Where are hearts are
We awoke to one of my least favorite things. Bugs. Not the tiny ones that invaded our boat last year, but the bigger ones. The larger mayflies. These things only live a day or two as well and they love finding the lee parts of our boat to die. I had to wash the deck down. They were so large I had to made a makeshift dust pan and collect them to throw overboard as they clogged our scuppers. That killed my breakfast. At least for a moment. Ha!
Captain and I took Kona to the closer shore as our dinghy battery was pretty low. Poor Kona. There were a few rocks on shore and all overgrown. She jumped boat, did her business and came back while we stayed in the boat a few feet off shore. I hope to find new anchorages this summer, but “dog friendly/accessible” is making me nervous. I will be doing extra research to make sure places we go will be happy for us all.
Our anchor came up with a good chunk of mud which Cory and I got all cleaned up and on our way by 9:30am. We got a good chuckle as our anchor came up clean on Beaver Island which never has. Beaver Island is notorious for giving us the biggest weed balls ever.
Not a lot of wind meant one more long day of motor sailing. We are gaining a bit of fuel savings by having the sails up and even though we have gone well over 200nm we are only at half a tank, so about 20 gallons of diesel (which is also our cooking fuel). With one last long pull we settled into a semi long day. While we are technically in the North Channel and now north of Manitoulin Island there isn’t a lot of scenery and some pretty open water to the west where we started. Cory made us some breakfast burritos underway and I did dishes. I blogged. I read a lot. The afternoon got really hot. Poor Captain was bundled up to keep the sun off him and drinking water like a camel. I pulled out our cooling rags and tried to keep Kona cool with some shade from a blanket I was using to keep the sun off me. Ciara is lacking in sun protection and some days it can be hard. We can only put our makeshift shade up while at anchor as it obstructs navigation views and is a hazard underway with all it’s extra poles and lines.
Finally around 4:30pm we started coming up on our destination. The open water started to fill in with multiple islands of all sizes. Large rocks sometimes pop out of the water making a home for hundreds of birds. Some large rocks sit right at the surface. You can’t see them, but the birds standing on the water (and the charts!) tell you they are there. I forget how in awe I am in with the North Channel. From here the waters will be very protected as there isn’t much fetch anywhere for the waves to build. The best freshwater sailing in the world for a reason. Thousands of places to drop the hook. Be amongst other boaters, or all by ourselves.
As we rounded north of the Turnbull Islands we lowered the sails and pulled out our looking glass to see if anyone else was in the anchorage we had chosen for the night. We saw some sailboats at the western island of Sandford, but our island, Bassett looked pretty empty. Until that is that we came close and saw that the island was hiding them. Cory and I at the bow watch we started counting as we came around the corner. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 other sailboats! Oh wait, it is the weekend! That is the most we have seen in here before. Thankfully the little spot we wanted was not taken so we glided past all the other boats and went to dropped our hook just a little around the corner.
Kona was so used to 13 hour days that she didn’t even notice we had dropped anchor and was still resting in the cockpit when I started to ready the dinghy for her. She perked up so quickly!
There was a group of sailors already at the little beach. Two little girls swimming in the nude as we approached told me right away these were Canadians and not American sailors which explains why none of the boats were flying any flags. I had Kona leashed but as we approached the group declared they had dogs too and if ours was friendly to just let her loose. Which we did. Kona jumped from the dinghy and went to shore to go greet everyone. They had a puppy that really wanted to play, but not swim, much to the mom’s dismay. We kept trying to get Sailor (that’s his name) to swim. Kona was not complaining. Out in the open water was her escape from having to keep that stick away from other dogs.
We chatted a long time with the folks ashore. They know our friends on Arid Island and we are reminded how small of a world it is up here. After awhile Cory was reminding us that we chat too much and they wanted to get back to make dinner. It was nearing 8pm as it was. So we headed back to Ciara to make Caper Chicken.
The Freeze-Dried chicken breasts did not come back as well as the beef. We are unsure if that was our bad or the nature of the chicken. We will have to try again and find out. Nonetheless, the caper sauce helped and potatoes and salad were filling enough.
Captain pulled out his drone for some ariel footage of the anchorage and I played Last Post at 9pm with the most amazing sunset.
Captain and I took Kona back to shore around 10pm and let her frolic in the sand and play fetch while we sat on the picnic table and soaked in the beauty in front of us. Captain said he was so glad he did all the work this winter, as always. These are the moments for the why. Listening to nothing but wildlife. Not a modern sound to be heard. A still anchorage, dotted by anchor lights and the fading last light of long summer days. A happy dog, a happy Captain and an incredibly happy me.
