Day 38
Travel Time: 3.5 hours
NM today: 27
NM total: 856
Locks today: 0
Locks total: 70
We woke this
morning to the rumble of thunder.
Shortly after the rain started.
Clark decided to listen to the Boaters’ Network broadcast at 9:00 before
leaving since the weather report indicated the rain would blow over and we
would have a clear day if we waited. By
9:15 the rain had slowed so Clark went upfront to start hauling in the anchor,
and I took the helm. Unlike the
anchorage at The Bustard Islands, the course to exit the anchorage at Covered
Portage Cove was clear, so as Clark pulled in and cleaned up the anchor, I
started us slowly on our way.
The trip
from Covered Portage to Baie Fine took longer than I expected. The fact that Clark followed the magenta line
on the chart down a direction we did not plan or want to travel did not help. When I looked at the GPS coordinates compared
to the chart, I asked him where he was going.
We had to make an about face and backtrack only slightly to get back on
track. The magenta line is nice, but
when multiple intersect, the pilot must take care to follow the correct line. I have said it in prior blog entries, all
these rocks and islands look alike to us, so it is easy to make a mistake.
The narrow
channel through Baie Fine to The Pool is long and skinny with few to no buoys,
so the trip is slow to someone like us who is unfamiliar with where the rocks
may be lying in wait. We had deep water all the way into The Pool, but it never
hurts to be careful in a new anchorage with rocky terrain. The Pool is well protected, so protected in
fact that no cell phone service (at least not Verizon’s) could penetrate the
area. We have always had some service in
other anchorages, poor perhaps, but at least in existence. Today we had not a single bar of reception
and nothing worked – text, voice or data.
That was terribly disappointing as my son had said he would call me
today. Figures!
We got
settled rather quickly. Clark used the
CQR anchor today because we read that the bottom was weedy. The guide books said to let the anchor settle
in the weeds before setting it. We did
that and it gripped very well. Not too
long after, however, we noticed that the anchor line was growing a beard rather
rapidly. Many weeds float on the service
of the water and become entangled with the line. The guide book says that we will need someone
at the anchor in a dinghy to chop away the weeds as we pull it up. Sounds like fun – not!
After a late
lunch we decided to take the kayaks out and go to explore a trail we read about
leading to Topaz Lake. Clark said we
needed to wear our bathing suits so we could swim in Topaz Lake once we got
there. I said, “I hope it’s not 64
degrees!” He responded, “No, it’s not
even 64 here. I measured the temp and it
is 74 here.” I put my suit on and my
hiking shirt and pants over the top.
Once again I insisted on wearing my water shoes for kayaking and putting
my sneakers in Clark’s backpack.
Well, it was
a very good thing that I had on my swimsuit and water shoes because when I
tried to get into the kayak, I overbalanced and whoosh, the kayak was upside
down beside me in the water. I went
under water and came up sputtering and trying to catch my breath from the
surprise of taking an involuntary swim.
I grabbed hold of the swim platform on the boat with my left hand to
keep my arm out of the water in a futile attempt to save my watch. As of the writing of this blog entry, it is
still ticking (it’s a Timex!).
So, now I’m
in the water, fully clothed and surprisingly still wearing my hat, sunglasses,
and contact lenses; boats all around me; and no way to get out of the
water. My kayak floated on one side of
me upside down and I could not figure out how to right it. Clark’s kayak floated on the other side of
me, but I figured if I tried to pull myself into there, I’d flip it on top of
me. Then there sat Sea Moss with my one
square foot of swim platform to work with.
Although Clark can pull himself up onto that out of the water, I cannot. I did not even try as I knew it was
hopeless. In between gasps of breath as I
was still reeling from my surprise dip, I said somewhat pathetically to Clark, “I
don’t know what to do”.
The only
option to get me out of the water was to launch the dinghy. To do that I knew I had to get myself and the
two kayaks out of the way, so having given my watch to Clark, I had both arms
free to tread water and move the kayaks away from the back of the boat with
me. Clark asked if it was clear to let
the boat down because he couldn’t see beyond the dinghy, so I told him it was
safe. Finally he got the dinghy down and
the swim ladder deployed, and I climbed out of the water sopping wet.
Clark
offered me a towel but I just stripped off the hiking shirt and pants since I
had the swimsuit on underneath. He got
me some clothes pins and I hung my clothes up to try and went to find new
ones.
With the
dinghy in the water, I had the entire swim platform at my disposal to assist
with getting in the kayak, so I managed a successful and definitely more
graceful embarkation on my second attempt.
One thing about taking the involuntary dip, I felt cool even with the
sun beating down. The dock we needed to
reach lay on the far side of The Pool, so we paddled over and found a boat ramp
of sorts where we could pull up our kayaks and start our hike.
We followed
the rocky trail to Topaz Lake where we found beautiful quartz stone and a lake
with clear blue water.
 |
| Rocky Trail to Topaz Lake from The Pool |
 |
| Topaz Lake |
The trail
gave us a hard time without hiking shoes as many stones wobbled, and pine
needles, mud, and the uphill climb made the trail slippery. As we got closer and closer to Topaz Lake, we
saw more and more quartz stone laying at our feet. Walking around and on top of the granite in
the area, I thought of kitchen countertops and gravestones depending on what
color I saw at the time. We reached the
lake and for the second time today, I went swimming. I did not plan ahead though and left my water
shoes with the kayak, so I had to climb over the stones in the water in bare
feet to get out for my swim.
 |
| Stones in Topaz Lake to swimming area |
I could tell
from firsthand experience that the water in Topaz Lake was colder than the
water in The Pool. Even so, it felt
refreshing and all too soon from my point of view, Clark was saying it was time
to climb out, dry off, and complete our hike.
Clark had read that a spectacular view of The Pool could be seen from
the trail we hiked, but we did not see it.
Later we learned that we had to hike much further and higher than we had
hiked to get to see it. Oh well.
The hike
back to the kayaks required a steep climb to get up to the trail. For this part of the hike, I found myself on
all fours climbing up the path and holding onto bigger-sized rocks as well as
trees to assist so that I didn’t slide back down to the water. After that the hike back to the boat was
basically downhill and we traversed the distance much faster going back than
coming. Funny how it always seems to
take longer to cover territory when it is unfamiliar but the return trip appears
faster. Before we knew it we were back
at the kayaks and on our way back to Sea Moss.
As we passed
a boat name Albin & Co. the owner
asked us how we liked our kayak ride and suggested that if we wanted more fun,
we could explore the stream over to the other side of The Pool and see a
waterfall. Clark was all in, so off we
went again to explore the stream and waterfall.
The entry to the stream is camouflaged by lily pads such that it looks
like a dead end. Clark thought we had
the wrong place, but I remembered she said “lily pads” in her description of
the route, so I thought we should keep going.
Sure enough we found the stream weaving through the lily pads and trees
all the way to the waterfall. We had to
disembark from the kayaks and walk the last bit, but we got to see the
waterfall.
 |
| Waterfall on Stream Leading to Lily Pads and The Pool |
Since my
kayak was in the back, I shoved off first from the waterfall stop and assumed
Clark was right behind me, but when I turned to look, he was nowhere to be
seen. I called back to him to see if he
was coming and he said yes, so I waited and eventually I saw the tips of his
paddle over the weeds and knew he was following. I proceeded out of the stream back to The
Pool where I waited and waited and waited and still no Clark appeared. I had heard no shouts of dismay, so I
concluded that he was taking his time and most likely taking pictures as he
came.
I later
learned that the flowering lily pads had attracted his attention, so he
captured pictures of the different flowers presented. The lily pad varieties included those with
blue, some with white, and a few with yellow flowers. I have only ever seen white before so the
yellow and blue intrigued me. Due to the
direction of the sun, Clark got this amazing shot of what appears to be silver
lily pads but are truly the normal green in ordinary light.
 |
| Lily Pads Reflecting the late-day Sun |
We ate dinner
relaxing on the fly bridge (the penthouse) while watching the darkness spread
across The Pool as the sun set behind the trees. What a full day today! I prefer them that way. Every day on this trip is an adventure
waiting to happen. I don’t know what
tomorrow will bring, but I hope it does bring phone service as I am not
entirely comfortable with being completely cut off from the rest of the world though
I know some people pay big money for such seclusion.
No comments:
Post a Comment