Late Sunday afternoon I took my dogs Remington, a 3-year old Golden Retriever, and Geechie, a 5-year old Boykin Spaniel, out to the south end of Morris Island to run and swim on the outer sand bar. I anchored my jon boat in Lighthouse Inlet with both a stern and bow anchor to keep it out in deep water as the tide was falling. As we climbed out the boat I noticed another jon boat anchored in the gulley up by the main beach. With the tide falling I knew their boat would be high and dry with in the next hour, but I saw some folks nearby and assumed they were watching the tide.
The dogs and I walked a couple miles down the beach and then headed back towards the boat. As we approached our boat Remington spotted another Golden Retriever close to the jon boat in the gulley and went over to play. As I walked over with him I saw two young couples sitting in the jon boat that was now high and dry, they were hanging out and having a couple of cold beers enjoying the afternoon. The couples were extremely friendly and we let the dogs play together for a few minutes. I asked them if they needed a hand pushing the boat back to the water and one of the girls pointed to the guys and said casually said, “No they can get it.” The jon boat was about 16-feet, the bottom was perfectly flat and was equipped with a 50 hp jet drive. I could tell the boat was well built with some thick aluminum and even had a built in floor. Considering the boat and motor’s weight and knowing the boat had most likely drawn a suction to the wet sand I looked at the guys and said, “Are you sure?” They responded, “We can get it, we can just push it off when we are ready to go, thanks though.”
After talking with them for a few more minutes I got my dogs gathered up and loaded in our boat. As I was getting ready to pull the stern anchor I noticed the guys plus the girls were struggling with their boat in the gulley. They had gotten it turned around, but they were still about 8-feet from the water. The guys were attempting to push boat f