July 9 - Bootleg Bay, Gilford Island - This post is not appearing in the right chronological order...the blog will make more sense if you read the posts in order

Today we traveled to Bootleg Bay.  Bill thought it was big enough for two boats but on seeing one boat in there decided we could all squeeze in.  Indeed, there was ample room for all three boats if we anchored and tied our sterns (the back of the boat) to shore.  However, that did not mean that we (Rob and I) would pull it off with ease.  I will spare you most of the gory details but will reveal that our guest, Ron ended up in the water.  He is fine.  This is what happened.  We dropped our anchor in what seemed like a good spot but it took us too long to tie our stern to shore and in the meantime, the wind was blowing us too close to Eileen and Bill's boat.  In the result, Bill needed to quickly lift anchor and move away (sorry Bill).  That was bad enough but what followed was absolute "Keystone Cops".  With our anchor down, I traveled to shore in the dinghy with guest Ron.  Ron took the stern line, went ashore and climbed up some rocks to tie the line to a dead tree.  On his way down, Ron slipped on a slimy rockface and slid right into the water, between the dinghy and the rock.  In his life jacket, he popped back up quickly and scrambled into the dinghy.  I was extremely alarmed but he maintains that he suffered no physical injury.  We then attempted to get back to the big boat with the stern line.  Alas, the line had gotten stuck on one of the dead tree's branches.  Despite my protestations, Ron insisted that he be the one to go back up the rock and unhook the line.  He did this well and we were on our way again.  Sort of.  The stern line was still showing great resistance and I was having a lot of trouble maneuvering the dinghy under these conditions.  While all of this was happening, Rob was standing on on the roof of the big boat shouting words of encouragement and praising our smallest achievements.  At least I think he was.  He could be seen gesticulating wildly and I could see that his mouth was opening and closing but  unfortunately, I did not hear a word; the wind, again.  In the end, with the stern tie incomplete, I returned to the big boat by dinghy.  Ron went aboard and Rob joined me in the dinghy.  Rob took the wheel because at this point, I really wanted him to.  We had further mishaps due to technical inefficiencies which I shall not detail here.  However, we were ulimately well secured in this spectacular spot.  It is not every guest who will risk life and limb, fall in the ocean and then get back in the dinghy to drop the prawn traps with us.  Ron is that guest.  And Lisa is the epitome of calm: she took great pictures during the calamity but missed Ron's dunking because she was reading her book. 

Ron doing his thing pre-dunk

Lisa

Later the same night, Bill alerted us to dolphins swimming around our boats.  We all watched in delight as they rushed by, fishing for dinner during the high tide.  All's well that ends well.