Sunday, July 9, 2023 Covered Portage

It was an absolutely beautiful morning in the anchorage today. The air was crisp, the wind and seas still and the sun was showing off. It's so pretty in the morning at anchor.

And, the fish got a break this morning. Peter texted that he did not feel well when he got up and asked to postpone our 8:00 start. Eventually we just scrapped the fishing trip for today as Peter got involved in a battery issue. The batteries on Voyager must have discharged to the point that the inverter stopped inverting. Running the generator solved the immediate problem. 

It's difficult for anyone to learn a new boat and taking off on a two month cruise does not make it easier. Too bad we could not get that state of charge number last night. I pulled out the manuals for my Magnum charger/inverter for Peter to review. Annie does have the add on that we believe Voyager needs to provide all the needed battery information.

I took a kayak ride while it was nice and still in the anchorage. Before I left I put our Guard Duck, Donald, in the water and on duty. Kerry was still sleeping and I did not want any boarders disturbing her rest.

When I was back I decided to clean some dirty spots on Annie's hull. So I mixed up a nice bucket of boat soap and put it in the kayak. Then I climbed into the kayak. As inflatable kayaks are not to stable, most of the boat soap spilled on me and into the bottom of the kayak. I did have enough left for the cleaning I had in mind. 

Peter felt better a little after noon, so the crew of Voyageur came to Annie for a bacon and blueberry pancake breakfast. We all enjoyed it. During breakfast we decided to stay here another day, and that Peter and I would climb to the top of the hill (mountain for 70+ year olds) this afternoon. 

We took Peter's dingy to shore and started our trek up the hill. Unfortunately we made a wrong turn and ended up in Camp Mosquito. They showed no mercy and made it difficult for us to stop and get our bearings. But we finally did make it to the top. We both felt that if our mates had come with us we would have turned around before we reached he top and called it a day. But it was fun being up there and looking down at the anchorage. We stayed well away from the edge as we were instructed. I turned the tracking on my Navionics Boating app partway through our hike to help us find our way back. It did help. Peter asked if I had dropped bread crumbs. I said no, but that we could just follow the mosquito bodies out. Note that I have on long pants and a long sleeve shirt in anticipation of the mosquitoes (not my first rodeo!). I was really hot when we got back so a dip in the water was most refreshing. That's Annie centered in the arm circle below.

Dinner was on Voyager. We gave Peter a freshly popped bag of Microwave popcorn for ferrying us to and from all day long, which he shared at happy hour. Although instead of thanking me, he accused me of holding out on him since this was the first one he received (Peter loves microwave popcorn!). Marianna had a delicious homemade cabbage salad, pizza and leftover Spanish tortilla for us, with scones and chocolate treats for dessert. The view from Voyager as we ate was spectacular. Tomorrow is the day the fish meet their maker! We are ready. 

During happy hour we called John Robertson. He is in Little Current and will have his boat hauled at 8;00 AM tomorrow. He has parts on board and in route to the marina. Hopefully he'll be cruising again soon.

Our plans at the moment are to stay here tomorrow, then go to Heywood Island for 2 nights, then on to Little Current to celebrate the Orro's anniversary in port. Tomorrow will be our 8th day in a row at anchor.  Eight is our record. If our plan holds (weather dependent) we'll have 10 days at anchor.