Day 9...Rats ...start again!

DAY 9, Tuesday,

Well, today was a bust. We went for groceries as planed and got everything  ready. Even remembered ice for the cooler. We headed out at aroud 11:30 behind a few other sailboats, all of whom were heading east. We of course were heading west into the wind. We tacked back and forth for about three hours and were nowhere near being able to make a harbour, so we turned around and came back to Gore Bay. It took about 45 minutes to get back. Seems to me the same thing happened around here about 10 years ago!

As soon as we got back to the anchorage, an enormous storm rolled past the bay mouth.  Sure glad we came back! So tomorrow we will leave at 7 am. The weather forecast is for light winds and reasonable waves so we should be able to make Meldrum Bay by night fall.

Sometimes I feel like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz except I WANT to get to the magic land!  I‘ve made a pot of chicken soup in anticipation of the long day. Not sure Todd is looking forward to it!

From Clapperton to Gore Bay

DAY 8   Continued...

It’s 8:30 am and Todd has been sleeping since 9pm. And it’s getting colder. The universe must have decided we don’t want to swim today. Last night at dusk we were surrounded by hundreds of seagulls. I guess we must have been sitting on their fishing spot.

This morning a flock of grackles swooped in and attacked the sumac berries. The ground cover on these islands seems to be poison ivy. It was growing right down to the water’s edge in some spots on the beach.  Yes, Mom, we were careful. We have calamine lotion and rubbing alcohol,  just in case!

Todd just wolfed down his breakfast and headed to the front of the boat with his fishing rod.

We are still doing minor renovations... we have power and lights now. AC and DC ! the solar panel is working extremely well. In fact we met someone in Little Current with the same solar panel who told us he never turns on his wind generator because he doesn’t need it.

We decided to head out for Gore Bay. The fish have disappeared and Todd is anxious to catch some. We readied the boat for sailing. It took an hour...good to know. We need to decide at least two hours ahead of time when we want to move!

We left Clapperton Island at 2:45 pm and motored through the buoys. The water is so shallow we couldn’t risk sailing it and going aground. Once we passed the last buoy, we shut off the motor and sailed. It was rough and this time Todd felt the waves a bit. He sipped on ginger ale and sat in the cockpit. It took 2 ½ hours to reach the bottom of Gore Bay.

 We anchored and went ashore.

 We  arrived in Gore Bay, the spider capital of the universe around 5:00 pm. We anchored in rough seas and 5 feet of water, but it's now quiet and calm and the sky is pretending that tomorrow will be a great day.  Except that there are THUNDERSTORMS forecasted again!The docks are expensive here too...$1.75/ft . Todd found another “favourite” restaurant and a park.  When we got back to the boat we played cribbage again. He almost beat me!

We are loping along making sure that we are doing the legs as safely and comfortably as possible, so those of you who are concerned that we will miss our weather window to the sunny south this winter...not going to happen!!!!We will cut short the trip to Lake Superior if we have to.

DAY 9

Ugh! Grey...misty and dead calm in here this morning. We are going for groceries and to give Todd some land time with his scooter. Rick needs to get a fuse for the radar and micro-switch for the pressure pump.  Then we’ll see how the day looks for moving on. We could try for Meldrum Bay  or Cockburn Island.

Todd learning to program way points into the GPS
 



Todd and Grampa at the secret spot

A Lazy Day

DAY 7 – Sunday, July 27.

 It’s a bright morning with relatively gusty winds and the forecast is for more thunderstorms again this afternoon.

We have decided to hang at anchor in this little bay. We can explore the island abandoned resort and try fishing.  The power boat left but the other two sailboats are still here. We can only get the French weather so it’s hard to translate quickly. If I can find a MAFOR code on the Internet, I’ll start using that. I can understand French numbers more easily than words!

Todd and Grampa spent the morning fishing. There was a small boat off the point about 100 yards from us and they brought in 3 bass in a half hour.  Todd lost a two-foot pike but that was it. We spent the afternoon swimming on the shore of Clapperton Island. It’s all natural sand beach. It took Todd a few minutes to remember how to snorkel but once he got it he was off!  After we came back to the boat Todd and Grampa went fishing again, this time where the other boat had been but no luck. They went back to try to find that escaped pike but he was not playing any more. We had spaghetti and meatballs for supper.

By nightfall there were 5 more sailboats in here with us. It’s a huge bay so we are not near each other. They all have the protected shore ...we ducked in behind the little island in the middle of the bay

The thunderstorms never materialized but the wind rose to about 40 knots over night and it was like sleeping on...a boat?

DAY 8  Monday

We are going to move to Gore Bay today. Winds are heavier this morning but light this afternoon. It would be nice to be able to SAIL!!! The winds have been on the nose since we left.  There are more storms forecast for the next few days.  So we will take it one “bay at a time” ! Todd had a great day yesterday and we are trying to enjoy every place we stop.  

The Goose has flown!!

So not sure what day this is so I'll start at the beginning...

DAY 1 ..we left the Marina, not with a roar but a whimper...in trying to top the hydraulic fluid Rick decided to change out  short hose that might cause a leak so he cut the line. We had no extra ferrules to replace the old ones and we had no car. Luckily one of the staff at the Marina gave him a ride to the store and he got what he needed. We got away at 4 pm. We made it as far as Little Port Elgin, a small bay at the north shore of Colpoys Bay at Cape Crocker. We dropped anchor around 8 pm, made dinner and crashed.

DAY 2  We woke up early and started to had out for the tip of the Bruce Peninsula, Wingfield Basin but as awe were raising the anchor I realized that we had no steering...blew a different hydraulic hose. Luckily "McGyver" had purchased extra ferrules, so we were an hour behind but we got out at 9 am and started up the shore. By the time we got almost up to Wingfield, 7 hours later, the winds were gale force and we were screaming along at 8 knots (8 mile and hour for you landlubbers.  If you have ever experienced a hurricane, I might be exaggerating a bit. but if you haven't, trust me, it was hurricane force!!!!

Todd has been doing well... impressions of Titanic on the bow; hauling the dinghy around, handling line and sails. We made it into the basin against 40 knot winds and trying not lose our jib sheets. Todd thought it was a hoot. It took us an hour to find god holding ground and by the time we were anchored (having had to change the anchor) three more boats had piled in to get out of the storm. There were twelve of us in there by nightfall. Liz Quentin and Tasha drove up to visit and deliver some ginger ale in case "was got seasick

DAY 3The next day we were stuck  there watching the huge rollers galloping in. Todd fished from the dinghy, played with the dinghy, lounged in the dinghy.  Then we went to explore the shore and the wrecks in the Basin.

DAY 4  We left Wingfield under a hazy sky and motor sailed all the way to Little Current. That we another long day.  We got to Little Current around7:45 but not quick enough to catch the open bridge so we ad ot circle around until 9:00 pm to wait for the next opening. We were at the town dock by 9:25 and in a restaurant eating a burger by 9:45 pm.

DAY 5 We hung around Little .Current for the day waiting for Geoff to arrive and doing housekeeping duties. It was a good surprise for Todd to see his dad. We met a couple of people from Owen Sound and some new acquaintances. Todd scoottered through the town out to the skateboard park. we walked up to the grocery store and back. We did a lot of walking that day!

DAY 6  We left Little Current at noon after some more housekeeping and helping others off the dock. The current is very strong here. We managed to get out of the channel as the storms started to build, and we made it into Clapperton Channel under lightening and thunder. Todd was watching a move so he didn't care.Sometimes it's better to let the Wookie win.  We are anchored here now and although it looks like the squalls have passed (blue sky and white fluffy clouds,) it's raining again and the winds are changing.  Hopefully it will be a good sailing day tomorrow although we are supposed to have thunder storms again.

As an aside, we are sitting in a remote harbour. Our phones with only one bar actually are giving us internet access through a hotspot! Ain't technology grande!!!