2023-08-20 Lots of moving - 3 trips in 7 days - New dink and new hookah

We had a nice breakfast with our friend John, and he was kind enough to allow us to ship a rather large package to his house, which he delivered.

We finally purchased a hookah system.  We have had to hire a diver once, rent dive tanks once, and borrow a hookah from our friends on Breathe once to do underwater boat work.    So we reasoned that having our own hookah would probably be a smart thing.    Found a lightly used one on Ebay for a good price, with two 100' hoses and regulators.  We checked it out above water, and it seems to work just fine.  It is a 12 volt system, so it is nice and quiet, and we can run it off of our massive Lithium Battery bank with no issues.  Just have to make some wiring connectors up.

Our new HookaMax

After our breakfast with John, we got back to the boat, and with very calm winds, were being inundated with small no-see ums that although were not biting, were very irritating, so we upped anchor, and made the short run over to Southold, NY, which is where our new dinghy was waiting for us.

Next day, we headed into Albertsons Marine - they let us tie up to their marina, and the store is just across the street.   Really nice folks.  They are an authorized AB Inflatable dealer.   We had lots of choices for a new dinghy - but we were happy with AB, and they had one in stock at a really good price, which helped our decision.  It is essentially just a newer model of our old one, but has bigger tubes, and a re-designed fiberglass floor.    The folks at Albertson Marine were super nice to work with.  They lifted our old dink out of the water, moved the heavy Honda outboard over to the new dink, and helped remove the dink cover and all the other stuff we keep in the dink over to the new one, and then put the new one in the water, and we were ready to go.

Old dink on left, new on right on forklift - notice cloudy weather - Dean in red jacket.

Of course now that we have a new dinghy - the old outboard started acting up.  Maybe it knows that it is next to be replaced.  

Anchorage at Southold, looking out into Bay - notice cloudy weather

The anchorage at Southold was a little lumpy, so after we got the dinghy back to the boat - we upped anchor and headed to Orient Bay, about 5 miles away, but a calmer spot, with less current effect.

Lighthouse at point at Orient Bay - notice cloudy weather

Kris had really wanted to go in at Orient Bay to have a slice of pie at a small local restaurant, but they were closed, so we just hung out on the boat instead, and worked on putting our old dink cover on the new dink.  It doesn't fit well, but will offer some protection until we can make a new one.   

You may have noticed the cloudy weather in all the photos - it has been an unusually cold summer up here in Long Island. It has been nice, but Kris doesn't do cool very well, so has been spending more time inside - it has been good as for the past few days she has been spending a lot of time laying out an electrical plan for our friends on Breathe, as we plan on helping them with a Lithium upgrade in October, so being inside on the computer has been a good way to spend the time.

On the 17th we finally got some east winds, some of the first of all summer, so we took advantage and headed west.  Had a nice sail under spinnaker all day, although chilly and cloudy.   We moved to Setauket, NY, an anchorage we have been at many times.    Had a rainy night, and Dean pre-scrubbed the boat, and the rain gave a nice wash off.     

The anchor windlass starting acting up when coming in to drop anchor - and just stopped working, so next day spent 2 hours looking over entire system, nothing seemed wrong - so suspect our solenoids may be failing - so will have to monitor that.

We did our usual at Setauket - walked into town, got some outboard motor oil at the Ace Hardware, stopped at the grocery store - and got pie - since Kris was still craving pie, and picked up some mail from the post office.  General Delivery is great for us to get small mail packages - we wish we could specify that at Amazon.

Our outboard still acting up - can't go fast, as when we try to the prop acts like it is out of the water and the boat doesn't go.    Dean changed the oil, spark plugs then sanded the prop down, which had lots of little rough edges - and that seems to have solved the issue.  Fingers crossed, as the new dink engine isn't planned until October.

We are starting our trip back south now - and will be waiting for good weather to head south, which looks like maybe the 27th of this month.