Sunday, May 24, 2009

2:00am couldn't sleep. Wayne couldn't either and went up top. I laid there until 2:30 thinking about the day yesterday. Our last day out on any big water. Last night, this morning... will really be our last night at anchor for a while. I finally got out of bed and got the wine out of the refrigerator, grabbed a couple of wine glasses and a candle and went up top to join Wayne. I lit the candle so he could see to pop the cork in the champagne, and then blew out the candle. We toasted to a successful launch of our travels aboard Kolibrie and sat in the cockpit looking at the stars and drinking the wine in the dark. We talked about this last year and what lay ahead in the future. It's amazingly quiet here on Fishing Bay for a holiday weekend night. Not like at home at all. We can see a couple of headlights along the shoreline - probably people closing the bars and heading home, but considering the marina and all the houses surrounding this bay, it's very peaceful - a mature bay I guess. I can't believe that it's time to haul the boat out and start the journey home. It feels like it's been forever since we've been home, but at the same time, it hasn't been long enough. But, it is time to head home... Looking back it's been such a year. We can do this. We have done it. Baby steps. We've taken them...

When I got up for the second time this morning and started to go up top I noticed my wine glasses were still up top LOL. Long night/morning I guess. Watched Kwakatu and Mia Bella pull out around this morning between 6:30 &7:00 am. Then made pancakes for breakfast. Wayne called the marina to see if we could come in for a slip and schedule a haul out. Yes, just give me some time to find out where to put you, and then I'll call you back. We got ready to head over to the marina at 11:00am, I turned the key to start the engine, and... nothing... the starter wouldn't engage. Something about this bay just wants to keep us here. On our initial way down south - we were held fast by the large fisherman's anchor. Now on the way back up north - the starter refuses to start. Wayne had to take apart the stairs and engine compartment to get to the starter and after a few whacks to persuade it, the engine finally started. The solenoid seems to be sticking - one more project to add to our growing list.

Getting into Deltaville was interesting. The channel is very narrow and the markers leading you into the sheltered bay look like they're going to run you right into shore onto someone's front lawn. 4.9 miles traveled today. We pulled into our final berth of the season at 1:30pm. We're 12ft wide and it's 13 ft. Looking at it I'd have never thought we'd fit, but we made it into the slip just fine.

After checking in I got a Yahoo and Wayne an ice cream cone, then Wayne went back to the boat to change the oil and I took a bag of books to the book exchange in the lounge. They have a huge selection of books there. The facilities here are really nice and the people very friendly. I guess there are less than 1000 residents that live in Deltaville and there are more than 3000 boats - that says something about the town!

Later we walked into town looking for pizza at a place called Bella's. We walked a couple of miles and didn't find it so turned around and came back to a place called Taylors. They looked busy and the sign said they closed at 8 but the guy seating us (Bob) told us ummm it's 5:00 somewhere isn't it? We sat at the bar to have a drink while waiting for a seat and ended up staying at the bar. I sat next to a fellow named Charlie (Capt'n Charlie actually) that was very friendly. He told us that they had one waitress, one cook and Bob actually didn't work here but was tending bar and helping out (he actually worked at another bar). I guess they figured it was going to be dead tonight (a holiday weekend?) and got caught with a group of 50 people and whoever else came in (like us). Anyhow, they were a bit overwhelmed and kept telling Bob to stop seating people because they were having a problem handling it and Bob kept seating people anyway - thanks Bob LOL. We chatted with Bob and Charlie and ordered clams - quite tasty but the tarter sauce container kept plugging up. It actually exploded on a lady at the table behind us (Bob had taken it and given it to her while I was chatting with Charlie so I didn't have a chance to warn him) that had been really giving him a hard time most of the evening. She ended up being a pretty good sport about it and the whole evening was quite entertaining. It was probably more entertaining because Bob made quite strong drinks, but I enjoyed the food and company. Capt'n Charlie gave us his phone number if we needed a ride or anything while here and he wasn't working (he captains a boat for SeaTow). But I think with it being a holiday weekend that people normally put their boats in the water - he'll be quite busy. He told us that he was amazed we made it into this harbor, being first timers, since the channel is quite narrow and shallow and people don't normally believe the markers go right up to shore (in front of that house) and end up running aground. I did feel quite lucky coming in since another boat was passing us going out and in that narrow channel. That was tight. It was quite dark out when we finally left Taylors so we walked back in the dark. My flashlight batteries were dead but I remembered I had more batteries in my camera bag. I managed to find and change them in the dark, so about half way back to the marina we had a light to shine on the path. What a day. Now the work to decommission the boat for the season begins for the next couple of days.