Freeloaders...

Having arrived in Charleston the ‘real’ work of prepping the boat for haul out began. We took down sails, did maintenance, touched up sewing projects, packed and more. It was a lot of work but we were finally ready.

On haul out day we discovered a few surprises. We had picked up some freeloaders along the way. A tree frog had found his way into our cockpit and seemed quite content to just sit in the shade. He wasn’t very happy when Dave caught him in a towel and pitched him overboard. He did, however, find his way back to the stern of the boat where he sunned and dried himself for a while before taking off for the great unknown.

We also picked up a snake. Dave first saw him on the morning of the haul out underneath the boat in the outlet drain for the bathroom sink. When Dave inspected the drain closer he didn’t see the snake and thought the slimy little guy had gone. Not to be. The day after haul out we found him sticking his head out of the outlet drain again. He appeared to have had crawled deeper up the sink drain and Dave couldn’t see him on initial inspection. To get him out we ran water through the sink drain until he popped out and then lured him away from the boat. Hopefully we won’t see him or any of his cousins again.

We have yet to meet some of the other local critters. (And hope we don't!) We've been told there are hogs, bobcat and even a 3 foot alligator in residence. Should be interesting!

The Admiral
4/30/09 – 5/8/09