Day 35
Travel Time:
4.5 hours
NM today: 31
NM total: 817
Locks today:
0
Locks total:
70
Now that we have
almost completed our visit to the Georgian Bay, we believe we have figured out
the algorithm for best traveling in this area – up at 7:00, on way by 8:00, off
the bay before 11:00. From 11:00 onwards
the winds pick up. We turned into
Collins Inlet just before 11:00 and arrived in our anchorage for tonight just
around 12:30. Shortly after entering the
inlet, we could tell the winds had picked up and were very glad we were in a
protected area already. As I sit here
several hours later, I marvel at the fact that the boat has been spinning back
and forth like a top due to the wind gusts we have experienced all day long. Thankfully we used the Danforth anchor
straight off today and it held on the first go!
Hallelujah!!!
It took us a
while to actually get going from the anchorage this morning as Clark had to
pull up the Danforth by hand – no winch – just the old heave-ho! As soon as he got to the chain, the heaviest part,
he ran into trouble because it was covered in mud. He could not keep a grip on the chain to pull
it in. To my horror he started using the
outdoor shower at the bow of the boat. I
knew we had another night of anchoring and did not want an empty water tank, so
I quick ran and pulled out a big bucket and smaller bucket, filled the larger
one with water, dragged them both up front to him, and told him to stop using
the water from the water tank to wash down the anchor line.
He told me
his problem with not being able to get a grip on the chain, so I ran back and
pulled out a pair of the gloves we used for locking through to see if that
would help. By the time he had the
anchor up mud covered everything. The
water from the bucket left black streaks of yuck all down the port
walkway. It was a mess. He used up the bucket of water I had given
him and got a second one to do a quick wash down of the bow and walkway to get
off the worst of it.
While he was
mucking around with the anchor and line, I was up top manning the helm and
doing ‘station keep’ to keep the boat from wandering around the anchorage after
the anchor was disengaged. Eventually
Clark told me to turn the boat around to face the exit from the anchorage. I looked at the collection of rocks and
islands in front of me and had no idea which way we had come in yesterday. I decided I better sit tight and wait for the
captain to take the helm. When he came
up, I went down to the bow to do rock-lookout duty. He waved the chart in my direction and said, “Which
way did we come in here?” Uh-oh! Neither one of us knew how to get out. I thought, “This might be fun”!
With me
standing just in front of the windows of our cabin and just under the upper
helm station, I studied the chart while looking for rocks in front of the boat
trying to point out to Clark the way I thought we came in and where I thought
we needed to go. Between what we
remembered and what the chart plotter provided as guidance, we soon found our
way out of the maze. Believe me there is
a harsh penalty in prop damage if the correct path out is not chosen.
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| Teepees? No 3 Lighthouses marking an island. |
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Rocks Lying in Wait for Distracted Boaters
|
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| Sun on Water Behind Us Traveling West on Georgian Bay |
The section
on Georgian Bay was about five or six nautical miles of open water heading
directly into the wind. We went up and
down with the waves, but we did not roll, so no tables were damaged, no books
covered the floor, all was good. The
trip through Collins Inlet is a side trip as many boaters go directly to
Killarney; however, Clark had heard it was pretty and knew of an anchorage with
beautiful sunsets, so he decided we needed to make a visit. The landscape here is breathtaking. We noticed that other than a few “lodges” and
“hunting camps” not many people seem to live up here. We passed an Indian Reservation to come in
and saw some housing there, but other than that, this is a very remote part of
the country.
On the way
to our selected anchorage, we passed through a portion of Mill Lake. Our Skipper Bob guide book says to look for
the profile of the “Crabby Indian” in the rock face shortly after turning into
Collins Inlet from the lake. We found
him! Do you see him too?
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| Crabby Indian Rock |
We found
intricate and interesting rock formations in tonight’s anchorage and along the
way. With the sun hitting the colored
striations of the rock faces, the effect was particularly striking.
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| Rock Formations along Collins Inlet |
Today was a
lazy day. Although the woods and terrain
look interesting to explore, we have been warned about bears and rattle snakes
enough times to make us think twice. Even
though the sun has been shining brightly all day, with the wind howling like a banshee,
the idea of taking the kayaks or even the dinghy out seemed very
unappealing. To pass the time today, I read,
solved some Sudoku puzzles, and watched the scenery swing back and forth out
the windows of the boat. I am amazed that I can do the first two activities
while the second is occurring without any dizziness or seasickness. I am not normally susceptible to seasickness,
but the spinning can be very disconcerting unless watching it directly instead
of peripherally.
Every so
often as we sat spinning, the anchor alarm went off just to keep Clark on his
toes. Spinning in place should not cause
the alarm to sound. Clark speculates
that every time the GPS picks up a different satellite signal, the alarm sounds. Twice last night, the alarm woke him – once when
it lost the DGPS signal and then again when the system found it again about an
hour later. In between he switched to
GPS. I sleep very well on the boat and
must tune out the alarm signal, because I sleep through the alarm sounding as
well as Clark going to see what needs to be done to address it. Not my job!
Tonight’s
dinner was sadly lacking green vegetables.
However, I did have potatoes, onions, and carrots, so I added some beef to
the combo and came up with a beef stew.
I even managed to make dumplings to top it off. Yummy!
Clark read the guide book regarding our next stop, Killarney, where I
hoped to get some provisions. I do not
know what I will find there as the guide book indicates the grocery pickings are
slim and expensive. Apparently,
according to the book, a planned stop two nights later might provide a better
selection. We shall see!
We came to
this anchorage because we had been told about the wonderful sunsets here, so after
dinner we watched the sun set and the clouds change colors as the sun reflected
up on them. It started out as an ordinary sunset with the exception of one
cloud that glowed like it was made of silver, but as the show went on for many
minutes, the view changed and eventually became purple clouds streaked with red
like someone had taken a highlighter and drawn red lines to outline the edges. Spectacular!
I have never seen anything like that before. I made Clark rush out with the camera to try
to capture the effect. Only moments
later the red coloring was completely gone and the clouds became
silhouettes. Being north as we are,
sunsets last a long time, and we truly enjoyed the show.
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| Sunset at Collins Inlet |
As the sunset faded away, we set our focus on getting ready to watch the stars come out. I spotted my first “star” as the sun was still going down. We could not decide which planet we were looking at and with no internet, we couldn’t cheat. Perhaps Venus was what we saw?! It rapidly moved across the sky and set behind a bunch of trees and could be seen no more.
To the east
was cloud cover, but to the west was clear, so we watched out the front window
to see what would appear next. I expect
that what we saw next was a constellation, but my knowledge of constellations
is limited with having lived in NJ for so long where NYC obliterates the night
sky with lights. Clark was trying to
turn the constellation into the Big Dipper, but I said it looked more like a
pitchfork than a dipper, so definitely not Big or Little Dipper.
The Big
Dipper made its appearance a little later with one of the four corners hidden
behind a puffy cloud. Even with all those navigation classes Clark took, he
could not tell me how to find the North Star by using the Big Dipper to
help. We did not find the Little Dipper. The moon did not help our cause as it is
approaching a half moon, so the sky was fairly well lit.
If the
display of stars had been more spectacular, I would have ventured outside to
get a better look. At one point I even mentioned
that I wanted to go out to Clark, and he said he’d never see me again if I did
as the mosquitoes would carry me away.
Darn things! We decided that in a
couple of weeks the sky will be darker and the show will be better (hopefully),
so we went to bed with the idea in mind to try again another night somewhere
further down the line.
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