Portland time

So where we left off, it had started raining, we had taken some great naps, and the rain continued on Sunday afternoon. At some point it did let up a bit, so we decided to take the launch to shore just to get off the boat after a couple days without our feet touching land. Of course the rain decided to come back in force while we were attempting to have a walk on shore, so we ditched that and hoofed it back to the Dockside Grill for drinks and chowder instead! Our foulies proved their worth and kept us (mostly) dry.

We were planning on an early bedtime for everyone even after all that napping, as we intended to have a fun day in Portland the next day. But, the boat had other plans for us. As we thought about drying out our shoes and foulies, we went to turn the heater on, and it started drawing way too many amps. Hm. Guess we aren’t using that tonight…hope it hasn’t totally died. In addition, after many many years of owning boats (32 years?!), Patrick finally got to experience the joy of a clogged head. Not sure exactly what happened but it was definitely non-op. Lots of CLR, snaking, cursing, and deconstructing later, it was apparent we needed some different tools to get it cleared. Plans for a Home Depot run in the morning were hatched, and we called our friends Duncan and Jen to see if we could indeed borrow the wheels we had turned down earlier in the day (thanks a million, Birches!)

On a whim, I asked if we had checked the bilge (since so many things were popping up it seemed kind of prudent!) When we looked down in the bilge, there was definitely more water in there than there should have been. Groan. Early assessment was that the float switch had failed; not a good thing when that little guy stands between your boat floating and your boat not floating. (It is supposed to kick the bilge pump on when water rises to a certain level in the bilge…which it was absolutely not doing.) So we pumped out the bilge manually and pulled out our spare float switch for installation the next day. Off to bed, with a new plan for Cecelia and me to spend the morning doing laundry and blog updates on shore, while Patrick and Matt would do the Home Depot run and work on getting boat systems back in full working order….hopefully in time for us to have lunch in Portland and an afternoon of exploring.

Monday morning we were up and ready to head to shore early…and it was still raining. The boys headed off on errands and Cecelia and I got the laundry going at the facilities on shore. While we were setting up our computers, Cecelia spotted a friendly fox running around.

We got all our chores done and met the boys back on the boat around noon, where they had unclogged the head, seemed to have coaxed the heater back into working condition, and were working on the float switch installation (which was a bear due to its location deep inside the bilge). Eventually all of it got wrapped up, we were back in business, and we decided to finally head to Portland around 2 pm.

One of the things on my list for Portland was to have a meal at Eventide, a favorite seafood spot, and we headed over there immediately but were faced with a 2 hour wait. We put our names on the list but went to another spot Matt recommended, Ri Ra, an Irish pub on the wharf. We had a great view of the ferries coming into the harbor (the featured photo at the top of this post). We also had excellent fish sandwiches and super crispy fries, and would definitely go back! We decided to save Eventide for Wednesday instead, when we could arrive at opening time and get a table more easily.

We ventured over to Hamilton Marine to get a new handheld VHF, which had somehow made its way overboard during our Gulf of Maine crossing. It’s also a great place to find all kinds of things you probably don’t need, like extra lengths of spectra and random pre-cut hoses. We managed to restrain ourselves, with the mantra of “we don’t need anything else on the boat!” Then we headed back into Portland proper to check out some stores and stop at the Thirsty Pig for a pre dinner draught. Patrick and Cecelia also played a fierce game of giant Connect Four.

For dinner, Matt wanted to take us all out to David’s Restaurant, where we all gorged ourselves on some delicious food and wine. Thanks, Matt, for a great night out!

We rolled ourselves home after dinner and were treated to an amazing moonrise.

We all flopped into bed, grateful for a head that works, a boat that floats, and awesome friends.