Thursday, July 27, 2023 Gore Bay

It was obvious we were in a less protected anchorage last night. The wind picked up and we had waves slapping noisily on Annie's hull. Annie must have been rocking and rolling because a lamp I had charging fell over on one roll. The captain of course was sound asleep. Kerry heard the crash and thought something hit us or we went aground. My eyes were still mostly closed as she had me up in the pilot house so quickly to see what was happening. I determined the lamp falling over was the bang, that we were still firmly where we were before, reassured the mate, and went back to bed. The winds calmed at some point and it became very silent and still - very pleasant.

The morning was nice. It was good to see the sun after it hide most of yesterday. The batteries were at 67% when I checked, so I turned on the generator, then made coffee and turned on the ice machine. 

After coffee I sat outside and finished the novel I have been reading. It was really pleasant. Aiken Island has grown on me and I could see coming here again. I saw Peter and Marianna setting out on their dingy for a sight seeing ride so I decided to get out the kayak and go touring also. I told Kerry I was going for a kayak ride thinking she might want to get up and go. "Take some water with you Honey" meant that she was not getting up. 

The GLCC says you can go from Aiken Island to Moiles Harbor. The chart makes that look questionable so I decided to paddle through the narrow area between the two. After paddling through I see that is can be safely done. In fact a big trawler came through that very stretch of water while I was there. 

I met up with the Orros as they were completing their cruise. They were kind enough to give me a tow back. We made plans to go to Gore Bay this afternoon instead of tomorrow morning, as the winds were more favorable this afternoon. We anchored in the harbor at Gore bay and they went to a dock. We have always wanted to try anchoring there and also we were able to use our grill to cook salmon and any and any fish we catch. 

Our fishing was somewhat successful today. Both of us caught big Northern Pikes. We did not want to deal with them and let them go. Peter's got off the hook and ended up in the dingy and was not too happy about that. We had him on his way shortly though. I caught one keeper bass and other one that was too small to keep. Peter and I each cleaned and filed one side of the fish. We are getting better is all I can say. We are at $15 per eaten fish now.

After fish cleaning I took a swim/bath. I had no success trying to get Kerry into the "fish water." I was more successful getting her to share a rum and coke. It was beautiful sitting on the top deck just appreciating the surroundings. It reminded me of the first time we sat on a Nordic. We were on the top deck in director's chairs at the Annapolis Boat Show and said "Could you imagine sitting up here with a martini anchored between some beautiful islands?" We have discussed staying home next summer and not traveling, but a scene like this makes that a real difficult decision. Here is a picture of Aiken taken by Peter's drone. You can see Annie and Voyager if you look closely.

Peter suggested we do a dingy exploration tour before we departed. We wanted to see if there was room to safely navigate through the narrow area at the bottom left of Rainboth Island.. There was which is good to know as there are limited places to get from the North Channel open waters to the Whalesback Channel. Navionics had routed us through there to Aikens Island but we took a longer route as we were unsure of it's safety. 

We left Aikens about 3:30. I led us through a little shoal. Once we got in open water Peter cranked up Voyager and passed right by Annie. I was working on today's blog and did not see them coming. Annie did not like being passed. Here is what Voyager looked like. Marianna and I were proud of Peter. He has been reluctant to let Voyager stretch her sea legs

The trip to Gore Bay was 14 miles and took us 2 hours. We've gone 450 nautical miles. This trip sadly  marks the end of our North Channel cruising. Our next trip will be the official beginning of our trip back home. We'll enter the US at Presque Isle, Michigan. We hope to anchor overnight at Vidal Bay which is about 25 miles from here That will break up the 73 mile trip to PI.

Gore Bay has a nice anchorage. This is the first time we have used it, but it is very popular. There were 11 boats anchored here last night. Once we were anchored, an anchor martini was the first task. The Orros arrived shortly after our martinis to start the real happy hour. They brought salmon from Heinen's with them. We had salmon from Costco and also the bass that we cleaned. We cooked all the fish and baked potatoes on the grill. The bass was clearly everyone's favorite. Marianna had it spiced perfectly. We ate and visited until it got dark. 

I finally took our second little chair out of the engine room. Kerry has been wanting to use both this whole cruise so she was very pleased. It's amazing what a little pressure from two women can accomplish!

Tomorrow's agenda includes a Mexican margarita dinner. We'll go to a dock once Kerry gets up. We plan to take in theatre play on Saturday. At this time, it looks like we will be here through Sunday. Monday and Tuesday are forecasted to be good travel days.