Once again we left our safe anchorage in less than ideal weather conditions. Why? First, all of us were up most of the night because of being awakened by the mooring ball that banged up under the swim platform most of the night. Leary to do anything until I could see clearly in the daylight, I waited to pull the the boat ahead with the anchor winch, then once clear of the mooring ball, fired up the motors and we pulled out into............the fog! Second, we had to pass through "The Race", which is known to be tumultuous with the wrong winds and tides. (At the narrower passage from Block Island Sound to Long Island sound the water depth goes from 30 feet to 300 feet and produces very rough water when the tide is rushing.) We needed to pass through this area at slack tide and we had it timed.
Lighthouse indicating beginning of "The Race"
I complained about the fog and multitudinous lobster pots in Maine , however the one thing it did for us was give us the experience and confidence with our navigation system, radar and boating skills to maneuver through obstructions in fast currents. (the tides in Passamaquoddy Bay run 24 feet!). This was a cake walk compared to Maine. I'm not sure I believe it but I have been told; if you can boat in Maine: you can boat anywhere. We could see the water starting to boil up as we passed through the race, but Doc's Holiday handled it easily at slack tide.
Fast ferries running to the islands quickly came up through the fog but put out surprisingly little wake considering their speed and size. We easily picked them up on the radar. It was the smaller fishing boats without radar that I worried about, so we turned on our fog horn which bleated out a warning signal every couple of minutes to let them know we were coming.
Block Island Ferry
Once we passed into Long Island sound the water became as smooth as glass, and the ocean swell disappeared. As the sun came out some of us took the time to grab a nap in between engine room checks.
Danny continued to spot occasional lobster pots long before I did which made our cruise almost stress free.
The only issue we were having was the inverter/charger kept kicking off the reset button forcing us to reset it multiple times. Enough!
Danny making numerous trips to the engine room.
"Beth, look up Xantrex inverters and find where the nearest service center is located," I asked.
"There's one right on the way near Westbrook, Connecticut. I just called and they said they could take care of us today. Let's get it fixed. It's a long way to Florida." she replied.
When I complained that we could just run the generator and fix this when we got home she reminded me again about selling her car.....no problem! The inverter was getting to be a pain in the butt anyway. I plotted a course to take us to take us to Brewer Pilots Point Marina on the Menunketesuck River. (try spelling that after a couple of cocktails!)
We pulled in by noon. Walked the dogs, than went to the onsite waterside restaurant
"Boon", to have lunch while waiting for service.
Chick, the service manager and Don, the electrician, tested the batteries than explained that likely because the batteries had sat unused for 18 months and probably had not been consistently charged, they were shot. New batteries would solve the problem and they would bench test the Xantrex to make sure all was well.
We settled in for a stay. A walkabout was in order. Danny needed to stretch those long legs. (He is used to traipsing through the woods!) We all needed to get our bodies moving "so off we went to experience the flavor of this tiny waterfront town.
Eventually, we found our way to a public beach that had a small canteena appropriately named "Hog Wild Smoking Cue". Beth ordered a burger. Danny went for the hand rubbed smoked rack of ribs and I got the brisket. A few minutes after starting I glanced over at Danny and noticed his face was flushed.
"Whew!" he blurted. "Those babies got a burn to them!...there good and those baked beans should keep u hopping tomorrow!"
We strolled back to the boat and marveled at the size of this marina. It holds over 800 boats and according to the manager is 92% occupied for the year. Walking the dock here is a major walkabout but should keep our attention while the inverter issues are being worked out.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete