Sunday, October 19 — Yesterday’s sunrise was colorful.
Yesterday morning, Eric changed the oil and O ring on the main engine. While he was doing that task, It was slightly rolly. As the day went on, it got rollier and rollier. Sauvage came over in the late afternoon. By the time they arrived, the rolling was so bad that it was somewhat uncomfortable to be onboard. We had a nice visit with them none-the-less.
One of the concerns was that we were on fixed docks, and it was a king tide right now. Adjusting the lines properly was tricky, as the lines tended to be too tight at high tide and too slack at low tide. Eric was concerned about crashing into the pylons and/or dock. He spent a lot of time readjusting the lines and fenders, and eventually came up with a fender set up that he was happy with.
The motion continued to worsen throughout the night. By morning, it was so rolly that we felt like we were at sea. None of us slept well. In addition to the motion being uncomfortable, the lines were creaking like crazy from all the motion — and the noise wasn’t only from Kosmos’s lines; the lines on the nearby boats were making a lot of noise, too.
Eric took advantage of this opportunity to show how much Kosmos rolls (without stabilization) compared to other boats.
He also realized that, with all the motion, it was a great time to polish fuel. The rocking stirred up the ickies in the bottom of the tanks, so by running the polisher, he could filter out any bad stuff that may be in the tanks.
This morning’s sunrise was also colorful.
Anxious to get off the rocky boat, we walked to Picante for breakfast. This time, we took Compromise Street, following the waterway. We were surprised to see that City Dock was flooded. We knew the tides were higher than normal, but we didn’t realize that the tides were high enough to cause flooding!
We took Main Street up to the roundabout with the church. Being so early, there weren’t many people out and we were finally able to get some decent photos. The other times we’d been on Main Street, the sidewalks had been packed and the road full of cars.
We arrived at Picante before they opened. So we ate at the coffee house directly across the street, instead.
We had low expectations, and were pleasantly surprised with portion size and how good the food was. And the coffee!
After breakfast, we walked to Groul’s to stock up on more food. Since Christi had gone by herself last time, she was only able to purchase what she could comfortably carry — with three of us, we could purchase a lot more. The area between the roundabout and the bridge looked to be a large government complex, with many of these identical buildings grouped together.
Groul’s was not far beyond the bridge.
We took a ride share back to the marina. Upon return, Eric and Christi took a short nap. Afterwards, we caught a ride share to a corn maze in a town called Gambrills, where we met Katie and her husband, Bill. We’d expected it to take 20-minutes, but between the delay in the driver coming and traffic, it took us an hour to get there. The line to get into the parking lot was backed up, so we actually got out about 1/4 mile away and walked to the entrance. We walked faster than the cars moved. Tickets were $18.00 per person for ages 2 and up.
Apparently, most of the year, it was a large piece of vacant land in what looked to be a mostly residential neighborhood, with most of the houses on big lots. But during corn maze season, they brought in a petting zoo, games and play structures for the kids. There was even a small zip line. They also had paintball and pony rides, but those were extra.
There was a hayride, vendors selling food — including apple cider slushies — and a little store where people could purchase locally grown/made foods and handicrafts.
When we entered the maze, we were instructed to carry a flag. Katie explained that they were watching us from vantage points around the maze and would come running if they saw the flag waving. Since we were all Californians, we found the appropriate flag.
Katie and Bill said that the maze was different every year. According to Katie, every year they designed a unique maze and then planted the corn according to the design. This year’s theme was Wicked, as in the hit musical play. This was an aerial view of what the maze looked like.
Of course, from inside the maze, we couldn’t see the design.
There were signs along the way. Our goal wasn’t to get to the end, it was to find every sign — to make sure we went through the whole maze. There were also clues along the way to help point us in the right direction(s). Those clues also helped us identify when we were wandering in circles instead of making forward progress.
After the maze, we went on a hay ride.
Katie drove us back to the boat. When she came aboard, we explained that the motion was like we were at sea and wasn’t typical for a marina — that this was one of the most uncomfortable marinas we’d ever been in. She didn’t stay long because of the expensive parking rates.
We had dinner onboard. After dinner, Eric and Keith walked to the ice cream parlor by the City Dock, but Christi declined to join them. Between the trek to store and corn maze, we’d walked 5-miles today. She didn’t feel like she could manage another half-mile of walking (roundtrip).
Eric was pleased to report that little came out from the fuel polishing. It was nice to know that our tanks were clean on the inside!