Our Summer Cruise 2015

July 13

South Benjamin Bay to South Benjamin Cove - 3.3nm

We woke this morning to sunshine again but the weather gods were predicting winds to switch to the northeast and then move round to the north over the next couple of day with speeds up to 25kts. Since the Bay is not the place to be in these winds, we and "Wings" decided to head the long way (3nm) around the Island to a very protected cove on the south side. "Heart Tug and "Joint Venture" headed east to Croker Island nearby that also would have good protection. It took us longer to pull the anchor and get going than to make the trip! On the way, we took the opportunity to try to calibrate the heading sensor for the autopilot by going in circles but did not get a good result - need to try again later.

We joined the only other boat in the cove and were soon well situated for the winds to come and they did come with strength by early afternoon. Other boats had the same idea as us and we were soon joined by a couple of sailboats and a powerboat.

STB in South Cove

From Up on the Rocks Overlooking the Cove

 

Entry to Cove

During a respite in the winds, Bob and I managed a dinghy ride to shore and spent an hour or so trying to find "Bob's secret patch" from previous years. Sadly, the blueberries were not cooperating yet this year. What we found were small and sparse. Nevertheless, we managed to gather a couple of cups each. Really need a couple more weeks and some rain for prime picking.

 

First of the Season

After a game of cards with "Wings", I transformed the blueberries into scones:

 

For Tomorrow's CruiserNet Broadcast

July 14

The winds dropped overnight and although the day started sunny, the wind/waves soon picked up. After having Jan and Bob over for the CruiserNet broadcast and scones, tried fishing for a while with no success - not doing too good this year! The weather slowly got worse over the day with grey skies moving in and out and we skated by some rainstorms.

Just a Hole In The Clouds Saved Us

Judy got some washing done and used the solar dryer to dry it all in a couple of hours.

Not In Public View!

I did some boat jobs including moving our heading sensor to a (hopefully) better location. We have been having trouble for some time with the sensor that functions as an electronic compass for the autopilot.. As it is electronic, it is very sensitive to any magnetic metal or electrical interference nearby. We will have to do a calibration out on the water later but hopefully this cures the problem.

We took the opportunity to start oiling the teak inside the boat. This is an annual job where we have to coat the teak with a mixture of teak and lemon oils, let it sit, and then polish it off. If you have seen the photos of our boat, you know we have acres of wood to treat and it usually takes a couple of days - best done in small doses.

Bob and Jan joined us for a game of "Sequence," a card game we started playing last year with them. Bob and I were set for victory leading by 2-0, when the "ladies" came back to win three games in a row - Judy sandbagged us!

Winds continue to blow in the 20kt range and show no sign of abating.

July 15

One of our worst mornings today for bugs on the boat. There was a shad fly hatch overnight and our super bright anchor light acts as a magnet for the critters. It was as bad as we had earlier at Harbor Island and the only solution is to hose them off the boat and wipe it down afterwards.

Our Nemesis!

We wipe the boat down every morning anyway to keep it clean but it's a lot easier if it hasn't been hosed first, plus we have to do the windows.

Jan and Bob hosted us for the CruiserNet broadcast and blueberry muffins - delicious! - and after, we did some exploration in the dinghy around the cove and just outside while the waves were down. We checked out the small cove to the west that was meant to be rock bound. We'd seen a decent size boat in there a couple of days earlier so figured it was tenable. We used our portable sounder to measure the depth as we went in a found a good 12' almost to the end. We now have a new anchorage.

We also checked out the southeast corner of the cove as another potential anchorage as we had seen a small sailboat enter the previous day.

Southeast Corner With Entry Point To Anchorage

Again the soundings showed a good depth until the end where a small sailboat, "Margaret Ann" was anchored and tied alongside a rock that went vertically down 9' They had fenders out against the rock and it was like their own private dock in a marina but with exceptional views. They hadn't moved at all in the winds! Two more sailboats joined them later in a small bay to the south.

 

Snug!!!!

"Joint Venture" joined us later in the day from Croker as "Heart Tug" was heading for Little Current. Randy and Audrey were heading home to visit Randy's mother for a few days. I took the opportunity later in the day to try for more blueberries and had some reasonable patches at the west end of the cove high up on the rock. I later found out that this is known locally as "Bruce Springsteen Rock." Supposedly, Bruce used to come up to the North Channel and it was one of his favorite anchoring spots.

We had a rocky rolly evening with wind and waves being in opposition.

July 16

South Benjamin Cove to Gore Bay - 13nm

What a night! Normally the wind dies in the evening but last night the wind switched from southwest to north and blew all night. As we were towards the south end of the cove, we got a good wind on the bow but the waves were still from the southwest and wrapped around the point and hit us on the beam. We rolled until early morning and had the infamous "bow slap." Earplugs didn't help much so it was a restless night.

By "wake-up time," the wind had moderated and we decided to head out as strong south winds were no the cards for the next couple of days. Gore was the best choice, plus Jan had a hair appointment on Friday. This gave us the opportunity to calibrate the heading sensor after its move and the first time we had no luck getting a good calibration. Trying a manual calibration with us steering the boat was more successful and, with fingers crossed, we set a course using the autopilot and the boat headed straight for the way point at Gore Bay with no initial swing off course that we had been experiencing. Time will tell, but hopefully our heading will continue to match up with our course. The radar overlay on the chartplotter was almost exact as well - a good sign.

Success!!

We arrived to an almost empty marina with our choice of a slip. Things soon changed with many boats heading in to avoid the predicted strong winds (that never really materialized). By the end of the day, the marina was almost completely full - a bonanza day for them.

The day was spent doing the usual marina chores: washing bedding; cleaning up the boat; going through over a hundred e-mails; catching up with Facebook; finishing up the teak oiling; paying bills online; and downloading charts and other internet information.

We capped the day with a very pleasant meal at Buoys with the crews of "Wings" and "Joint Venture" enjoying some of the whitefish just brought in by the fish tug, "The Purvis," just a couple of hours before.

 

July 17

Morning greeted us with a light rain and misty skies which continued most of the day with just a few sunbeams breaking through.

What Is She Smiling About?

We made the Farmer's Market and stocked up with some coconut jam butter tarts, fresh lettuce, and newly made hummus. Butter tarts are a Canadian delicacy - a pastry shell filled with equal parts of butter and sugar. Other ingredients are optional but must be unhealthy to maintain the high calorie and fat content of the original mix. Of course, the lettuce and hummus balance it all out!

We continued our gourmet morning with a fine breakfast at the Twin Bluffs restaurant - it also has the fastest internet in Gore.

While Judy did grocery shopping, I spent the rest of the morning updating the blog, only to lose about three hours work when Dreamweaver crashed. That was really demoralizing as i was making good progress. Dreamweaver, and any software for that matter should have Auto save to protect you if this happens but Adobe has seen fit not to do this. Grrrrrr!!!!

While still feeling down, I finished up cooking a big batch of beef stew for freezing and started a large chicken chile to slowly cook overnight.

We hosted the "Sequence" tournament tonight and trounced the "ladies" team to tie the series up at 1 all!

July 18

Gore to Benjamin Bay - 15nm

We got a late start with the day as we succumbed to another long breakfast at the Twin Bluffs before leaving Gore for a short trip north to the Benjamin Islands. Our original plan was to try Beatty Bay, but a quick check by "Wings" ruled that out as unimpressive so we selected Benjamin Bay as a good alternative for the winds we were likely to face for the next three days.

In case you wonder why we are always concerned with wind when we are out in the boat, here's a bit of background.

When we anchor out, we always try to find a location where land is between us and the forecast wind direction. The higher the land the better to give us more protection. Since the forecast is rarely correct, we want land that gives us a some margin of error. For example, if the wind is forecast to be from the west, the ideal anchorage would protect us from North to South winds. We also like to take into account what the wind will do overnight and the next days if we plan on being there for a couple of days. Distance from the shore can also be a factor - the closer one is to shore, usually, the better the protection is. Anchoring B 200 yds from shore can be like being in open water with wave action building up to make it noisy and the boat to move excessively.

This summer we have had unusually strong winds, predominantly from the south to northwest, with speeds of 20 kts (24 mph) quite often all day long.

We were just about two miles north of Gore Bay, when we saw what looked like a floating log in the distance. As we got closer it was a deer swimming east to west. It did not appear to be in distress and was making good progress but had at least a couple of miles to reach dry land - hope it made it!

Long Distance Swimmer

Our heading sensor fix we thought was working well as we headed for Gore a few days ago turned out to be not so. In fact, it was worse than we had ever seen before. A calibration attempt failed miserably and a second did no better. More work to do :(

Benjamin Bay was its normal busy location and with it being a Saturday a number of local boats showed up. They like to raft up and tie to shore and party. The largest raft-up was seven boats. Stephen and Fran on "Tug'n," friends who own a 37' Nordic, joined up with us at the anchorage following a quick run from the south end of Georgian Bay after waiting for their fifth grandchild to be born and get home.

"Tug'n" and One of the Raft-Ups

By the time we arrived, all the near shore spots had been taken so we were anchored in 25' of water a good ways from shore and its protection. The winds over the next few days were strong at times, especially at night, but we had some good views.

"Wings" in the Sunset

View Out the Back Door

After getting the boat squared away, I spent a good part of the afternoon going over the complete autopilot installation, checking everything possible but found nothing obviously wrong other than a diagnostic test of the sensor was failing every time. With it being the weekend, Furuno's excellent technical support staff was not available so I will have to wait until Monday to call them.

As if we hadn't had enough boat problems this year after showering, I noticed that the "grey water" pump was not turning off as it was meant to. The pump drains the tank that collect the shower water and when it is almost dry shuts off. THAT CAN WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW!!!

July 19

A rocky night with a lot of slapping but we woke early and I dove into the area under the boat floor to hunt down the source of the pump's problem. The pump was clearly running but not pumping from the tank so I had to pull the pump out. Sounds simple but it involves contortions worthy of the "rubber man" in the old fairs and all the time thinking, "I hope I can get out of here."

Five Feet Back and One Foot High

The pump is very simple in design and easily dismantled. It appeared something had held one of the valves open and it worked perfectly when cleaned and put back together. The "rubber man" did his tricks again and the pump was put back in place and it still worked. At least another job went well and it only took four hours!

Although the weather was not conducive to it, I did go out fishing for a while but had no luck again. I'm beginning to think my license was cursed.

Another Good Sunset at Benjamin Bay