Loons and Shooting Stars
Everyone slept in today, despite our promises of getting up early to leave around 9 to go help Hobert and Kim on Whiskey Jak. Captain and I didn’t sleep well. Me, because I was in a lot of pain. Captain, because he woke up mid-night and his brain turned on thinking about fixes for Whiskey Jak and then “all the other thoughts” that tend to keep one up in the middle of the night. I finally got some rest when I got up and took some pain meds. I’m frustrated with my body this summer after the MCL sprain. Some days it seems just great and healing and the next I’m just really sore. My back is sore, my other leg is sore. It doesn’t make sense other then my body must have adjusted to the injury and now everything is out of whack.
By the time Captain got up and we were getting ready to take Kona to shore Gary was zooming back from helping out Hobert. He had taken his dinghy all the way down Bae Fine and they appeared to have secured the shaft and all was well.
We set off not too much longer after that, shortly before noon. Pulling anchor, Cory and I had to stop frequently to clean off all the weeds on the rode and chain. Thankful the anchor came up rather clean though and we didn’t have to lift 30 additional pounds of weight. We used our deck wash to clean the deck off as we glided out of the Pool. We didn’t have far to go today, just about an hour down the fjord to another anchorage that has a very popular hike that we want to do. We motored the entire way there enjoying the scenery.
Whiskey Jak was still across the fjord at the alternate anchorage when we arrived. We did a quick fly by to check on him only to find out his problem wasn’t fixed as he had hoped. He lost a critical part down into the bilge. Captain said we had a magnet, Hobert said he would come over in his dinghy after we get our anchor and get it.
Mary Ann’s Cove is a tight, adorable, anchorage. We had stopped here just for the day last year. So tight that most boats have to stern tie to the shore and it was our first attempt at ever doing so. We had my kids last year, and therefore, two extra set of hands for helping. Even then it was a marriage tester. Not an easy maneuver on any boat, especially ours. I didn’t like it at all. Although this is the anchorage where we saw the anchor minding duck for the first time, the same one I sought out to buy over the winter and how we came to have Carl. When we were headed to the Pool earlier in the week we noticed a sailboat just outside the official anchorage in a different spot. Not marked on the charts as such, but suitable for a place to drop the hook and today that spot was open so we took it! Yay, we didn’t have to stern tie and also got the perk of having a much more private anchorage. Maybe not quite as protected, but we are in a fjord after all. It was protected against the east/west fetch, so good enough.
Captain went to look for his magnet and couldn’t find it. He checked his main toolbox. He checked our larger drawers (of which one had the bottom fall out and now needed a complete emptying out and fixing. He checked under Cory’s bunk. Our boats insides were laid everywhere! We even found a back up winch handle!!! But we didn’t find the magnet. I asked if he checked his toolbox and he said it was the first place he looked but I was welcome to look again. I lifted the lid to the box and right in front of me was the magnet! Poor Captain. We all had a good laugh. The upside was we were able to re-organize a lot of things, get a drawer fixed (thanks to some handy woodwork from Cory) and find things we didn’t even know we had.
Because I was pretty sore from two days of hiking and the day was getting on, we decided to just chill for the day and take the hike tomorrow. I got to read and enjoy this beautiful anchorage. Whiskey Jak had come over and dropped anchor near us having fixed their boat by finding the missing part which wasn’t in the bilge after all (so much for needing that magnet-ha). They have two dogs; one is a puppy who had a rough start at life and therefore just a little crazy (fun) to hang out without his people or to be joined by strangers with other dogs so we just chatted from our dinghy’s and let them have their peace for the evening before they start limping home tomorrow.
Both Captain and I are feeling the call of home. Not really in a good way. It is really hard to think of the fall and winter. Every year we come home from this much simpler life determined to keep the mindset but know that the hustle and bustle of the suburban life is just too different to keep the vibe. Things that need to be done, things we want to do, things we DON’T want to do flooded our minds all day. The weight of the outside world seemed unbearable compared to the sound of the loons that floated by our boat in peace.
We had some left over Shepards Pie and added some Kielbasa and onions for dinner. We read some more and then watched two episodes of Rick and Morty. Before we called it a night Captain opened up the hatch to look outside. He called down to Cory and I “Hey, when was the last time you sat outside with perfect temps, no bugs and a clear view of the night sky?” It had been a while. We had forgotten that we can go back outside after the mosquito hour and with the fire ban, we just hadn’t been outside at night much this year. All three of us laid down in the cockpit and marveled at the milky way that loomed behind our mast. The constellations that I know popped out clearly with no light pollution. We saw many shooting starts thanks to the Perseid meteor showers. We all waxed philosophical about life, politics (sadly) and how insignificant we are on the grand scale of the universe. I remember, as a young child, being drawn to the simpler life, even if I didn’t know exactly what I meant. The few times I got to lay outside and marvel at the sky at night or go for a meager hike I was in love. This is my temple; this is my happy place with my love and I wish it could last forever.
