It was all going great....until it wasn't.

All last week, when the alarm would go off way too early, I told myself, "we are gonna go anchor out this weekend, you just got to get up & go to work....it'll be worth it come Friday!" So I did. And when the end of the work week was over with, I was so happy because my reward for getting up early every day was about to take place! Anchoring out has become my new happy!! And, hubs is pretty happy about that, because well, it doesn't cost anything....what can I say, I'm a cheap date!! 

We left around 2pm and set out for our overnight stay! We made it out of the channel and into the bay, put up the sails and killed the engine....and then we bobbed around. There was no wind, we weren't going anywhere fast. So we just hung out for awhile, snacked on some veggies and enjoyed life. 

Coast Guard kept flying the same pattern overhead, I guess maybe they were doing a training or something. At one point they got rather close, I asked Joe if one was allowed to take a picture of coast guard all while nonchalantly snapping away!! 

Given the fact that the pilot waved to us, as he flew past our boat, I'm gonna say it was okay I took his picture! ;)

The wind still hadn't picked up, so we dropped the sails and motored over to Red Fish Island. We dropped anchor and started to relax. Around 7:30pm the winds started to pick up and hubs was getting ansy to go sailing. I really wanted to stay overnight, but it's incredibly hard to keep a sailor anchored when there's good wind! He negotiated a deal that meant I was getting new shoes and a dinner out, so....we pulled up anchor and went and did a little sunset/night sailing! It was so fun...

and beautiful...

See what I mean?  We were cruising away, and I was glad Joe talked me into it! I was snapping photos every chance I could! 

Then the winds picked up even more and we were sailing at 6.4 knots with just the jib out....for you land folks reading this, that's a pretty good speed with only one sail up. :)

How lucky are we to live this life and enjoy these views? 

We sailed into the channel and then cranked up the engine to head back to our marina. Only problem was the engine ran for about a minute and then died. Joe started it again, this time it ran for 20 seconds and died again. We still had the sails up so we kept sailing all while trying to figure out what we were going to do. Which basically means I was freaking out and hubs was trying to play it cool so I wouldn't freak out...it didn't work! We sailied into the mouth of the Kemah channel, but then the wind was blocked by the restaurants and with no wind and an outgoing tide we found ourselves bobbing about. It was almost 10pm when we gave in and called for a tow. Everybody has a Towboat walk of shame story and this was ours. We managed to bob close enough to the pilings to tie up and spent the next 30 minutes pushing the boat away from the large bolts protruding out towards our boat. 

A little too up close and personal for my likings! 

TowboatUS showed up...

....and kindly towed us from the boardwalk all the way back into our slip at the marina. This little tow could've easily cost us $600+, but since we were members, it didn't cost us a penny! Buy the $120/year membership....it is totally worth it!!! 

Lesson learned: if you have to be towed back try to have it done well after dark, because apparently everyone was already asleep and there was no chance of an audience standing by laughing.;)

We were safely back into our slip just after 11pm, thanked the captain for the tow and now it was time for Joe to diagnose the issue. Some people might've waited until morning to figure it out, but we are not most people. I turned the cockpit lights on and Joe started emptying the lazarette in order to access the fuel tank. Upon further searching he found that the pick-up tube had broke off and ended about a half of an inch above the fuel line. We did have diesel it just wasn't able to pick anything up....and so the engine thought we were out of fuel and wouldn't run. It was kind of annoying being something so simple, but on the other hand, I'm super grateful that it wasn't anything major and turned out to be a rather inexpensive fix. 

We finally went to bed and spent most of the next day like this:

Hubs at the engine

And me at the helm

After we were done bleeding the lines of any air, the motor was back up and running like nothing had ever happened! And now, it was time to go enjoy a dinner out...a little pre-anniversary celebration and some new shoes!!!