Back In Deltaville Again!

We were underway just before 7 AM yesterday morning. It was a brisk morning, calm, very calm, the sun was shinning bright. We had some difficultly keeping the windows of the dodger clear due to the low temps as we pulled away from the dock but the sun soon took care of that. It was a great morning on the water and we were cruising along with the assist of the out going tide. We were about 12 miles out when the boat started to slow down. I ask Larry why he was slowing down and he said it wasn't him. Oh Buoy! We had just entered over the flats at Wolf Trap light. This was very tricky because the wind had started to build and the reef gets shallow near shore. No engine could be a problem.

Larry figured we had air in the lines due to his changing of the fuel filters a few days ago, no problem, just bleed the lines and he did. We were on our way again but not for long. After three or four tries we made the command decision to turn around and go back to Deltaville. If we needed help or parts that was the place to be not in some strange anchorage and with no resources. We put out the sails and turned around with the wind and waves at our back. We had a beautiful and fast sail back to the channel.

We brought the sails back in, the wind was on our nose after we made our turn for the channel. Larry attempted to prime the fuel again so we could motor to the dock. After several failed attempts we hailed Tow Boat US to give us an assist back to the dock at Doziers. It was afternoon by the time we got in. When we were settled at the dock we went in search of more fuel filters. By this time anyone who might have them were already closed or we out of them. We still had two new ones but decided to wait til Sunday to change them when we were fresh with a nights sleep.

Larry's first job this morning was to change the filter to see if we have bad fuel and it appears we do. He called a guy who does what they call fuel polishing. The process cleans your fuel and tank of contaminates. We believe we have algae in our tank, not an uncommon thing. After Larry changed our filter he ran the engine without a problem for almost an hour. We are sitting very still at the dock unlike bouncing on the waves like yesterday, so it's not the best test. Nothing to stir up the tank. We have a diesel man coming tomorrow morning to see if he can find anything else or if he agrees we should have the cleaning done. Decisions, Decisions. We'll make them tomorrow.

Our goal is to leave early Tuesday morning. I'll post tomorrow night with and up date on that.

The picture above is us with our new canvas and davits.