We left Pemaquid Harbour on Thursday, originally planning to go to The Basin, but realized that it was almost 10 miles inland, and if we kept going outside we would be further along so…Jewell Island would be our landfall.
Along the way, I went below to get something and lo and behold! WATER!!!!! I opened the little hatch to the bilge and it was FULL and sloshing over! OK – don’t panic (I told myself)! I tasted the water and it was salty so that left out the water tank and meant it was coming from outside – oh, oh. I put on the bilge pump and started bailing with a bowl until the bilge pump could keep up. Four bucket loads later, we were maintaining things so I could look around. Albert couldn’t see anything wrong from the stern, and there wasn’t anything wrong in the bow – that left the middle – the front of the engine. I finally found where the water was coming from – the water pump on the engine. It was spurting out. Albert came below and I took the wheel while he tried to fix it. I know that duct tape is the thing to have, but let me tell you – TIE WRAPS are the thing to have aboard. A hose going into the engine came unsoldered so Albert jury-rigged it with a couple of tie wraps and got it down to a drip every 3 seconds or so. YAY PAPA!!!! So we continued on to Jewell Island.
This island is about 7 – 10 miles from Portland. A very pretty little place that is maintained by the state to keep it clean, etc. We anchored, had supper then heard the forecast…50 knot winds from Tropical Storm Hannah on the weekend. We were planning on Portland until a very nice gentleman came by in a power boat and offered moorings in South Freeport – a super sheltered spot (near L.L. Bean). After conferring with Pete, we decided South Freeport on Friday it is!
South Freeport is BEAUTIFUL! The people are so friendly and helpful – it’s unreal! Mr. P.J. Kimball (the fellow from Jewell Island) met us at the docks of the Harraseeket Yacht Club and found us moorings, and arranged for us to see the diesel mechanic at Brewer Marine. Thanks So Much P.J.! Since we are transient guests, we can use all their facilities – showers, washer, dryer. The mechanic will look at our water pump on Monday, but apparently he is a Volvo expert, so again, we’re in luck.
In the meantime, we will enjoy the harbour, the people and hunker down for Hannah. We really should be fine here. It’s so far inland that there are no seas that can get in. We’ll be here until at least Wednesday.
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