We got up very early this morning and were primed to go but we ran into a few mechanical issues we found a skin fitting that was leaking (that is a pipe that goes thru the hull right at the waterline) and since we want to keep the salt water on the outside of the boat we fitted a new one.

Fueled up and with a lot of freshwater inside the boat we headed out and got about to the end of the marina when we got a cooling water alarm and so we went back the mooring ball and assessed the problem: broken fan belt (okay boats don't have fans on their belts but I don't know what else to call it). We had a spare on board but did not want to have only one and we were not really happy with the fit. The pulley had to be all the way at the end of the travel of the adjustment arm and it didn't seem tight enough.

So we sent Steve ashore to pick up a new couple of fan belts a bit shorter. After the second trip we have the right one fitted and the engine is purring and cooling the frig and recharging the batteries. They were a bit taxed since they weren't getting charged all morning while we fixed the skin fitting with the engine running to keep all the fresh food cold.

So that takes us to almost 4 o'clock in the afternoon and the captain has decided we are going to stay another night. We will get a good night's rest tonight and try again tomorrow. The folks at Atlantic Highlands have even organized a fireworks display for us. (Actually for US Independence Day but I'm not complaining.

The weather still looks good for the trip.

We'll keep you posted.

Barometer Reads: 1012 mb Wind is 14kts from the east