Cumberland With Ryan - Post #6

“To me, nothing made by man is more beautiful

than a sailboat under way in fine weather,

and to be on that sailboat is to be

as close to heaven as I expect to get.”

Robert Manry, Tinkerbelle, 1965

Mid April, 2013....

The dates tend to blend together, but sometime in Mid April Erin's oldest son, Ryan Sawyer, came down to log some time on Glory Days... and what a great trip it was.  After some work on the boat, we directed our energies toward sailing to Cumberland Island.  Here' s a shot of Ryan going up the mast of Glory Day's to replace the light bulb on the steamer light... Thanks Ryan!  Heights are not one of my favorite things, Ryan's good nature and youth won out to make this repair a "glowing " success...

Also, this was the first opportunity for me to christen the new dinghy... for landlubbers, a dinghy is a little inflatable boat, that is powered by a little 2.5 hp Mercury outboard... the dinghy basically serves as a sailor's "car" to get back and forth from the boat to the land when at anchor.

Joe and Ryan on a mission.

A must have for anchoring out...

Dad's little motor.

I have a fond attachment for this Merc engine seen here at sunset.  This was the engine my Dad, quite the fisherman, would use to fish along the Carabelle flats on the Florida panhandle for many years.  It's like a scared little engine that I really baby and honor it in his memory.  It runs great and I know he would be proud to know it is powering the dinghy for his son's sailboat that finally came in.  He was quite the sailor too...he got me started in all this.
 In fact, he did all kind of stuff, and in my eyes, he could do or build most anything.... 

Since I'm on the topic of Dad, I will include this YouTube link called "My Dad Taught Us How To Fish".... He passed Dec. 17, 2011, but lives in my heart everyday. Click here for a video tribute :  My Dad Taught Us How To Fish

So back to the Cumberland connection... Ryan and I stowed the boat with lots of good eats, full tanks of water, and a gung ho gusto to get us moving.  Fishing would be a priority as 2 dudes tossed away the dock lines on Friday afternoon in April.

Here's a few pics of me and Ryan putting Glory Days through her paces and exploring the pristine, gorgeous, ever mystical Cumberland Island, GA. 

Cumberland Lighthouse

Here is Ryan holding a clump of oysters he gathered from the the shoreline at low tide.  It took about an hour and some scraped knuckles, but he ended with with a dozen 

The dinghy is launched at sunset...

Ryan was hoisted to the mast to replace the steamer light...

Under way... sometimes you gotta go the long way around the markers to get where you wanna go.

Wild horse on Cumberland Island.... one of many to be seen later...

Great anchorage spot.

Yippee - I - Oh!  ArmadillO!

We decided not to go swimming.