled up the dinghy. It was a neat little place.

One thing we say that you do not see very often-a plane tied up to the back of a boat.  The cutest little commuter plane!   We saw a few around the islands over the next few days.   I guess one can go to work on a plane and come home and tie up to the back of your boat home at night.   Nice way to live!

While we were walking on the island we noticed a charter boat and 2 other anchors near us in the cove. It looked like they were close but hard to tell. By the time we returned to our boat, there were 2 boats rafted and 1 right next to it. Lots of kids and adults and noise. When we woke up the next morning the boats that were rafted together had drifted quite a bit.   Luckily it was away from us. Time to move! So far-4 bruises, one stubbed toe and a bump on the shin, one knock on the head, one dead outboard, and one fall off the boat.