Breaking...Fixing...Breaking and Sleep Adventures

We took a few days off the boat last weekend and went camping at Pinecrest Lake...because that is soooo much different then our current living situation.  It was nice not to have to think about all the things that have been breaking, or in some cases, breaking again...such as our refrigeration.  I keep reminding myself that this is all an adventure but some days are a little too adventurous for me.  For example....

We decided to leave Capitola and head out to anchor over by the Boardwalk for the Fourth of July activities.  While completely illegal, there is generally quite a show off Main and Seabright Beaches and the water is the best place to watch it.  The kids were also looking forward to another trip to Marini's on the wharf and some jumping off the boat.  But first we had to pop over to the harbor and grab some fuel, fill up our water tank and empty our holding tank.  That's where our first adventure of the day began.  Note to self: Do not try to get fuel on Fourth of July because every fisherman, woman or wanna-be is also wanting fuel.  We waited an hour at the dock for our turn and I was grateful we had a spot on the dock because the number of boats circling was a bit crazy....almost double digits.  We managed to fill our tanks and walk the boat forward to the water hose and pump out where our next adventure began.  The holding tank, with all new hoses and pump out deck fitting wouldn't pump out.  Keith tried everything that he could think of while the vultures continued to circle waiting for a spot on the most popular dock within 20 miles.  Finally Keith said he just couldn't think of anything else to try at the moment and the pressure of the vultures wasn't helping so we finished filling the water tank and left for the anchorage where we started to smell a lovely smell....adventure number two.

We set anchor and Mason goes below to announce "God it smells in here!!!".  With a sinking feeling Keith and I realize that somewhere, something isn't quite right.  Keith starts lifting floorboards and doesn't see anything untoward...no visible leaks but decides to put some duct tape (man's best friend) on the top valve of the holding tank and low and behold a bubble forms.  Seems the water we had used in the process of trying to get the tank to empty just filled her up and she was leaking gas from a crack in the top seal.  Super nasty-ville!  Keith did a major duct tape job to keep it sealed for now, we opened all the hatches and headed for some retail therapy at Marini's candy.  After filling up bags full of sour gummies, candy building bricks, mini jaw breakers, milk chocolate hay stacks, milk chocolate sea foam and caramel apples (we had a lot of opinions on what we needed to get!) we headed back to a much less smelly boat.  The little guys donned their wetsuits and proceeded to jump into the water...Elliot showing off for the crowds with a high dive from the davits.  They had a blast and the day seemed to be slightly improving.  Happy kids go a loooooong way with making a day seem brighter.

We enjoyed a fantastic fireworks show brought to us by the law breaking citizens of Santa Cruz County.  There were hundreds of people on the beach and we were wowed by the Burning Man bus we saw on the cliffs by Seabright with the thumping music coming from it.  Impressive!  The whole time the boat was sitting calmly with little rocking so it was a bummer when around 10pm the boat started to swing and we lost our ideal viewing position.  We decided to call it a night and tucked into bed only to be woken around 1am because our boat was swinging side to side so much.  The boat had shifted with the breeze and was now sitting parallel to the swell coming in and was literally swinging 15 degrees to each side....a 30 degree swing back and forth.  I was laying there thinking about what it felt like last night, the best comparison I can give is when someone else is pushing you really hard on a hammock...to the point where you feel out of control.  That was where we were at.  Keith decided enough was enough and adjusted the boat back perpendicular to the swell with the inflatable and set a stern anchor to hold.  It was heaven!  Mason woke up this morning saying he had the best sleep and the best dreams.