Thursday, November 6, 2025 — Despite going to bed so late, we were all up by 0730. While we did managed to get some sleep, we didn’t sleep particularly well — especially Eric. The anchorage was beautiful.

The full moon hadn’t yet set, and was still huge and bright, even at 0730. And yes, the little boat was a working waterman boat.

Eric determined that it would be best to fix the problems in a marina. There happened to be a marina, called Dennis Point Marina, a short distance away. Eric called promptly at 0900, when they opened. They said they did have a slip for us, which was a relief.

We immediately pulled up anchor. It was still really windy, and it was so cold on deck. Like the other anchorages we’d visited in the Potomac, the chain and anchor were super muddy. It was difficult to wash the mud off because the wind was blowing the hose water away from the chain. And getting the mud off was important since mud would likely clog up the drain holes in the anchor locker. Being out in the cold and wind reinforced that we didn’t want to take Kosmos to Alaska. 

Fortunately, we’d been assigned an end-tie, so it was easy to navigate into the slip. As we’d noted the other day, the tides swings were larger than normal right now, exaggerated by both the full moon and the wind pushing the water. It was low tide as we entered the marina. Under normal conditions, the slip would have been plenty deep for us, but, given the unusually low water level, the hull scraped the ground as we pulled up to the dock. A marina employee was waiting at the dock to help us tie up and get situated. We were disappointed, but not surprised, that they were not floating docks. The area around the marina was lovely. It reminded us of Deltaville — rural residential, with homes on big lots with lots of trees.

As soon as we were secured, we took care of the urgent stuff. Eric opened up the lazarette and vacuumed up the pools of water on the box lids and plastic bags. He took everything wet out and laid them in the sun to dry. He also left the laz open to help dry it out in there. 

Back when we’d upgraded the batteries/electrical system, the company that designed and installed the new system, Weber Marine, had made a custom a cover for the electrical distribution bus to protect it from getting wet. We were grateful that they’d had the foresight to do that; without the cover, the electrical bus it would have gotten wet from the laz hatch leak. Eric also noted that, had he not just secured them a few days ago, the alternator regulator wires would have gotten wet since they’d been sitting on the hull area between the laz and engine room. That might have probably been the end of the alternator regulator!

Meanwhile, Christi and Keith rinsed down the front half of the boat off. It was very salty, even on top of the pilot house. They didn’t do the back half since the laz was open. 

Eric took a nap before he got to work on the repairs. Keith and Christi managed to do an hour of school, then Christi took a nap, too. We were pleased to report that the marina was as flat as a pancake. But we were having a hard time getting Kosmos properly situated on the dock. After Eric’s nap, he came up with a creative solution.

Eric got to work on the repairs in the early afternoon. He determined that the low water bilge pump was running, but not sucking. He found this unbelievable timing since he’d just tested it three weeks ago and had been working fine. He had a spare pump onboard, so he swapped it out. Two years ago, this would have been an easy task. However, a couple of years ago, we upgraded our DC water maker, and the new water maker hoses blocked access to the pump, making the repair a very difficult task. He was trying to get at the pump from awkward angles where he didn’t have much leverage. Ultimately, he had to take apart the water maker mounting in order to access the bilge pump. Had he been doing this in rocky seas, he would not have been able to be so gentle with the water maker — he would have disabled the water maker to get at the pump. At one point, Eric hit his head pretty hard on the low laz ceiling.

When we tested the new bilge pump, we saw that it pumped well, but leaked. Eric readjusted it, and the leaking stopped. We then tested the high water bilge pump and determined that it as working fine. That was a relief as we were concerned that we’d burned it out. Eric also readjusted the bilge pump sensor, ensuring that it was in the correct location. 

Eric headed up to the marina to find out if there was a boating store nearby to procure a spare pump. The marina, which was also a boatyard, said that they had an account with West Marine. We could order the part from West Marine via the marina and West Marine would deliver it tomorrow. He was pleased that ordering the pump was so easy! Here was a shot of Kosmos taken from near the marina office.

Next, he adjusted the lazarette hatch locks, hoping that tightening the locks would stop the leaking. At dusk, the geese went crazy, flying around in circles for a very long time.

Here was a photo looking at the marina from Kosmos at dusk.

By the time he’d finished, it was dark, so Eric called it a day.  

The area around the marina was almost majestic in the last bit of evening light.