The Simple Fun Of Dingy Exploration

Published: Thursday, August 23, 2018
By: Ken Quant, Broad Reach Marketing

Dinghies have become a common site around marinas and anchorages these days. The once utilitarian shuttles of mooring ball tenants and serious cruisers, have now become a must-have accessory item for many boat owners. No matter if it’s a simple inflatable with a small motor, or a well-fit hard bottom with seats, steering wheel, and a stereo system, these tiny tag-alongs have become popular because they are simply one of the best ways to explore any waterfront destination. Their water-level perspective and unmatched ability to maneuver allows you to take them into areas the mothership could never dream of visiting. No need for fenders, just bump it up to any dock, boat, or beach, and off you go.

I realized the fun of dinghy adventures on my very first ocean sailing trip while motoring around some odd canals behind the Jack Tar Marina, in West End, Grand Bahama Island. Being young and dumb, a couple of us decided to explore the strangely abandoned network of waterways with the dinghy out of pure curiosity. After an hour or so of motoring around the canals seeing the wildlife common to the tropics for the first time, we ended up back at the marina where a Security Guard met us at the dock. In an unusually serious tone for a Bahamian, he told us to never go back in there again because those canals were used as a launch point for Florida-bound drug runners, and they didn’t much like visitors. Miami Vice was a big show at the time and it seems like we had accidentally stumbled into the show’s genesis.

Since that first, slightly misguided trip, I have always enjoyed taking the dinghy into places where few other boats can travel. From gator searching in the mangroves of the Florida Keys, to howler monkey hunting up the Monkey River in Belize, to sea turtle encounters in the Abacos, the humble dinghy has offered us some truly unique perspectives of the places we have visited during our boat trips. However, you don’t have to be in some exotic location to enjoy the simple pleasures of dinghy exploration.

We also like to keep a small inflatable docked next to the boat in our home slip. Actually, it’s a friend’s dinghy. She likes to keep it in our slip so she can get out to her small sailboat on a nearby mooring without launching it every time. Since we have full access to it, my wife and I like to use it to go visiting friends around the marina. We love just motoring it up and down the different marina fairways to see who’s onboard. There is just something about the sight of an exploring dinghy coming by the boats that brings out the best of the marina lifestyle. People always smile and say hi as you pass by, and friends tend to welcome you onboard at the spur of the moment to share a few stories and boat drinks. These impromptu social gatherings all brought on by a simple bit of inflatable wanderlust.

A dinghy is also a great way to hit local waterfront restaurants and events up the river in our city. No need to worry about a place to tie off the big boat. Just squeeze the dinghy in between a few larger boats and hop off for dinner. No muss, no fuss; just simple boating fun.

So, next time you are sitting around the marina with some spare time on your hands, why not just jump into that dinghy and go exploring? After all, as Kenneth Grahame wrote, "There is nothing — absolutely nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats." I think the dinghy truly exemplifies the spirit of those infamous words.