We’re charging up our batteries.

Saturday, October 17, 2026

Last night we were woken by our Victron system: we only had 10% battery left! The system shut down and we no longer had our anchor light. After a while everything came back, and that's when I thought to turn off the freezers and refrigerators. We finally woke up with a bit of electricity.

The last few days haven't been very sunny, but we never would have believed we'd get to this!

It's very windy this morning and we decide to go to a marina located only 15 minutes' sail away: Chesapeake Harbour Marina, in a very small bay entirely taken up by the marina.

The wind and current are strong, and the access channel to the marina is very narrow. Once inside the bay we feel safe, until we spot the narrow passage dotted with very valuable yachts moored along the central dock. We even have to make a 180-degree turn to get into our slip!

It's quite an adventure to tie up to pilings! At least we still have a dock alongside the boat.

We plug the boat in. That's what we're here for!

It's a very nice marina, located in a residential complex. There's a restaurant and a pool. The grounds are grassy and charcoal barbecues are available to us. And what about the luxury bags offered to pick up Miela's needs? They even have a liner in the bottom! Anyone who's ever picked up a dog's poop with a bag will understand the comfort this luxury bag provides!

Jonathan takes the opportunity to disassemble the windlass to order the necessary parts. But we quickly realize the damage is much worse than we imagined.

The base is broken, a screw is also stuck in it and a washer is completely split.

We decide it needs to be replaced!

On this Saturday morning only Fawcett and West Marine are open. We go to Fawcett first, but they have nothing in stock. We then go to West Marine and, to our great surprise, they have several models!

We end up choosing one that seems to have the necessary power. And what luck, it's on sale for $1,000 instead of $2,000! A bargain!

We go to think it over at the Smokehouse. Never two without three, as they say! We order the meat platter to taste. Delicious! We run into Julie and Marc by chance. It's a small world!

We return to the marina with the windlass and some provisions.

We settle in to do the installation, only to realize it doesn't work! We chose a model with an external motor. The installation should have been easier, but the way the chain fed up into the windlass wasn't compatible with our setup.

So we leave with our cart to return the windlass. Luckily, they take it back without asking questions!

We return to the marina, very tired. But we still have to spend the evening choosing our next windlass and our next destination!