vacation continued

Experienced the most colourful sunset we have ever seen that evening in Long Point.

We left the next morning and headed for Turnbull Island. We took it slow going in, seeing all kinds of rocks just below the water. The entrance looked promising, but once in we decided not to anchor there. Because of the high water levels there is not too much shore left to take a dog to shore.

We briefly contemplated checking out anchorages at the south side, but decided to go back to Beardrop instead. We really liked it as an anchorage and wanted to explore it a bit more. The wind was going to be from the west which is not the greatest for that place, but we were lucky. When we arrived we were able to anchor right behind the island, well out of the way of other boats already there. Spent a nice afternoon there picking blueberries for several pancake breakfasts and cereals.



 Also went for a good trip around and outside the anchorage and found several spots that promise good protection in anything but a south wind.

Once again we had a nice sunset

 After Beardrop we headed down the Whalesback Channel, and checked out some other anchorages while heading for the Benjamins once again, where we met some Huron graduates (always good fun), and from there back to Gore Bay. We had all kinds of wine alarms going=almost out of red, out of white, low on beer, but also low on bread and vegetables. The only thing that was full was the holding tank. High winds were in the forecast, so we stayed put and went for some road trips. Checked out Meldrum Bay by car and also went to the Mississagi Lighthouse.

The rocks and crevices are impressive there.

It was still windy.



















Dave and Cheryl joined us later that day in Gore Bay and on Friday we went to the brewery to try out some more beer, where we also met Jim and Kathy, an American couple. Dave and Cheryl had met them that morning at the farmers' market and invited them up. They won me over when he told us the story about having to do a laundry after sailing from Mackinac Island and were told the washer took loonies and the conversation between him and the dock help went something like this: "what is a loonie?" "It is a 1 dollar coin." "You mean, you named your 1 dollar coin after our president?"

Here our friend Cheryl with a flight of beer.

Then the rain came and it was a lot. Had to console ourselves with dinner at Buoys. They have some amazing pizza there, and they make their own crusts! (Thank you Dave and Cheryl, a nice treat to celebrate our anniversary)!
Plans for the next day were to go to Croker, an island Jim and Kathy hadn't seen yet and then to Hotham. Unfortunately Croker was filled with the trailer sailors, so ended up once again at the Benjamins. From there on we went to Hotham East, an anchorage Tim and I really like, as long as there are no east winds.
 Leaving the Benjamins with Aerie and Samidog in pursuit.



 There we were joined by White Star and Blue Chromis. Very nice to have so many friends in one anchorage, and we all had a good time, and a really nice morning sun and spectacular view of White Star.

 From there we split up again. Samidog left early in the morning to head back home, The winds started to go to the East. Tim and I opted for Croker. White Star started to head home and Dave and Cheryl on Aerie decided to explore some other anchorages. Willie and Marian weren't sure yet, so they stayed. We had a really nice, lazy sail down the East side of Croker

and anchored for the night, after which we went for a dinghy ride and heard a securite. A boat had landed on a shoal and was there anyone out there to help. Off we went, and this is what happened.

Bice and I rescue a 47 foot Jeanneau off the rocks at Croker around August 9  1700 hrs local time. With our fairly new dinghy.  It's a Zoom 10.5 with a Tohatsu 9.8 hp   4 stroke. It's very powerful...
in fact so much thrust that Bice and I pulled  this boat pictured off the rocks last week. (Upon request of the skipper the boat shall remain nameless)
We were just returning from a ride around the other side of Croker, almost at our boat when I heard
the request for "any boat near Croker or the Benjies to pull us off the rocks" Only one other boat responded and he was way up in Hotham with a 50 hp dinghy. (about 6.5 NM away)
I always  carry the handheld VHF so we were able to be onsite in 2 min. I saw that deep water was to the starboard side of the stranded vessel and got the skipper and his one crew to swing the boom out and hang off of it. I also just happened to be carrying an extra 100 feet of 1/2 line to splice to the spinnaker halyard. That got the angle for kedging the boat off the rocky shoal.
It took 3 tries but success was ours. We were all very fortunate there was no wind or waves to bash the boats around.

The next day, Thursday, all weather alarm bells went off again and Tim deemed it a good idea to head back to Gore Bay. We had to leave on Saturday and it would give us an extra day to pack, clean and do all those chores. Good thing we left. We saw winds in the marina of 34 knots and thunder and torrential down pours, but only for 1 hour or so. The Benjamins and Croker had the weather earlier for quite a few hours with 40 knots of wind that just kept going around, shifting directions all the time. Lots of boats lost their electronics, the rain accumulation was around 8", and Willie and Marian, who had decided that morning to go to Croker because it offers good protection in north winds, ended up running their engine and just trying not to drag anchor.

So, now we're back home and working to keep the boat afloat. We will go back though next week for one more week of sailing. Dave and Cheryl will be in Gore Bay then as well and we will spend one more week on the water.