Our first sailing cruise from Florida, to the coast of Maine, and all that happens on the way.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
To say that this is a true adventure and not very often do we have a dull day, its by far a true statement. And this day proved to be no different. Carl got the water problem fixed and we fired up the motor at 6:30 am and left Southwest Harbor, we were heading south and ready for our first big day on the way home. The winds were very light and the sea state was smooth as glass and the boat was motoring at 6 knots, we were hauling butt. I was wondering why about a few things, like why are the dolphins so small here, while the warm water ones are much larger, the seagulls are huge, yet the southern seagulls are smaller and how the fisherman here still harpoon tuna, and southern ones just catch them on a long line.. One of the things I wondered about was why we didn't try to buy lobsters straight off the boat of one of the lobster man we passed day in and out. So I mention this to Carl and he hailed one and he stopped.. How awesome was this.. The man pulls his boat over and Carl asks him how much he wants for 6 lobsters and he says we can have them. But this is his livelihood, so we offer him $12.00, and he agree's.. That's right $2.00 dollars an lobster... Yea, you read that right $2.00.. I am so happy and this was great fun.. Thanks to the father and son on the Split Second Lobster boat.. We hopped to surprise Nancy and Ernie with them.. What a great day this is turning out to be and were making good time,.. UNTIL.... The fuel problem rears its ugly head once again.. What can it be , how is there air in the lines again???? Carl had replaced those lines, found another fuel filter, checked all the fitting, where is this coming from..We got the motor started the first two times but after that it was no go. A couple of sail boats stopped as we were drifting to see if they could help. We told the first one no it was a fuel problem and we would get it , but the second one we asked if he was a diesel mechanic. He said no but there were many in the area, he named off a few at different harbors, so we set sail for Tenants Harbor. We had been there before so it would make it a little easier under sail to get in.. The winds were blowing at amazing 2 or 3 knots, not much wind to move the boat, but at our best point of sail. So we hosted the sails at 4pm and started heading to the harbor. We were moving at a alarming 2 to 3 knots and we were at least 10 miles away. As night loomed upon us, and the winds died , we wondered how we would get in . I asked Carl couldn't we us the oars to move the boat, he just laughed and said no, then I said , It would be nice if we could use our dingy and push the boat. With that Carl goes lets try to pull it. The tide had changed and we were being pulled out to sea with no power to stop it. It was try this or drop anchor right were we where. The dingy was dropped and of course the motor didn't start to easy, I was getting worried, finally it fires up , comes to life.. Carl heads to the front of the boat, where I had a line ready to throw him. He grabs the line and off we go..Yeah Baby this is working.. We are moving back towards the harbor.. Yippy... He pulls the Windward Spirit about a mile , when his hands hurt and he drops the line, but we have made the harbor... Maybe not a far as we would normally like , but who cares we are here!! So once again, we put our heads together and found a way to alleviate our predicament All without calling Sea tow.. Yes we are getting better.. It was 11:00PM when we finally came to anchor and I had 6 lobsters to cook. We couldn't take a chance of losing them, and we were hungry. We ate 3 lobsters and have 3 to make something with today. Today we wait till we hear from the mechanic and hope for the best..
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