Onward to the Pool
I set my alarm for 8am figuring that two hours would be more then enough time to have a relaxing morning and be off the dock by 10am, which was the earliest Playfair said they were going to leave. I took Kona to shore and the marina staff saw me and said they had put new filters on the water system and our water was officially okay to drink. That is good, we can now do that at the dock before we leave.
Cory woke up on their own, which is rare for that time of day. But they had things on their mind. Mostly that he had left his sweatshirt at the recreational room last night. Captain and Cory went to go retrieve that down the channel and also took all our water bottles because the recreational room has crystal gold….and ice machine. Might as well take as much of that as we can!
I spent the time getting Ciara ready to go. Taking out trash, reloading Kona’s food bin by getting into the anchor locker and putting water in Ciara. I checked our poop tanks and decided we didn’t need a pump out today. Our dock neighbors and I got chatting. Deborah (another Deb!) had been looking forward to hearing me play Last Post and I went to apologize for not being able to play last night due to 1. Being away from Ciara until 1am and 2. It was pouring rain at 9pm. She understood. Her husband Dan was chatting with us and all the sudden he said “I have something for you!” He rummaged around his lockers and pulled out a winch handle very similar to the ones we use! He said it came with another older boat and even though he had no use for it on his boat he knew one day he would come across a boat that needs it! It didn’t quite fit our winches but Captain was also really happy to receive it as we can modify it to make it work and having more spare parts is always good! Captain isn’t the only person who holds on to the most random things! His wife, Deborah, was more then happy to see another thing leave the boat!
Playfair left their dock at 9am! They headed to the fuel dock for a very long pump out (big boat, big poop tanks). I texted Christine “You said 10! Haha! We won’t be ready.” She texted back assuring me they were only getting a pump out and going back to the wall and that 11am seemed more reasonable. Great! I was able to think about making breakfast. Captain and I both opted to have our leftovers from the fancy restaurant we went to two nights ago. Mine were these spicy red sauce noodles with a little lamb and I added the last three eggs we had aboard to make the most wonderful, large, breakfast I have had in a long time. Reminded me of Spanish Eggs my mom used to make, just with more flavor and Sunnyside eggs, not boiled. That was sooooo good! I did dishes and we were ready to go.
Playfair was readying to leave as well and we departed just after 11am with me blowing the conch; one long, two short to announce ourselves backing into the channel. (Most folks don’t do this, but we can, and it is fun, so we do). Playfair left just a few minutes later, sounding their horn just the same.
There was hardly any wind for our approximate 4-hour trip (4 hours assume we keep an average speed of 6 knots). But since Playfair wasn’t going to motor, neither were we. We sailed along at a peaceful 1.7-2.8 knots for quite a while. We led Playfair through the Lansdown Channel which got a little shallow for them, but they made it through with two feet to spare. About 4 hours after we left, we finally were almost half way and we turned to starboard to head past Frazer Bay to Bae Fine. The water was glass. Captain exclaimed “Playfair wins, I’m turning on the motor.” And so it was, we left Playfair behind us as we motored our way on.
We entered Bae Fine around 4pm. Bae Fine is one of my most favorite places here. It is the worlds largest navigable fresh water fjord. Surrounded by white quantize that is nearly 2 billion years old. We always enjoy gliding past the land on these protected waters either by sail or motor. About an hour later we were at the very end entering the inlet at the end that leads to the Pool. I knew where Playfair was going to secure their boat for the night so we dropped anchor not far into the anchorage. I think I like it up here (rather then tucked back further) as the mountains loom over our boat more giving me feelings of being back in the mountains and there is a bit more breeze over here. The pool, being so protected, often is super-hot and muggy (and buggy at sunset), so the extra breeze is very welcome.
As soon as we anchored James from Bacchus, friend of Lucia, came over and chatted for a while. He was tucked way down at the end, but knew we were coming, and we aren’t hard to identify. Kona was getting whiney so he set back to make dinner while we took Kona to shore. She did her business and got some fetch/swim time in as well.
We took a dinghy ride around the anchorage on our way back. Stopping to talk to a boat from Michigan along the way. On our way back another dinghy came and intercepted us. They called out “We have something for you!” “Us??” I replied back! “We are pretty sure you are that boat that plays at sunset, we brought you guys some wild blueberry tarts!” Captain and I remain humbled and amazed that our reputation precedes ourselves. He asked me how many folks know us. I reminded him that our boat is extremely different amongst almost all other boats. I am very active on the social channels that connect sailors up here. Between the boat, the dog, my trumpet and his beard (and three years of sailing these waters) we have probably become infamous. I live a fairytale. We live a fairytale. The tarts were not only beautiful they were delicious and I foolishly didn’t get a picture!
We made a guilty treat for dinner. Freeze-Dried Sailsbury Steak with our homemade Freeze-dried mashed potatoes. Yes, these are the tv dinner ones. The ones that are actually so bad they are good and remind you of pulling out TV trays and watching the Wonderful World of Disney on TV on a Saturday night in the 80’s.
Captain tried flying his drone around 7pm when we thought many Playfair was getting close and it turns out they were still very far down Bae Fine. They were going to be lucky to make it in by sunset. James came back over while I did dishes and 9pm was getting very close. Playfair was now headed down the last channel, but she was moving at a lovely 1.7 knots (thanks to AIS I can see her ship and speed on a gps app). I played Last Post really well and got honks, claps and “thank you's” from the busy anchorage. I may have even been recognized by the Evinrude family that are here at their cottage this weekend.
After Last Post the mosquito army came out in full force. The sky was threating a storm, even with some lighting and rumble off in the distance. James made for his dinghy to leave just as we saw the steaming lights of Playfair enter the anchorage in the last bit of day light.
We scurried below as well and started our bug light and incense as those buggers got inside. We could hear the crew of Playfair setting their stern anchor and I was very bummed not to watch the magic happen. Not long after they set the stern anchor, we heard a few kids jump into the water and swim to shore to tie the bow straight to the cliff. We joked that the kids probably fought for that job as they must have all been being eaten alive at that point. This summer camp is not for the weak for sure, those kids get the full tall ship experience and I’m in awe.
I re-opened the hatch and came outside after 10pm when the bugs had had their fill. The air was cooler and I got a cool night picture of Playfair secure against the cliffs. Then it started to rain. We did our shut down procedure by closing all the windows and then settled into watching some House that Cory had downloaded in Killarney. By the time House was done at midnight the rain was done and we were able to re-open the windows to help us sleep. I’m hopeful we will be able to hike and swim with the crew of Playfair tomorrow before they leave for Little Current.
