Our Summer Cruise 2015

August 10

A relaxing morning today in great weather. Washed the sides of the hull down from the dinghy in the afternoon but did not do much else apart from read. Still basking in the fishing success from Saturday so didn't feel the urge fish again. Bob, Stephen and Fran had some success though so we may have found a good location.

August 11

Good morning for doing some more boat work so we did some clean-up and began polishing a few areas of the boat. I did some heavy duty work with the buffer on the nonskid while Judy waxed the upper deck. Of course, that meant it would rain later in the day but you have to take the opportunity and the inclination. Boat cleaning is a perennial task otherwise it becomes a major job. Apart from our daily wipedown of the boat, we have only done the occasional rinse with lake water to clean the large amount of dead bug we accumulate occasionally depending on their breeding cycle. The boat is looking good after our work.

Tried some fishing in the afternoon with no success again - seems to be the story of the season!

Had a potluck meal on "Wings" and just managed to get back to the boat before the rain arrive. The follwing photos were taken over a the next few hours - talk about weather changing quickly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crazy Weather and Skies

August 12

The rain cleared overnight and we awoke to blue skies, forecast high temperatures and a good breeze so today was the day for our long dinghy ride north of our anchorage. Following the Cruiser Net broadcast, we loaded the dinghies up with food and drink and took off up to Iroquois Bay.

To Iroquois Bay and Back - 17nm

This was our first trip to Iroquois Bay, one of the remotest parts of the North Channel and it was well worth the ride with great scenery.

 

 

Along the way we stopped for lunch at the Eye of the Needle (so named for the way it looks on the chart) for lunch on the rocks.

 

Our Lunchtime Vista

The Crew

From the Eye, we headed west to the far end of Iroquois Bay - the Potholes, a unique feature of the glacially carved area.

 

Tug'n Leading the Way

One of the Potholes

There are various theories about how the circular depressions in the rock were formed but the most popular is that they were formed by a round boulder that sat in one spot and was rotated by other rocks and water until it "drilled" its way down.

View to East

Amazing Fracture Patterns

View to West

From the Potholes, we re-traced our steps back through the narrow channels and island to the Parish Hall of the area for a quick break and a visit to a woman we had met last year. Unfortunately, her husband had died recently but she shared some incredible stories of how he dealt with the short time between being diagnosed and his death three weeks later.

A short fast ride got us back home for a relaxing evening. The new dinghy proved its merits on the trip and it was good to be able to easily get up some speed and stay dry in the process. Something that was hard to do in our old Avon.

I woke about 2:00am for a nature call and, since it was clear, watched the night sky for a while as the start of the Perseid meteor shower was meant to be visible. McGregor is an ideal place for viewing as it is totally black at night - just the stars can be incredible on a clear night. In just a few minutes, I saw several falling meteors before Judy joined me and we watched for a while standing on our bed with our bodies out of the overhead hatch, seeing a number of bright meteors falling.

August 13

The weather was forecast to be mixed today but we escaped the rain and it was close to a perfect day to just hang out on the boat and try do a fishing run later in the day. We met up with a couple of boats,"Terrapin" and " " who were anchored nearby and set up ahot dog dinner on some nearby flat rocks with everyone bring various parts of the meal. Doesn't get any better!

Waiting For The Hot Dogs On The Rocks

August 14

This morning was spent playing around with the heading sensor trying to find a better location for it. Stephen had good results moving his to a hanging locker but we struck out with the same spot. Ended up with it under the bed in the guest stateroom and will have to calibrate it when we leave and have some open, calm water.

I also spent some time over at Stephen's boat ("Tug'n") looking at his solar panel installation. As our boat is all-electric (no propane for cooking), we end up running our generator for longer each day at anchor than we would like. We can make 110V electricity for the coffee pot, short microwave runs, and charging electronics but that means we run our batteries down. To re-charge we have to run the generator. Ideally, we would like to run the generator for an hour in the evening for heavier duty cooking, hot water and charging. To do this, a couple of solar panels would work well and give us some power for a water maker. Another job for the fall/winter!!

Half of Stephen's Solar Panel Installation

 

It was an afternoon at the spa for the dinghy with a top-to-bottom cleaning and protectant application and buffing.

It didn't help the fishing afterwards as it was a bust againwas a bust again.

However, after dinner, we were treated again to a dramatic McGregor sunset form both the West and East

 

The West

The East

 

August 15

A relaxing morning with just a bit of cleaning and reading before lunch. In the afternoon, Bob and I took a fishing/exploration dinghy trip along with Fran and Stephen. Took a new route through the end of the East Channel and the cut blasted through to the North Channel. In prevous years with low water it was impassable by dinghy but we cruised through with the water being almost 2' higher.

The Dinghy Route - 16nm

Bob and I fished hard but had no success at all - not even a bite! Stephen and Fran caught one reasonable bass. No fish fry out of this one. It was not all for nothing as we enjoyed the slow cruise and the impressive scenery of the remote area. Again the dinghy proved its worth on the long trip.

 

August 16

Good day to travel and we left McGregor after the Cruiser Net broadcast to head to Blueberry Island. Good weather and calm seas.

West Arm McGregor to Blueberry Island - 18nm

Along the way we took the opportunity to re-calibrate the heading sensor by turning in circles again with successful results. Hopefully, this time will be golden.

Got an anchorage on the east side of the Island with good protection from most of the likely winds. Later in the day though the winds moved round and, although we were not in the wind, the waves were rolling around the point of the island and making it a bit uncomfortable. Moving further into the bay helped considerably.

Bernard and Monique on "Spirit Wolf," a brand new Nordhavn 40 we met earlier in Gore Bay were on the other side of the island and we all met up on "Tug'n" in the evening for drinks and hors d'oevres. Bernard had added a water maker on the Nordhavn so several of us went over later to check out his installation. While well installed, the location was not very user friendly and it would be a nightmare to service and reach equipment behind it. Stephen and I both agreed that our proposed locations would work much better.

 

 

The Three Amigos at Sunset