Day 33
Travel Time:
4 hours
NM today: 31
NM total: 763
Locks today:
0
Locks total:
70
We left our
unnamed “Pointing Finger” anchorage around 9:00 and were amused to see a number
of small, fast boats all heading in the same general direction and all with
young children on board. Most were
driven by women. One boat piloted by a man had four children. We wondered at the number and the speed if
the children were all being taken to school, summer camp, or daycare on the
water. Wherever they were going, with
the speed they were traveling, they all appeared to be late. What a great way to be driven to school in
the morning!
When Captain
Clark met the owner of St. Tropez, he asked if he recommended for or against
Hang Dog Channel. With twin engines the
answer was you’ll be fine if the winds are under 20 knots. We decided that we would try it. What fun!
My heart was in my throat as we came out into open water to approach
Hang Dog Channel. The waves were at
least four feet, and we were being tossed about like a toy boat in a
storm. The rocks surrounding us on all
sides with the exception of the twisty-turny channel added to the thrill of the
ride. I told Clark that I had no need of
amusement park roller coasters with the excitement of being on Sea Moss! Once we rounded the bend, the waves calmed
down and Hang Dog was no problem whatsoever.
It was just that entry to the channel that was a hair-raising
experience.
We went on
from Hang Dog to Port Au Baril Channel to see the Port au Baril Lighthouse as
well as the symbolic barrel marking the channel.
 |
| Port Au Baril Lighthouse |
 |
| Port Au Baril Barrel which denotes safe passage thru turbulent waters |
After that
the boat ride became much more interesting as we came out into open water
heading for The Bustards Islands. The
winds had picked up and were hitting us broadside making the boat truly rock
and roll. The trip across open waters
was going to be at least 3 hours, and we were taking a pounding. Everything on the seat next to me fell onto
the floor and skidded across to the other side of the boat. Even something on the floor fell over and
spilled its contents all around Clark’s feet as he attempted to control the
boat. I was hanging on for all I was
worth.
We took
about an hour of that and then decided that maybe we should find a port for the
night and try the rest of the trip to the Bustards on a calmer day. After
cleaning up the fallout on the upper helm, I dreaded to see what I would find
down below. Eventually I found a break
in the waves and made a bolt down the stairs to see what kind of a mess awaited
me there. It was ugly!
The water
coolers and ice chest were on the floor already for traveling, but they had “walked”
across the floor from port to starboard.
All the charts and travel pamphlets we have acquired had fallen off the
shelf and scattered across the floor.
The new dining table was wobbling like it was just preparing to go
over. One of the bikes had fallen over
but could not go far as it is tethered to the Captain’s wheel of the lower
helm. On top of all that, as I stood in
the doorway, the boat started getting hit with the big waves again. I had to use the handrail across the ceiling
to work my way through the debris to the couch where I plopped down, braced
myself with my legs, grabbed the table with my left arm and the bicycles with
my right and sat there clinging to everything so that it would not cause more
damage.
Our brand
new, expensive table top took a couple of solid hits from my laptop sitting on
it and now has two dent marks where it must have been whacked pretty hard by
the corner of the laptop. Weep
Weep! At least the table did not topple
over as it clearly wanted to do. It
clearly slid across the floor into the couch as there are scratch marks on the
floor that were not there before. Once
there it jammed itself up against the couch so hard that it had trouble falling
over. Thank goodness or I’d really be
crying!
Our safe
haven for the night was Byng Inlet. As
soon as Clark turned the boat towards the inlet, the rolling stopped as the
waves were no longer hitting us on the side but on the stern instead. I waited for a while to make sure we were not
going to be hit by a rogue wave and then started the cleanup process. Once I had everything reasonably back in
place and secured, I went back up top with some cheese and crackers which
became our lunch for today.
In Britt we
found Wright’s Marina and decided since we had not seen a single anchorage to
this point, it was worth a stop here overnight to fill our water tanks, take “real”
showers, use the WiFi, etc. We have been
in anchorages for the past couple of nights, so it was nice to put my feet on
land. We found out that down the road
from here about 2km there is another marina with a food and hardware
store. We did not know until we rode
there by bicycle that the food store and the hardware store are
one-and-the-same. It is the kind of
store that sells a little of this and a little of that, so it was interesting
to snoop around.
On our way
to the food store we stopped at “Ice Cream On The Rocks” to get an ice cream
treat. Since lunch was cheese and
crackers, I had vanilla ice cream with home-made peanut butter topping. I figured that way I could claim I was having
my protein. Besides selling Kawartha ice
cream, the “Ice Cream on the Rocks” store had a canoe / kayak launch. I saw no canoes or kayaks at the store, so
they did not appear to rent them. They
just seemed to charge kayak owners a fee to use their property to launch their
boats.
 |
| Ev enjoying her peanut butter ice cream |
After our
bike ride which was uphill with the wind going and downhill against the wind
return, I was ready for a shower. I
pulled the laundry out and took it with me as they provide a washer and dryer
here. I figured I could get clean while
the laundry was getting clean. After my
shower I sat in a chair on the porch by the laundry room to wait for the dryer. I was slightly annoyed that every time I opened
my Kindle to start reading, it would start to sprinkle rain. I then moved into the laundry room and it
would stop raining. I’d go back out to
sit down, and it would start again. This
pattern continued for the duration of the time I was waiting for the dryer to
finish. The weather was tormenting me on
purpose I’m sure as when I was done with the laundry, I saw no more rain for
the whole night.
No comments:
Post a Comment