Day 23 - 7/18/24
Today was spectacular!
The North Channel has been called the best fresh water sailing in the world. Richard has been wanting to come up here for a long time. I could tell from just looking at a map that it was unique and rather remote but couldn’t quite get a grip on what it was going to be like.
We had told the kids we were going to get an early start and that we needed them up on deck in the morning. When they were still out cold after we walked Kona I decided to play Reveille to rouse them. I’ve never resorted to that…and much to much surprise it didn’t even work! Out cold. So we just woke them the old fashioned way by nagging.
Once awake Bert and Cory hauled the anchor. I only needed to help them with the last 20ft. Woah, with 3 of us on the the rode it came up fast and easy!
After we cleared the obstacles in the anchorage, Bert hoisted the main and we set off on the most amazing sail of our lives.
With a perfect broad reach we quietly sailed through the Whalesback Channel. Islands everywhere. Rocks everywhere. The entire time we felt as if we were on a small lake about to hit a dead end when just as we’d approach we’d find the gap and continue on. One gap named Little Detroit is so narrow (100ft) that you must radio a security call to the other side to make sure no one else is coming through. Charts and GPS make this not so scary but without I think getting lost up here would be too easy and running aground assured. It was stunningly beautiful and we have never seen anything like this. A few other boats were seen along the way. It is hard to capture the grandeur on my phone.
We chose Hotham Island to anchor for the night. Another beautiful spot with two other boats near by. But sadly not the best place to shore Kona. There are some private homes here and lots of marsh or rock cliffs so we weren't sure where we could take her. We took her over to one of the many tiny islands and we found a place to go ashore. Cory found an impressive exoskeleton of a bug and we marveled at the cool rock formations. Even found a vein of quartz with extra pieces laying around and what we think was some sort of shale that the kids enjoyed karate chopping.
We then had a lazy afternoon of reading, playing game, art and naps before we found out that somehow our water we keep in the fridge/freezer had leaked and frozen everything together. We had to completely defrost the freezer and throw the food as we got it released from the ice into the ice box. I ended up decapitating on of our fans in the process but as the saying going "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade" we took advantage of all the extra life and had a lovely happy hour!
Taps and First Post resonated among all the rocks and hills and for the second time in all these years I was volleyed back from shore when someone in the two cottages here played some trumpet back. Richard so desperately wanted me to play more but I seriously don't have anything to play. I need suggestions of good trumpet stand alone things to play...
A very late dinner due to the fridge mess and we were done around 11.
What a day!!!
