5, 6 August 2014

In the morning in Moile’s Harbor, Susan decided to make a short trip on her kayak. She went to a place she had scoped out the night before that would be good for fishing. She fished for about an hour with no success. When she was getting back into her kayak, she slipped on the rocks and ended up rolling her kayak. She later said she wasn’t trapped inside, she fell right out, so my fears of being trapped were unfounded. She did find out that the waterproof boxes she had been using for the camera really were water tight.

After lunch we packed up for the 6 mile trip across to Beardrop Harbor. On the way we passed “The Whale’s back” a small island that looks like a whale. We found a good place to anchor and settled in for afternoon naps.

Dinner was grilled garlic sausages and a Sriracha mayo that Susan made from scratch. I put the coleslaw on mine, made for a gooey sandwich, but delicious. We’ve been very lucky on sausages in Canada. Where we’ve been shopping it’s mostly the local store brands that we’ve been purchasing so it’s always a guess.

After dinner there was an announcement “Attention Beardrop, camp fire on the West Island at 8PM” over the VHF radio. Susan wanted to read, so I got in my kayak and headed the quarter mile to where I could see people. There were three sets of crews there, the only name I remember is Viau a very pretty sailboat anchored near us.

I stayed and talked for about 90 minutes and then went to climb on my kayak and head back. Good thing I had my lifevest on, I slipped on the wet moss rocks and slid waist deep into the water. The open design of my kayak made it easy for me to climb aboard. I was soon back aboard the Quo Vadimus.

The next morning Susan took “Key Lime” for a spin while fishing. Farther down in the bay was the Omanchie and they were setting out. I called and they said it was a great spot, there was a gap in the island that you could see into the main Whalesback Channel. I didn’t see Susan, so I upped anchor and moved over before anyone else could snag the spot.

She returned from fishing, she had caught a small 4” fish and was going to use it to lure out a big pike. As she was getting off of “Key Lime” she heard her line spinning out. “Pike ON!!!” No, it was a midsized bass that had followed her and gulped down her lure fish. Oh well.

From our new home I could see out into the channel. I got onto “Key Lime” and did a short tour of our cove and then I went out into the Whalesback. Once again it was a different perspective to see the rock faces from 5 feet away and at water level. I wish at this point that we had been able to find a sea kayak before Kagawong.

I heard from a Looper friend that they were on their way from Gore Bay. The wind was blowing pretty hard so what would have been just a two hour ride was a 3 hour slog. They were going to anchor in the West end of John Island, but when they got there it was full. So they continued into Beardrop.

They passed us as we were doing the evening fishing and said they would come over in the morning.

With Vayu gone there wasn’t any campfire. But I stayed up to watch for the Space Station pass. It was a cloudless night and it was easy to track the station across the sky.

Unknown to me, I had someone helping me watch. Belle has become more adventuresome coming out onto the front deck, fly bridge and cockpit on her own. She followed me out to watch, but I had missed seeing her. So I ended up locking her outside. When Susan got up to do the anchor check about 3AM she heard Belle meowing outside. We now know that we need to keep a closer eye on her.

The next morning we both fished. Susan had the best luck, landing three. I had some good nibbles and some “almost to the boat” but was able to land only one bass. Not big enough for dinner, so he went back into the water.

My friend Ken from the Loopers came over with his two grand-kids. We chatted for about an hour about places we had seen and what to do for the next few days. With the exception of the Grant Islands, there are not a lot of interesting anchorages between us and Sault Ste Marie.

While we were chatting, the Captain of a sailboat next to us came over to ask about the name of our boat and if there was really a Nowhere OK. We talked for a few minutes before he headed back.

Belle made an appearance at the sounds of the kids playing in the salon. They tried to pet her, but she was still grumpy from the night before and hissed at them. Susan put her into the mid-cabin so she wouldn’t get carried away.

Ken soon packed his charges into his dink, they were off to find a beach.

I got a call that said our anchor was on it’s way from Harbor Vue where it had been mis-shipped and was on it’s way to the YMCA camp. So it was back to the boat dock in Moile’s Harbor.

Then off to Blind River!