It was a beautifully sunny fall day, with only a slight breeze. Pulled into the marina and you couldn't help but notice that Vintage Viking is the LARGEST boat there. Plus with it being late October many of the smaller boats were already out and on land. Alice got the nickel tour, and her first response was how much larger the boat was from our other boat. Pictures she had seen are deceiving, because they generally have little other items for reference in them. But my 'crew' was hungry and wanted lunch.
While I stayed and puttered on the boat, Alice & Jesse ran to the nearest McDonalds and brought back lunch to the boat. We ate our lunch in the dinette, and Alice could see the look of sheer enjoyment on my face. After finishing my cheeseburger, I left the table and began to prepare Vintage Viking to depart the dock for a short run around the bay. Within minutes, we were out of the marina, passing the Barnegat Town pier/park and entering Barnegat Bay. Alice remained in the salon reading a book, while Jesse & I were on the Flybridge.
It didn't take long before Jesse went below and convinced Mom to come up onto the bridge to join us. Alice wasn't aware of how roomy the bridge is, with a large seat for five in front of the helm. She relaxed into the seat and continued to read her book and just enjoy the fresh air and view. After several minutes of relaxing and getting over any anxiety she had about Vintage VIking, Alice wanted to go below to get the camera. But she didn't want to go down the ladder with the boat moving, so I brought the boat down to an idle, and helped her down. I took the opportunity to visit the head while I was below. But when I went to flush the electric head, it wouldn't work. The head pump didn't come on. I checked the panel and the breaker was tripped, but each time I reset it and tried the head pump, it would trip again. But the holding tank level indicator said 1/4 tank. Looks like I have another thing to add to my check-out list. But later on this will return to be a problem.
Once Alice got the camera she started snapping away. Next thing I know she is walking around the superstructure and is up on the bow, clicking away. Note to self; put an extra pair of soft-soled boating shoes onboard. She still had street shoes on. But I didn't want to stop her since the objective was to get her on the boat and enjoying it. Better shoes can come later.
Soon we get in the middle of the bay, and I enter Oyster Creek Channel heading for Barnegat Inlet. We come around the Sedge Islands, and turn in front of the Coast Guard Station heading east. We come onto Barnegat Lighthouse, affectionately called Old Barney. Alice has seen this lighthouse countless times from land, and has even climbed its 217 steps to the top. But to see it from the vantage point of the water gives it a different perspective. You can imagine how seafarers of old would see it and rely on its Fresnel-powered beacon to guide them. Well, anyway, Alice must have clicked off two dozen shots of the lighthouse from every water-borne angle before she realized that Vintage Viking was actually headed out into the ocean. When she turned to me and asked “we aren’t going out into the ocean, are we?” I could see the anxiety in her face and replied “no Honey, I just wanted to help you get even more angles of shots for the camera. I’m turning back now!” Damn, and I was hoping to get outside the breakers. But the objective was to get Alice accustomed to Vintage Viking and enjoy her time on the water, not resent it. Do I get the Good-Husband Award for that?
After several more minutes we were back into Barnegat Bay. I came back across Oyster Creek Channel and wandered into several lagoons in Waretown and Forked River, showing Jesse and Alice some of the other marina’s that Jesse and I had visited weeks earlier when we were looking for a new home for Vintage Viking. Like anything else, it all takes on a different look from the water. Even something as mundane as the bulkhead of a marina and its entering channel look different from the water.
Heading back to Sun Harbor Marina, I decided to stop at the fuel dock again. Not for gas (thankfully), but for access to the holding tank pump-out. I emptied the tank but it didn’t appear to require a lot before the vacuum wasn’t pulling anything out. I tried to reset the breaker on the pump again, but it still tripped.. By now, Alice & Jesse were beginning to think this whole head thing was funny. The jokes and wisecracks started, and pretty soon Jesse was paraphrasing the movie “RV” with Robin Williams and called Vintage Viking ‘floating turd’ in lieu of the ‘rolling turd’ from the scene in the movie. Well, I couldn’t have Vintage Viking made fun of! So I brought the pump-out hose thru the porthole window and directly into the head, and started pumping away. It wasn’t long before I discovered the problem; someone had used a heavy paper towel and flushed it down the head, which got imbedded and jammed in the pump’s impeller. Once this got cleared out, resetting the breaker and running the head pump was good as new. I have to post instructions above the head If it didn’t go in your head (mouth) it doesn’t go in the boat’s head (toilet).
Having resolved the head issue, I felt pretty good about my abilities to ward off a mutiny. As we left the gas dock and returned to the slip, I saw a more-accepting Alice. She helped with the lines, took direction during mooring and was an equal crew-member. Out comes the camera and MORE PICTURES. I guess Vintage Viking got her seal of approval.
On the way home, I took my crew out for a nice dinner. Where else; Captain’s Inn in Forked River. Fine end to a finer day.
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