Aug 4 - Coecles Harbor to Dering Harbor

"Refreshing change headed our way." This fortune cookie message from the weather voice demonstrates how tired even the weather service has become with reporting the recent weather. The voice even promises "star gazing", though today both sun and clouds will "share the sky". I wonder whether they think that better writing will improve the weather?

Things look better, the sky is gray, but with the distinct disk of the sun showing through. This means that what we're seeing is haze or high fog, which is likely to burn off before the morning ends. It rained through much of the night, but we woke to a lighter wind shifted around to the northwest. Whatever front was coming our way has passed.

We're now less than a week from the end of this trip, and in territory we've traveled more frequently. Although Long Island and the Connecticut shore have some fine cruising spots, and still offer us new places to visit, the familiarity of the surroundings reminds us that we're closer to home, and the cruise is winding down. We console ourselves about this, and the poor showing the weather has made, by planning an extended Labor Day trip. We hope it doesn't snow on Labor Day this year.

Before getting under way, Marion has decided that it's blueberry muffins for breakfast. As we have decided to stay on the fish tail and just explore, we certainly have the time. Lighting the propane oven is the only trick. It's not that it is difficult, and it is a great thing to have on board, cooking every bit as well as the oven at home, it is just that the procedure requires a pretzel like bend to light the pilot, while holding a safety switch and trying not to get your fingers burned by the match. I suppose with the right tool (a long handled butane lighter) and a little practice it would be no problem at all. That would be cheating though, wouldn't it?

Half the muffins are gone before I think to snap a quick picture for the log. Peeking out, the haze has burned off and Marion asks for 20 minutes of reading in the cockpit at anchor -- something which has been missing from this cruise. Sitting in the sun, hearing the birds on shore, and the water lap at the beach, has us right back in the groove.

Now, we're off for a sail in Gardner's Bay, and a little exploration of the area.

Not.

We were ready to go, honest. The engine was running, everything looked good then... the engine just died again. Restart attempt -- failure. Down below to bleed the fuel system -- right, bubbles -- air in the system again. Restart attempt -- failure. Still more air. Trace through the system... tighten the primary filter... hmmm... perhaps it wasn't tight enough. Perhaps the filter isn't seated right? Bleed the system... after some bubbles, things look better.

Better, except now we have no battery left to start. The house batteries haven't been holding a full charge from the engine, and the new starter battery just isn't enough to crank things over. Perhaps we should have gotten new batteries before the season started; it shouldn't have been necessary. The starter problem still remains a mystery.

Well, we try a few more times, but to no avail. There isn't enough breeze now to sail over to the nearest marina, so we embark on a dingy ride to check out how easy it would be to get in there, and whether they can help us out. We did phone, but they weren't hopeful about assistance. We figure if we show up looking pathetic, perhaps that will help.

Well, some help, but not a lot. The mechanics are all spoken for. One option is to buy a couple of new batteries and see if that helps. We do. We carefully load them into the dingy for the 10 minute trip back to the boat. We get there, manage to unload the pair, install them (having found some problems with the marina maintenance of the current batteries), and find that they in fact, do not do the trick.

What to do now? We cancel the plans to be in Dering Harbor (paying a cancellation fee for our mooring, a first). We call Boat US with whom we have unlimited towing. Boat US asks where we want to be towed to, and so set about determining that while they dispatch a boat to us. As it turns out, they dispatch a Sea Tow boat, and we finally convince the local marina to provide us with a slip, and the possibility of a mechanic tomorrow. Because of some sort of deal Boat US has with Sea Tow, but because of their inability to really work together, we have to pay (dearly) for the tow, all to be reimbursed by Boat US later. I could have (as the Sea Tow captain is happy to point out) been a Sea Tow member for the same cost and not had this inconvenience. Something to consider.

In any case, we take a 10 minute tow, arriving at Coecles Island Marina where, after 5 minutes of charging, we get the engine to start. Now, there certainly was something wrong with the fuel system (which I may have actually fixed myself), and there certainly is something wrong with the fact that I can't seem to get the batteries to turn over the engine in a manner which will reliably start it on anything less than a full charge. These all are questions I will ponder in the berth tonight, and hope to have answer enough to turn into a plan tomorrow.

Oh yes, it was a beautiful, warm, sunny day in a delightful harbor. I almost missed that in all the to do.

Our dinner find is Bob's, a small casual seafood restaurant with Formica tables, netting hanging from the ceiling, recommended by the marina staff, who make a reservation for us. The place is crowded, noisy, but the food, reminiscent of Seafood Sam's, is very good. We have crab balls to start (very good), clams on the half shell (always good and, at $8 per dozen, that beat the Ram's Head Inn's $10 per half dozen), and the "Captains Platter", which is their fried food plate. Perhaps you should always look for seafood restaurants that have someone's first name in them?