We had planned on sailing to Boston today, but the weather forecast was for dangerous thunderstorms and small-craft advisories, so we decided to stay put.
Roy had determined that the source of the leak was the salt-water pump, so he spent the morning replacing it. I walked over the bridge to Fairhaven, looking for an ATM and a grocery store. We had a terrific thunderstorm. I love walking in the wind and rain--it's so refreshing. I was wearing my poncho, so most of me stayed dry.
Fairhaven looks the way I remembered it: a quiet, old, residential community. There were no ATM's or grocery stores in Central Fairhaven, so I returned to the highway and soon found banks galore. There was a power outage just as I was about to use an ATM, but it didn't last long. As soon as I got some moolah, I went looking for a super market. Had to walk quite a ways, but finally found a very nice, clean, attractive market with reasonable prices. If I'd had our little wagon, I'd have bought out the store, but since I was carrying the stuff, I had to restrain myself. Got what we needed most plus a few extras. Barely managed to carry it all.
After the groceries were safely on the boat, I phoned some marinas in Boston. One wanted $1170 for the two months. Another wanted an even more outrageous $35 per foot per month! Only found one marina that was in the ballpark; they charge $390 a month plus electricity. Then the dockmaster here told me the marine-supply store across the street has a small marina, so I checked over there. Nearly fainted when the manager said they charge $30 a week! That's only $240 for the entire eight weeks Roy will be gone. There's an additional charge for electricity, but only for what we use. They have nice floating docks and a small restroom and shower. There's no laundry, but the dockmaster at Pope's Island Marina said I could use the laundry there as long as the marina's open. Sounds like we've got a deal.
Went back to the boat and told Roy about it. We both walked over to the marina and looked it over. Talked with Jay Jay, the dockmaster. He's a really nice guy, who retired from the Police Department after 26 years, so we feel secure over there. He even said he'd drive Roy to the airport!
Roy and I walked over the bridge to New Bedford and walked around the waterfront a while. When we returned to the boat, Roy put on his diving gear and plunged into the murky water to clean the paddlewheel for the log (odometer and speedometer), so now we'll know how fast and how far we're going. It didn't take him long. When he got out of the chilly water, he took a hot shower.
We were still going to go to Boston to look over the situation there, but when I laid out the course, I saw it was farther than I had realized and would take two days to get there and two to get back. Assuming we spent one day there, that would take up five days of the seven left before Roy leaves. We know we won't find anything in Boston to compare with the $30 a week here, so why bother? We might as well stay here and spend these seven days having fun. We've also decided not to try to go to Nantucket with the Jofian at this time. That's a two-day trip, too, and if the weather was bad, we might get stuck there. We might go over on the ferry, though.
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