Well, after a lot of looking around and travelling, we almost gave up ... looking for a boat that is. We were making plans to head out east, and visit the Quebec Eastern Townships, until we saw an add on an online boat market place, advertising a CS30 with all the goodies that we want in a boat. No refrigeration though. We should we would be okay for the rest of the season, until next year. Awlgripped hull, new deck job, and all the hardware that we didn't have on our previous CS boats. Mind you, it was smaller than our previous CS boats, but good enough for us and Stella. So, the next day we drove down, made the owner an offer, and within 2 weeks the boat was ours. Lots of logistics to figure out suddenly. Anyway we took possession on July 31st, left Midland on August 5th after installing davits and solar, and provisioning, to bring the boat up to Gore Bay.
Almost ready to go!
And off we went. Silly us, forgot to get ice for the icebox which we realized later on. We were lucky to have our portable, 12 volt fridge/freezer on the boat, with some frozen meals, meats, and gel packs in there, and with a bit of ice left we kept things pretty cool.
The weather was hot and humid with winds from a southerly direction at 15 knots, day after day. So, much wind and waves, since we were going north, we ended up taking the small craft and pretty route.
Here some pictures.
We were setting sail on August 5th, and took the offshore route to O'Donnell.
Coming into O'Donnell to our anchorage in 12 Mile Bay.
Stella looking forward to some swimming.
After spending a peaceful night there, we headed north to Pointe-au-Baril. Anchored at Josephine Rocks, where we were the only boat. Another peaceful night.
After 2 days of blowing a steady 15 knots from the south, we were completely prepared to take the inshore route from Pointe au Baril to the Bustard Islands. After coming into the open waters, we were suddenly thrown into a washing machine, as Tim so happily described it. So, off went into the small craft route, where one is protected from most winds and waves.
Ended up in The Bustards and stayed there for a extra night to ride out a thunderstorm with some horrendous rain, followed by high winds from the south! One other boat was anchored with us in the Gun Barrel, several more in the east anchorage .
Lucky for us that we stayed anther day, since we saw an "circle dance". At first we noticed 2 loons behind the boat, soon there was a loon gathering, and they swam in circles, occasionally they would all be diving under at the same time. We joked about synchronized swimming. But it is far more serious than that. It's to keep intruders away; it's all about territory. As you can see on the pictures there is one loon outside the circle. (S)He tries to get in. It was an amazing sight.
The next morning we got up early, in order to get a headstart on the winds, which were forecasted to build from the SOUTH! Here we are leaving the gun barrel, with the 3 lighthouses.
We were in the open waters on the north shore of Georgian Bay, and Tim has this worried look on his face, while Stella is happily snoring. At that point he told me the waves were up to the lifelines when we were in the trough.
We decided to take Colins Inlet. Beaverstone Bay is the entrance to Collins inlet, and it is very pretty. Maybe pretty enough to warrant another future visit, but it's far away from our home base.
We went to Killarney to anchor in Covered Portage, where all of us had a good swim. Usually the water is pretty fresh there, but not this year.
We decided to go to Gore Bay the next day. Sure it would be another 8 hour day, but we had been away from the house for 14+ days, and needless to say, that in the mayhem we had neglected our property, so it was time to return, and finish some loose ends, and we really wanted to sail our home waters before the season came to an end, which can be as early as mid September.
It was for sure nice to see the bridge swinging
To be continued
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