Day 15- Harbor Island

The storm overnight came around 3am. It was loud, lightening and thunder, and lots and lots of rain. We slept well, secured to a dock with power and water, not worried about it.

We awoke to a forecast of higher winds, and rain possible. Check out for the dock was later than usual- 1pm. This gave us time to discuss what we wanted to do today- stay/pay for another night? Go to Drummond Island for the fuel filter and stay there? Find an anchorage? options, options.

We kept an eye on the clouds, and it seemed like rain was done. We only had the wind to be concerned about. Drummond Island isn’t that far, so we decided to take the jump. We departed about 12:15pm with an 8 knot wind. It took us an hour to go 6.4 miles. The wind was increasing, and the waves were getting a little bigger, but was manageable. We arrived at Drummond Island Yacht Haven around 1:15pm, asked for a pump out (emptying our bathroom waste) and I inquired about the filter I was looking for. I was in luck! They had it, but not the same microns- this one is finer filter, so it will do, but I’ll probably have to replace it sooner. So I bought two. I also was chatting with the desk person, and she told me they rent cars for $12 to go into town or shop. I have learned I need to tell this information to Lauren before we leave. I wasn’t thinking clearly. While I was taking care of boat business, Lauren walked around the grounds, as they have cottages for rent, and other amenities available to people for their vacations or summertime fun. The desk clerk also told me about another island close by people like to anchor at. This sounded good to me!

Once we were done, or I should say: once I was done, I prepared to leave. I started the boat engine and the dock hands came to help cast off. I was checking to make sure all was good and couldn’t find Lauren! She was not on the boat, she was walking around! Holy crap- could you imagine if I was pulling out/left and realized she wasn’t on board!? I would never live that down!

Now that we were all accounted for, we departed toward Harbor Island, which is a couple of miles north of Drummond Island. The area is dotted with small island and more rocky areas, so it was very important we follow the markers to navigate. The winds had picked up to 13 knots, and it was a very brisk trip. Again the waves were either coming head on or a following sea, so neither was abnormally uncomfortable, but it was clear we were only one of a few boats out that day.

As we came into Harbor Island, it was like a different world; the island is horseshoe shaped, so it blocks the wind and waves from almost every direction. There was a boat anchored just inside the opening in the deepest part, so we continued on to another more secluded area, We dropped anchor,and was debating whether we liked this spot. The wind was coming from the north, and we were on the south side of the island. This meant there was a little wind, and we were in very shallow area. We were not comfortable with this set up. We pulled anchor and moved closer to the north side, where the trees were blocking almost all of the wind. We were still in a shallow area, but felt more comfortable here. The depth finder was showing between 4.8 feet and 5.5 feet, but with no wind, we were just kind of drifting in a small area with no worries of a big blow pushing us to land. The great part about changing locations is the process Lauren and I have for anchoring: she controls the anchor and steers the boat from the upper helm, while I attend to the anchor and rode on the bow. This makes for great teamwork, and we have this down to a good process with no yelling at each other. This may have taken us a couple of tries to figure out, but that’s part of the adventure!

So now we’re tucked into a nice calm harbor, and we can hear the wind howling through the trees but not causing a ripple in the flat water. Our own paradise! We had lunch, and decided to go to land to explore. The whole Island is a nature preserve, so no houses, roads or anything man made. There was only one spot we could see to land the dinghy, and we went past the other boat that was anchored. I saw no movement or anybody as we went past. We took Frank for a walk and let him explore. We came back to the landing spot, and Frank was chasing sticks we were tossing. He went in the water after it! Now, he will go into the water up to his knees, maybe his belly, then he will turn and jump out. This time he actually went deep enough he had to swim! He wasn’t thrilled about it, but he did it! Progress! He may learn to swim after all. He did have his life jacket on, so that probably helped.

We returned to Klondike, and just relaxed the rest of the evening. We made dinner and drank some wine. We did our nightly plan of where to head next and looking at the forecast. Forecast not great- windy again, Could we make it to Sault Ste. Marie tomorrow? its about 40 miles; We’ve done that. It could be a long day, so maybe we’d better leave early? Whats the forecast again? Maybe we could stop somewhere along the way…Maybe we’ll have to! This will be an experience we will remember!