Passage from Trinidad to Tobago

Sunset from Store Bay Tobago

Tobago is part of the nation of Trinidad and Tobago.  The island is approximately 20 miles north of the NE tip of Trinidad.  The important factor in that statement is EAST - to windward.  Common sense would tell a sailor to visit it when coming south for the season.  Yep, common sense.  Visiting Tobago has been on our list for the past two seasons but we always seem to run out of time at the end of the season.  So we went to option B - go from Trinidad to Tobago.  It can and has been done.  We talked to several cruisers who have done it.  Step one was to get our attitude set correctly - it's going to be a motor sail.....plain, simple fact.  Two, depart in the best conditions possible (d-uh, something we try to do on each passage). The best conditions for motoring into the wind and current means little to no wind or current.  Odd thing for a sailor to be searching for but those were the weather conditions we wanted.

We dropped our mooring ball at 00:06 (just after midnight) and motored out of Chaguaramas.  The half moon was not yet up, although there are lots of various lights in this commercial port.  Tom sat up on the starboard bow to keep an eye out for traffic and floating debris - lit and unlit.  We motored through the Boca quickly on an out going tide, getting a nice boost as we went.  There was a strong scent of sandalwood in the air as we passed through.  Very strong.  Perhaps sandalwood trees?  

Once clearing the Boca, we turned east along the north coast of Trinidad.  "How far off the coast do you travel when you guys take your boat to Tobago?" I asked Dave on sv Cape.  "The locals will tell you as close as you dare...1/4 to 1/2 mile."  Gulp. 

sv Honey Ryder at anchor in Store Bay Tobago

It was a tad weird being so close of an unfamiliar coast in the dark of night.  I had the first watch and being so close to shore definitely kept me awake -  NO issues there.  See....I am not a big fan of sailing close to land.  Close to land raises the percentage you can hit something....like....land!   ICW?  Meh......not a big fan.  This started back in my childhood.  Sailing on small lakes as a kid, my dad would sail the whole lake - shore to shore....often getting really close to the shore,.  Very close!  I can remember more than one occasion where the wind would shift or die (as it often does close to land) and then I, as crew would have to fend us off the shoreline, whether it was scrubs ("just grab hold of the branches and pull us around") or getting out in ankle deep mud to "push us around".  My thoughts the whole time I was physically tacking us off a shoreline were "We have to whole lake to sail, why do we have to get so close to shore?"  Those thoughts have not changed.  No doubt my dad remembers our lake sailing differently.  Isn't it funny how our childhood experiences warp shape us so?  In his defense, we were sailing on small lakes so I am sure he was just trying to get the most of the lake.  Back to the present, same story.....great big ocean, why do we need to be close to shore?  Yes, I know we have to get close to land to visit land, but overall I prefer sailing room, lots of it.  Besides, close to land you have to pay attention all the time....lest you hit something....like land.  At sea there is room to sail about without fear of hitting something....other than a submerged shipping container or another ship.  Okay, reduced fear of hitting something.  At sea, you can relax, think, dream, listen to music, read, etc...

So anyway...we motored along approximately 1/4 to 1/2 mile off the coastline.  Luckily, there were no fishing floats or nets.  We saw two small fishing pirogues.  Both had small flashing lights in addition to the driver's flashing headlamp.  That light configuration takes awhile to figure and and trust me......it is NOT in the Colregs!  Thankfully neither pirogue approached us, although my pulse did increase as they passed by.  At times there was actually a slight counter current to the Equatorial Current that races up and over the top of Trinidad so our speed wasn't terrible - say 4 knots average.  

Morning came and we continued our motoring east.  It's a big coastline  At Grand Riviere Bay we finally turned NE toward Tobago.  Of course the wind was a touch NE and so we set the main only and continued to motor sail.  Soon after setting our sail, we spotted a huge leatherback.  One of the nesting locations in Trinidad is Grand Riviere Bay.  The females travel thousands of miles to come ashore and lay their eggs there April through March.  This one was a tad early but I guess when you are pregnant, you are pregnant.  Remember when we went to see the giant leatherbacks in Grenada?  Truly unique experience.  If you ever have a chance to go and see that - do!  

Crown Point Beach

Anyway, we continued to motor sail NE towards Tobago.  We arrived at Store Bay on the SW Coast of Tobago and dropped anchor at 14:45.  One of only 4 boats in this anchorage.  While customs is open 24/7 (in theory) anything after 16:00 is over time AND more than likely immigration is not open 24/7.  So we made a decision to wait until the next morning when we knew both would be open to check in here.  Technically we are already checked into Trinidad and Tobago, but they make your check into and out of both places.  We had a passage beer, put the boat in anchor mode (passage mode is different than anchor mode) had something to eat and then basically slept. 

Bonus:  All that motoring meant our batteries where fully charged and we had hot water for 3 days after arriving.  

Water in the Bilge - Trinidad to Grenada

Heard on our overnight passage...... "Why is the bilge pump running?"  "There it goes again."  "That can't be good." 

In all honestly, we had noticed it running a few times back at the dock in Trinidad but we checked it and chalked that up to pre-departure chores - cleaning strainer, changing the coolant, ect....

Anyway, we discovered "active water" in the bilge on our passage as part of our routine log entries.  It wasn't gushing or rushing in aka we weren't sinking but the pump was running way too much meaning water was coming in from somewhere.  But where?  Internal or external?  The million dollar question!
  

The first thing we did was shut off the automatic bilge pump.  WHAT?!!  Yes, we shut it off!  This would allow us to monitor the amount of flow.  Plus we wouldn't burn up the pump but mainly so we could know how much was coming in.  If you leave your automatic bilge pump on, you never know how much is coming in because it always pumps it out....you hope.
 

Then we moved to hourly checks.  The flow did not warrant more frequent monitoring at this point.  The next thing was to check the obvious thru hulls, intakes, shaft....nothing.  Hum?  Ok.  Monitor and think.  Three hours later, still coming in.
  

The next thing was to check if it was fresh water or salt......except it wouldn't really be fresh water since we are talking about bilge water.  It's more GROSS water.  So before tasting, Tom did another check of the obvious culprits.  Nothing,  ugh!

I was on the helm thinking through other possibilities like a hose issue or breech in one of our water tanks.  Tom came up and said he might know the source.  Note -The thought of tasting bilge water can really kick your brain into high gear!  When our freezer quit working, Tom removed the bad part, disconnecting some hoses.  He grabbed a flashlight and hopped down into the cockpit locker aka The Hole to check.  Sure enough.  Water was flowing into the boat from that intake/hose.  He reconnected the broken part to the hoses and the leak stopped.  Whew!  We did continued to monitor just in case but soon we were able to go back to our regular monitoring schedule that goes with log entries.  

Antigua to Barbuda

11 Mile Beach

March 18th.  We pulled up the anchor and set sail for Barbuda at 8:30 am.  Currently it takes us about 1 1/2 hours to prep to sail.  We had dinner aboard sv Right Turn the night before, so none of that prep got done until morning thus the 8:30 departure.  But that is just fine as we had a lovely time at dinner.  Thanks Mike!

Low Bay looking south

Winds were 13-15 with gusts to 18.  We were beam to close haul at times on starboard tack. Seas were lumpy and uneven hitting on the beam to aft.

Low Bay looking north

Even though Barbuda is only 25 nautical miles north of Antigua, it is flat, flat, flat so you really don't see it until you are upon it.  There are many submerged reefs and coral heads so we were careful to read and re- read the cruising guides and Active Captain as well as consulting the chartplotters, Garmin mobile Bluechart and paper charts.

We decided to anchor on the west side of Barbuda in Low Bay.  This is home to the famous 11 mile long beach.  We dropped anchor at 15:45.

Anchored off the beach

It's a bit weird as the beach runs north to south and with easterly trades, you simply pull straight into the beach and anchor.  It's 16-13 feet nearly all the way into the beach so it seems like you are literally beaching your boat when anchoring.  We felt much like a powerboat pulling straight into the beach and chucking the anchor out.  Weird.  There are approximately 15 other yachts but with 11 miles, there is plenty of room.

Sunset our first night in Barbuda

*Kala, you are going to LOVE running on this beach.  I hope your parents on vs Terrapin take you here.  

Sleeping Napping While on Passage

Ready for naps for off watch person

If you are already a cruiser or the complete opposite -a non-sailor, this might not interest you. 

For you interested in cruising or soon to be cruisers….As you know, we just sailed from the BVI’s to St Martin.  It took us 23 hours, during which we had some naps when not on watch. Since it was just Tom and me, I set up the starboard salon setee so we could hot bunk our naps there if we wanted to.  Hot bunking is where one sleeps in the bunk and then gets up and take their watch and the off watch person comes down and gets into the bunk the other person was just in….thus “hot” bunking.  The salon is the best place as it is in the center of the boat and thus, less bouncing about.

I wrapped the seat cushions in a waterproof mattress pad.  We are trying our best to keep the salon cushions clean and free of salt residue.  Once salt get on and into the cushions, it will start breaking down the fabric and allowing mildew in.  Next I wrapped the all the cushion backs in a sheet.  A sheet was put on the mattress pad as well.  Then I pulled out a sleeping bag liner sheet.  Even though we are in the Caribbean, it can be chilly at sea.  A light sheet is all it takes.  I found these sleeping bag sheet inserts at Bed, Bath and Beyond.  They are perfect for hot bunking.  Finally I fixed up the lee cloth so we would stay in the bunk even if the boat was heeling side to side.

I actually used the starboard bunk while underway on this passage.  Tom opted to napped in the cockpit while I was on watch.         

Cheers Mates - from the BVI's

Yes.  We are back in the British Virgin Islands.  North Sound on Virgin Gorda to be specific.  We slogged our way upwind from St John's today.  No pics.  Slogging pics are...eh....plus...  We are in Leverick Bay and the internet is too slow for pics.  More on communications in a future posting but we are all about free wifi.
So we slogged our way up here so we could use North Sound as a jumping off point for our sail to Sint Maarten.  With that island being generally straight east'ish, that angle of sail is dead to wind, on the nose, slogfest!  Casting off from North Sound might give us a slight advantage sailing SE.  However we have no delusions.  The wind is ALWAYS on the nose.
Anywho.... We will probably cast off tomorrow or Friday.  Wish us fair winds and following seas....really...we could use that.....stay tuned!        

Amazing Artist and All Around Kewl Chick

Meet Donna Robertson.  Tom discovered, quite by dumb luck... that a childhood friend's mother lives nearby in Beaufort NC.  He contacted her and they chatted away.  A get together was scheduled and soon Donna was picking us up for lunch at Beaufort Grocery.  They caught up on old times and we learned about her interesting life since KC.  Besides being a talented artist, she is one dynamite lady.  She congratulated us on our new life and encouraged us in everyway.

Thanks to her, we now have our first original piece of art work on board - awesome!
Check out her work here Donna Robertson  

Out of Charleston SC

10-03-13
We spent the last two days in Chucktown.....actually in Mount Pleasant SC at Charleston Harbor Marina.  If you will remember we used to keep s/v Honey Ryder here for 1.3 years in 2011 and 2012.  We  requested a transient slip out along dock A which is also the breakwater.  While it is rougher out there, we wanted to be able to make our escape whenever we wanted vs only at slack tide.  The tides and currents are so wicked fast here that in any regular slip your departure must be timed.  As it turned out, by being on A Dock we were treated to one of the best dolphin shows ever.  Both days there was a pod of 6-8 dolphins that spent the entire afternoon (both days) hunting up and down both sides of the dock- literally 10 ft across the dock from us and all around our boat.  It was amazing!  I shot some video and I hope to get it edited and posted sometime this decade.  Being back at CHM gave us a chance to catch up with dock neighbors from before, meet new people (Captain Annie), do laundry, get some fuel and water and run an errand or two.  Tom used one of the resort bikes to make a West Marine/Publix run.
This morning we made our escape and headed out the shipping channel to the Atlantic and then turned north towards Georgetown.  "Did the wind shift around finally?" you ask.  No.  We just felt the need for some salt spray.  We got it with NE winds but it was nice to be outside.  We motored with a light cloud cover.  Good thing as I got a touch of sun watching the dolphins the last two days.  We caught the ebb tide in and are currently anchored in Winyah Bay tonight.  We will pop up to Georgetown tomorrow.

Underway Pics - Bass Creek to Charleston

Below are random pics taken along the ICW.

Dinghy racing in Beaufort SC.

Pink tug?  Looks pink to me.

Linksters enjoying some golf on a course along the ICW.

Wappoo River Bridge -The current runs fast through here.  The bridge only opens on the hour and half hour.  You have to time it just right and mind the current while waiting.  It's also very narrow along this stretch.  AND even when the crossing bars finally go down to stop the traffic, it takes FOREVER for the bridge to finally start to open!  Seriously FOREVER....or at least it seems like it while you are waiting and trying to hold your place while current rips along.  *Let's not forget my love of bridges - NOT!  Luckily, we were the only ones going waiting to go through at the time.  We've been told by locals that on weekends and holidays it's an out of control cluster in this area.

Charleston aka Chuck Town waterfront. 

Coasties on a big Coastie ship.  Impressive! 

However on closer inspection through the binocs, this ship looks a little worn out.  I worry about the USCG.  They are SO important.  But, no politics here today.  There are other blogs for that. 

Finally, College of Charleston has an awesome sailing team.  Generally ranked in the top five in the nation (although I haven't looked yet this year). 

They were all coming back in along the breakwater dock where we were tied up.  It looked so kewl seeing them all sailing in so I decided to snap a few pics. 

I overheard (quietly) the following from two girls in this one boat.....crew girl -"OMG, she's taking a picture."  skipper girl - "Where? oh."  Crew girl - "Darn, our jib isn't full.  That looks bad."  Skipper girl - "Quick, see if you can get it full."  All this in hush tones but I could still hear as they were only 10 ft across the dock from us.  Too funny.

North? - You Are Going The Wrong Way

This is what fellow Kansas sailor Michael King and many others have said to us in blog comments, emails and face to face conversations.  Back in Brunswick GA the conversation usually went something like this.....
Fellow cruiser -"Where are you two off to now that your canvas is complete?" 
Us - "North"
Fellow cruiser - "You mean south?  Florida and The Bahamas are south." 
Us - "No, north."
Fellow cruiser - "Oh, north a bit and then back south through Brunswick on your way south?"
Us- "No.  We won't be coming back through Brunswick this fall"
Fellow cruiser - "But it's cold up there" - like we are going to the north pole.
Us - "Good!  Because it's been hotter than hell here!"

So why are we going north?  1.)  We can.  We have the time and it's been fun exploring .  2.)  We don't generally follow the pack.  3.)  Even though we have had NE winds, the weather has been lovely.  But mainly because sometimes you have to go north to get into a position to go south.  Not everyone goes to the same "south" aka Florida or The Bahamas.  Gasp - shocking I know!  There are recommended cruising routes to get to the various "southern" locations.  These are generally time tested routes that if you wait for the right weather, can improve your chances of a good passage to wherever "south" you are going.  These routes have starting points.  We are traveling north to get one of these starting points. 
So there you have it.  We are going North to go South.  Confused yet?    

Thunderbolt, sv Sabrina and Tammy Ann

Do you remember the s/v Sabrina?  She is a spectacular Hinckley Bermuda 40 that we saw and met over at Golden Isles Marina while we were in Brunswick GA.  Well....when we got to Thunderbolt we cruised by all the waterfront marina's and there she was at Bahia Bleu marina.  WOW!  We swung around and headed for Herb Creek to anchor. 

Tubby's Tank House

Later, we launched the dinghy and motored the two miles around the marsh back to Bahia Bleu marina so we could go ashore and have dinner with Tammy Ann of s/v Tammy Ann.  Why did we do this vs just taking a slip in the marina?  Because we have been in a marina for the last 3 1/2 months!  We coasted up to s/v Sabrina's slip just as her admiral was coming up on deck.  "Hi ya'll" she said.  Tom asked if there was a dinghy dock we could tie up to.  She looked around and laughed "anywhere - here next to our boat."  Then I said "I doubt you remember but we met before" and then I proceeded to tell her about meeting them at Golden Isles.  She told us where the restaurant Tubby's Tank House was and assured us she would be there all night.  "Leave your dinghy here as long as you want."  We were able to dump our trash ashore as well - kewl!

The Kansas kids - Tammy is from Kansas too!

We walked the short distance to Tubby's Tank House and found Tammy on the front deck.  We met Rick and Tammy of the s/v Tammy Ann previously in 2011 when we were in Sail Harbor getting s/v Honey Ryder's tuna tower built.  They are good peeps and we have stayed in touch.  Tammy is the one that clued me into Walburg Creek and Herb Creek anchorages.  Unfortunately Rick had to work.  We had a wonderful time getting caught up and talking all things sailing/livingaboard/cruising. 
Tammy and Rick - we have no doubt that we will see you again soon over the horizon in some anchorage with palm trees!!    
 https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=385801421522882&set=a.112359155533778.10663.100002790832248&type=1&theater  

Head Maintenance Underway

Insert whatever political/nutritional joke you wish here - mine? Cheers!

When we made the hop from St Simon’s sound up to St Catherine’s sound, we took advantage of the sea state (waves jostling the boat around) to do some head maintenance.  Previously we had rebuilt the aft head and done maintenance on the waste hoses as best we could - see Two Types of Boaters Head Repair to review that posting if you would like.  There is one really long run of hose that runs from the aft Y value forward to the holding tank in the bow.  It’s a really long run of hose and no good way to clean it out of the calcium buildup from uretic acid.   It’s so well placed in the boat that there really isn’t an easy way to remove the hose completely to clean it like we did the overboard discharge hose.  *Did you catch my positive spin on that?  So well placed.... Nice eh?

Insert whatever joke you want here - mine?  Bottoms up!

A few weeks back we were discussing this with Caliber Chris and Janet…..yes, cruisers talk a lot about their heads (toilets) – my dear friend Floy (world cruiser) warned me about this favorite cruiser topic fact.  Anyway, I had thought of using my favorite vinegar in the hose while underway to knock some of the calcium loose.  Caliber Chris suggested flat Coke/Pepsi  would do the trick as well and maybe a little better.   I opted for $.64 Wal-Mart brand cola.  I dumped it into the head and pumped several times so the entire run of hose would be filled with cola and then I let it sit for 5 hours while we slogged our way to St Catherine’s sound.  Finally I pumped all the cola through to the holding tank and then out - we were still out past the three mile mark so legal.  That run of hose “seems” to pump much better so I am going to call the maintenance a success.  And yes, out past the three mile mark offshore, there were some caffeinated fish! 

Buckhead Creek to Herb River

9-25-1
We left Buckhead Creek yesterday morning mid morning.  We were up and planned to leave earlier but it was raining pretty good so we decided to wait and see if it would let up.  Sure enough, it did.  We pulled anchor and took off.  There were still a few sprinkles and a fair amount of wind (NE) so we were very glad to have our cockpit enclosure.  *Yes, I know I owe you all a blog posting on that.  Soon.

We use one of our fenders as a helm seat.  It works well, is comfortable and fun

We saw more ICW traffic and heard more on the VHF.  Even with our rain delay, we were able to transit Hell Gate on a rising tide.  For those that don't know, Hell Gate is "one of the most notorious sections of the ICW for shoaling."  "There are extremely strong side-sweeping currents" says Dozier's Waterway Guide.  I just call it Hellish.  Hell Gate is at ICW mile marker 601 to 602.  It's very short but very tricky.  You sort of make a slight S shaped path through while coming very, very, very close to the shore.  The big flock of birds less than 10 ft away on the shore don't help.  They are like having an entire dock full of people watching you dock....in other words, it's as if the birds are scoring your passage through Hell Gate.  Those of you that have been through there....am I wrong?  Watch and see next time you are through there.  Anyway, this is our third time through there and we did just fine....like the other times but it's still an experience.  Take note - We went through 1 1/2 hours before high tide and saw as shallow as 8.5 ft at one point.  We draw close to 6ft.   


Isle of Hope Wormsloe Historic Site

The rest of the trip was great. 


Check out the nest atop this ICW marker

We arrived in Thunderbolt and anchored in the Herb River.

Picture Catch Up - Casting Off

We have some strong internet so I thought I would catch you all up on pictures from the last few days.  Pictures being worth $1k words and all.  Be warned, I like pics but then you all know this already if you have been following along. 

Bye BLM - Bill, Jim and Maryanne our dock neighbors

Tom stowing dock lines and fenders as we leave Brunswick GA

The UNDERWAY smile 

Ft Frederica

Our anchorage just past the fort

The marsh at our Ft Frederica anchorage

Above - Yes, we often end up anchoring this close to the marshland and yes, it's taken some getting use to for this Kansas girl.  I worry about grounding and or dragging when we swing.  But I am getting better.


Finally making the turn towards St Catherine's Sound

 


Weather off our starboard stern

Sunset over St Catherine's Sound - Sky is on fire

Preparing to head into St Catherine's sound in the dark

Walburg Creek anchorage looking back toward entrance to the creek

We anchored just before the turn opposite the two docks on St Cathrine's Island

Looking over Walburg Island I could spy boats traveling the ICW through the binocs 

Walburg Creek to Buckhead Creek

9-24-13
We decided to go only a short distance today and had no shallow spots to worry about so we didn't rush.  We planned and got 1/2 the way through launching the dinghy to explore St Catherine's island beach and some funky looking trees.  However the strong NE wind wouldn't let up so we abandoned that idea.  If the outboard would have stopped as it sometimes does, we would have been swept into the marshlands to be taken in by marshland Kathy Bates and forced to blog whatever she said, never to be seen again.  Just kidding.  Remember the movie "Misery?"  Anyway,  We made some adjustments to the dinghy hoist and how it is strapped down and then prepped for weighing anchor.  With the NE wind we knew the trip out into the sound, around Middle Ground and back up the other side would be wicked.  And it was.  We should have sensed that the big group of dolphins at the entrance to Walburg Creek were trying to tell us "Don't do it.  It's really rough out there you silly humans.". But we don't yet speak dolphin.  The anchored shrimp boat in Walburg Creek might have been another clue!  But hey, it appears this NE wind is never going to let up and we can't stay in Walburg Creek forever so we went for it.  Crossing the sound was a bitch.   At times we were barely making 2 knots and bucking like a wild bronco.  I was SO glad Tom checked and changed tank # 1 fuel filter.  Sv Honey Ryder hung in there and we managed to slog out and around the sound to the other side.   We proceed up the ICW to Buckhead Creek where we are anchored this evening.  It has fairly good protection from the NE and E winds.  Clouds have moved in and it is very dark all around.  We are the only ones in here.  In the Kewl category....we saw three bald eagles on our way out of Walburg Creek.  One on the St Catherine's Island shore and two really close to us on a small sandy area on Walburg Island.  Further up on the ICW near Kilkenny Creek, we saw another bald eagle very close along the ICW shoreline.  They are such fierce looking birds.  On the boat stuff front, we decided to take advantage of the strong winds by tuning on our wind generator this morning.  It started whizzing away, immediately putting 6-8 amps in our system.  Some people don't like the sound of wind generators but I don't mind ours.  This evening we enjoyed cockpit showers ( the new enclosure is awesome as it blocks all the wind) and then taco salad and fresh baked cookies.  We never got around to baking them last night.

St Catherine's Sound and Walburg Creek

9-22-13 and 9-23-13  We headed out St Simon's channel and then turned north.  The wind didn't really cooperate so we motored most of the way.  We also had some rain.    We got a later start than we should have.  That is one thing that we have not adjusted to....getting up and leaving early.  Its not that we can't, we just haven't.  In this case we should have.  With winds on the nose a good part of the way, it slowed us down.  We had to enter the sound after dark.  Gasp!  Yes, it was a bit of a stomach tensing time but we went for it.  Our Garmin chartplotters did an excellent job of guiding us.  Sailing Chickie Tammy ......
Omg - as I am typing this on the deck a dolphin has surfaced and seems to be hunting for an afternoon snack right around our boat.....so Kewl!!!!
Tammy recommended Walburg Creek for an anchorage just off St Catherine's sound.  She was right.  It's terrific.  Nice wide river and great holding - even in the dark.  D-oh.   This creek is approx mile 620 on the ICW charts if you are following along or needing a good anchorage.
Ooh - two dolphins.
We are still getting used to tidal swing.  Very weird to be bow into the current and stern to the wind....for now until the tide changes.
The guidebooks say St Catherine's is a private island owned by the St Catherine Foundation in conjunction with the New York Zoologically Society.  They have some animal reserve /  rehab going on.  Walburg Island is mainly marsh so tons of birds.  Over the marsh I spotted a big motor cruiser headed up the ICW this morning in the binocs.
We mainly chilled today and did some boat stuff.  Freezer was acting up again.  Tom discovered loose wires and fixed them for good and now it's working.  Our radar wasn't working yesterday so I dove into that.  Loose connection behind the panel. We fixed.  Tom also noticed that fuel filter #1 was very cloudy last night.  Exploring that today, he found some water in there.  Luckily the filter did it job and keep it out of the engine.  We dumped the water, changed the filter and ran the engine for a while.  Worked like it should.  Yay.
Tacos and fresh baked cookies are on the agenda/menu for tonight.
Internet/cell service is iffy here so no pics.  I did take some and I will try posting those when we get to a better spot for service.  The sunset last night was spectacular with all the clouds around.  It looked like the sky over the sound was on fire.

First Night or Fixing Your Boat In Exotic Locations

Well maybe not exotic but still away from the dock.  That's right.  We had some maintenance/repairs required at anchor last night.  While it's not the first choice of activity while anchored in a lovely, quite river, it's also not unexpected.  Not that we thought this would happen.....fridge and freezer would not start back up.  The strainer was clogged up big time.   Ooops.  We checked it 2 -3 weeks ago, honest.  So Tom cleaned it out but the units still wouldn't start.  Then he messed with this and that while I got this tool and that and flipped switches on and off and we troubleshooted what it could be.  Fridge started running but we could't get freezer to start.  Tom tested pump and it was fine.  Water flow in now cleaned seacock/strainer was great.  Finally he changed the freezer pump diaphragm.  This seemed to do it.  And yes, my brilliant husband found one spare onboard when we moved aboard and thought "hum....I should probably order a couple of more since we have multiple pumps that use this part."  He also changed the seacock O ring and then doubled it up when it leaked a tiny bit after changing.  Freezer started up and ran all night.  Yay!
My point in all of this is....things are going to break and maintenance is required even in a nice anchorage.   Even after being at the dock for 3 1/2 months, we had to do repairs and maintenance the first night out....officially cruising!  But we didn't let it get to us.  We know this.  We expect it.  I would even say its the norm or standard.  Will we have maintenance and repairs every night?  I hope not.  Will there been consecutive nights where we have repairs and maintenance?  You bet.  But that is the price we pay for life afloat and on the go.