July 29-30, 2017 Beardrop and Turnbull Islands, last two days in Canada
Early morning mist on July 29.Going through yet another narrow passage called “Little Detroit.” I learned that detroit means straight. Waiting our turn to go through, although there really was enough room for two boats to pass. Going through Whaleback Channel where all the islands looked like whalebacks. Too bad there aren’t any whales up here. Just like the St. Lawrence, there’s no doubt about the prevailing wind direction. This island was actually named Whaleback. And again, just like the St. Lawrence, you can go from 100 feet to no feet. Just opposite the green buoy is a dot of an island. But with the high water level….it looked like this. 1 foot, 100 feet, no difference in color. Heading into Beardrop, an anchorage between the mainland and a series of oblong islands. Just as we rounded the inlet, this fisherman dropped his hook. Three seconds later he caught this fish. I need Eric Ringdahl to help me out. I have no idea what kind of fish this is – but it’s a big one!We anchored behind this little island in the bay to get a little protection from the building west winds. Bob keeping a sharp lookout for….all the unmarked underwater rocks, like this one lurking below the surface. C’est le Bon behind us. At first we had the bay pretty much to ourselves but as the day progressed there were over a dozen boats behind us. Took the paddle board out to explore the series of islands. Cool egress to the main channel. I paddled deep into the bay and upon my return the winds had really kicked up. Fortunately Bob saw I was making no headway and retrieved me with the dinghy. Jonathan Livingston Seagull was doing all he could to get us to throw him some of the snacks from cocktail hour. Headed out on July 30th to Turnbull Island which is actually part of a tiny archipelago.Always fun to navigate around unmarked rocks, although some kind soul had actually marked one of them with a milk jug. We met the folks on “Ad Lib” whose boat name is actually Vahevala. Took the paddle board to a nearby mini beach complete with a picnic table, fire pit, short hiking trail and lots of blueberries. Tonight’s back yard. The folks on Vahevala (Brian and Linda) brought their parti portuguese water dog over. She was incredibly cute and well behaved. I just said “sit” and “down” and she did just that!Later she curled up under Hal’s legs as he played the guitar. This was our last night with Hal and Terri on C’est le Bon. Tomorrow we’re headed to Michigan and they are going to spend 2 more weeks in the North Channel. I decided we needed a signature song, since likely we’ll meet up again somewhere along the way down the inland rivers of the USA. I rewrote a few of the verses of A Pirate Looks at Forty. New name: We Pirates look at Sixty. In case you’re wondering, “planning fluid” is Hal’s code phrase for Scotch Whiskey. A highlight every night was figuring out where we were going to go the next day – so many choices with over 30,000 islands! And of course, some form of liquid nourishment is needed to make these decisions.
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