Captain’s log – August 23, 2010. Maine US
Forecast: Rain – 15-25 knots gusts up to 35 knots (so says NOAA)
Winds NE, visibility 1-3nm (nautical Miles)
Cloudy – foggy – hazey
Ready to make the checks…
Engine – check (fuel filter good, oil full)
Bilge – looks a bit dirty? We found out you can open up the sea-cock in the forward belly and pour in sea water to wash out the lower bilge area. Strange to open up something that is a hole that lets in water in your boat. That inlet is for our toilet, we just took off the hose and let the water run so we could scrub out the scum.
Toilet we checked too cuz we had friends over for 4 days and our toilet was full. Frequently I would check the head (toilet) and there would be clear sea water filling the tank! I don’t know why but is there a weird suction or siphon happening? So Ben thought why not shut off the water from outside and see if that helps. So far it is helping in the mean time I’m trying to learn to pee like a guy. Ha ha but true. Ok we were totally not meant to pee in a cup, bucket, off a deck, in the woods or any other than a nice sit down. I know why women wore dresses cuz then to pee standing up could be easier. How did our foremothers do it? Pee in weather, or in the prairie, in a snow storm, then there is Sacagawea – she was with a bunch of men and no other women to chat about peeing in the woods. I happen to have a soft bucket (the plastic collapsible type) it is easy to form to the legs so your pee does not go streaming down the leg on either side. Well in theory it works. Still squatting is the best way and this bucket is way cool cuz it forms to the thighs but don’t try this at home or standing up! Just trust me on this. Oh and watch out for the bucket to fold backwards and pee drip off out the back unsuspectingly.
We used our generator to charge our battery. But still we anchored for the night and by morning it was dead again! Grrr and I say double grrr.
We switched out to our last propane tank. We have three little ones on deck in a cute treasure-looking chest, no one knows what is in there but us and now you… Normally people have 10 gallon tanks where you can exchange anywhere or most places but we happen to have these small not common ones where you need to find a place that fills them!! Hard. But each tank has lasted one month so we should be good the last leg of the trip.
We have 31 hours on one tank of fuel, and 40 gallons left of the other one. Our first tank went fast cuz we went fast while motoring this next tank we hope to get double or better than the last tank… I’ll keep you informed.
We got out our dingy for our friends so we all could stretch our legs on shore. An endeavor that took about 1 ½ hrs to get out, set up, blow up, put together, place the motor in , put in the water etc… all of which parts and pieces are in the belly of the boat tucked under stuff. And another 1 ½ hrs to put away. All we did successfully and happily for the cause of going ashore. Now it is all tucked away again – we put it away in the rain.
I got some work done before leaving since I know it would be a while without shore power/electricity and wifi and internet and email. Meanwhile… Ben was checking where we would like to go in this weather plus now the time was after 1pm so not much time to get to places especially if those places are NE and we have a NE wind. We decided to go back to that cute hurricane hole in Seal Bay! And today it is sunny and cool with NE crisp air. We are lazy butts today just reading and now I’m blogging it is almost 10am.
Back to yesterday.. aug 23…
We set sail and the weather was not half as bad as the weather report and the people on shore that we met kept warning us of a NE-er is coming and 30k winds will be rocking our boat. The winds were only 10- 15k and we went wind to beam all the way except for the narrows where we motored again.
We had a first… we grew and stretched again, we learned more… and Ben is my hero again! Let me explain… Lobster pots are everywhere in certain places – tons of them… on the top of the water you see a colorful and unique buoy specific to a certain lobster boat. (the lobster boat displays their unique buoy on their boat for all to see.) attached to the buoy is a rope/line that reaches to the bottom 30 – 80 feet typically but on this day we ran over a buoy line and it was in 225 feet of water! Normally the buoy just clunk clunks on our hull and passes… well not this time.
It stalled the boat, likely we were out far enough to drift toward shore. We dare not start the engine since the line is caught on the propeller. We pulled out the boat hook and pulled, twisted, pushed etc… nothing doing. We felt sorry for the lobsters getting yanked around but more bad for the lobster man/woman who make their lives doing this. Under each line is two big lobster “pots” metal crates, I’m sure nothing too fun to lose.
Ben was all happy to get in the water and unfowl the line. Me on the other hand knows the two times he has gotten the most sea sick is when he goes in the water during waves. Not good then I end up sailing for however long that day is. We were just starting our long day and it was rainy and cold so I was hopping to take turns. I offered my services to swim in cold water since the other day I was fine swimming in 62 degree weather. Ben would not have it. The water this time was 58 degrees!
Last time he went in the water during a sail we tied a rope around his waist; this did not work well! It got in the way, wrapped around his legs and got tangled, not good any of it. So this time I got our regular harness and comfortably put it on the correct way. Tied a tethered line and in he went. BRRRRR it looked cold! He gulped a big gulp of sea water by mistake oooppss. (I thought oh no that will make him sea sick.) He quickly dove down and in less than I can count to 10 it was loose and he was on deck and the best part was he did not get sea sick!!! He must have his full sea legs on by now. My hero again!
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