July 24 -- Orr's Cove to Sebasco Harbor Resort, 8 Miles and a BIG Mistake

The mistake occurred yesterday but though this blog tells the story warts and all, I couldn't bring myself to tell you about it then. I rinsed the water tanks with fresh water and a bit of Clorox before filling them with fresh water. In the process I put about ten gallons of water into one of our two fuel tanks. It's not that they are not clearly labeled!
Ilene was not pleased with me but I was much more angry at myself. I did not realize the error until I tried to pump the chrorinated water from the tank and none would come out. Yes, idiot, because you hadn't put any water into that water tank! Then I made matters worse by switching the fuel tank selector to draw fuel from the other tank, the good tank. -- but accidentally switched from the good tank to the bad. So in the morning, after the engine got warmed up, it quit. Great Island Boat Yard used their work boat to tow us, by the hip, to one of their moorings. They needed our dock space for another boat. We lowered the dink and went ashore to ask the experts but they recommended "fuel polishing" by a company that does this, but it was not available for a week. Fuel polishing is sort of like a huge expensive kidney dialysis machine but which extracts water from diesel fuel.
With Lene's help I pumped out the water from the hose, replaced both the Racor filter and the secondary Yanmar filter and bled the air and remaining water out of the line. Three hours, with help from Lene in holding hoses so they did not leak all over the place. I was pleased with myself at being able to fix the problem, temporarily. For the duration of this season we will use only one of our two fourty gallon diesel fuel tanks. Next winter I will empty the contaminated tank and remove it. Then either clean it or replace it with a new one.
After lunch we set off at about 12:30  for either Five Islands or Love Cove. But it had grown far windier than the 7 to 9 knots from the south that had been forecast and it was foggy and the area was full of lobster traps. And I was temporarily unmanned by my own stupidity. No more derring do for  today. So even when we saw some sun. we went to the familiar nearby Sebasco Harbor Resort mooring field, used their launch to get showered and enjoyed Lene's delicious home cooking. Not much of that on the road trip. Restaurant food is more fattening, less nutritious and more expensive.
One good thing today though: we met up with Naomi and Kevin who sail a Southern Cross 28 out of Padanaram in Buzzards Bay. We hape to see more of them.
A cool quiet foggy night, despite the south winds which blow right into the harbor, but the rocks break up the waves. We had to close the hatch over our bed: the fog (clouds, really) get blown by the wind and directed by the hatch covers through the mosquito net where it collects into drops that fall off the screen onto our heads.