Today was supposed to be sunny and warm, but it was overcast and humid--not a good varnishing day. We needed some charts, so we decided to go to a chart store right after breakfast and then come back and work on the boat. Roy needed to repair the generator, change the impeller, change the oil, etc. I wanted to write some post cards and work on the log.
We took the bus downtown and transferred to the bus that went close to the chart store. That happened to be the same bus that went to Fort McHenry, so we figured we might as well go there while we were so close. It turned out that the last stretch of road to the fort is being rebuilt, so the bus no longer goes all the way to the fort, so we had to walk the last mile. We wandered around the fort, listened to the ranger, who was very interesting, and watched the "soldiers" in 1812 uniforms firing muskets.
We walked to the chart store and spent half an hour or more looking at charts and chart books. Bought a large-scale chart of Wilmington and vicinity. Bought a chart book that includes New York Harbor, Long Island Sound, Narragansett Bay, Buzzards Bay, and Nantucket.
Waited for the bus and rode it to Inner Harbor. We hadn't had lunch and it was 3 o'clock, so we went to a cafe at the Inner Harbor and had sandwiches and delicious carrot cake.
By the time we got back to the boat, it was 5:30. Roy had planned on paddling his Royak to a fuel dock to fill the five-gallon gasoline can for the generator and to get some parts at the nearby marine supply store, but since it was so late, he decided to take the Jofian over there, as it would be much faster. We rushed around disconnecting the electric cord and the hose, casting off the lines on the port side and then the lines on the starboard side. We walked the boat back to the end of the dock, jumped on, and Roy hurried into the cockpit to rev up the engine and turn the wheel. Oops! In our haste, we both forgot that he had removed the steering wheel on Monday to make more room in the cockpit when we ate supper with Linda and Gina. The wheel was still in the fo'c'sle. Luckily, the wind was blowing towards the dock; if it had blown the boat away from the dock, we'd have been in serious trouble. We tied up again, and Roy replaced the wheel. Then we tried to take off again, but the wind kept blowing us back. Finally, Roy got the pole down and pushed us away from the dock. At last we were on our way.
When we got to the fuel dock, the attendant handed me a line when I handed him our bow line. I attached the line to a cleat and stopped the boat too soon, so we had to undo it and pull the boat forward.
We had come to the fuel dock to fill the five-gallon gasoline can.
Guess where the can was--sitting on the dock at the marina. There are days and there are days. But we had a two-gallon can and a one-gallon can, so we filled those. That will give us plenty of gas for several days.
Roy was going to put 25 gallons of diesel in the tank, but when he found out it cost $1.15 a gallon, he only put in 10. The last time we got diesel, it was 79 cents a gallon.
Roy went over to the marine supply store to get the stuff he needed there. It had closed at six.
When we got back to the marina, we put the boat in stern first, so it will be easy to get out in the morning. That operation went smoothly.
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