Tuesday, July 18, 2023 Gibson Cove

It was a nice morning with lots of sun and a light west wind. The forecast was for west winds around 10, building to 15, and then back to 10. We agreed with Voyager that we would be moving out at 10:00. Tomorrow's forecast is good too, with possible rain on Thursday and Friday. The weather for the Gore Bay Harbor Fest Days on the weekend looks good.

Annie and Voyager started pulling anchors before 10:00. Annie's was up when Peter called and said he had a jam. The joint where rope is spliced onto chain jammed as it was entering the hawse pipe going into the anchor chain locker. He could not get it to move up or down so some trouble shooting was needed. We re-anchored while he sorted out the problem. In about 10 minutes Peter had it unjammed and we set off. We were treated to some more loon sightings while we waited. 

The trip to Gibson Cove was 5.4 miles and took less than an hour. Only one boat was here so we decided to stay. It is deep here. We are anchored in 25' of water, which is kind of funny because both Peter and I had just said we did not want to have to use the rope rode again. But since we only have 100' of chain, we needed to go to rope to get the proper scope. We'll both be very careful as we retrieve the anchor when we leave. I had to get my book of knots out to remember how to tie a rolling hitch to secure the rope rode. The plus side is that it is very pretty here. Another plus is that I can connect to the internet here. Last year I could not. 

Since Kerry and I run the Ship's Store at VYC we were asked to get new coffee cups. Jola sent a drawing she made to me to use on a new coffee cup. I ordered two from Walgreens and will see if people like them. They will have a black handle, a black inside and a white body with Jola's drawing. Here's the drawing Jola made. I like it.

I grilled hamburgers for lunch. Later two tugs came in, looked around and left. One was a big Nordic, and the other was this handsome dude that Annie immediately fell in love with . Sadly, he left without sharing his MMSI number. The Orros felt that was for the best. Peter said he was too old for Annie while Marianna did not think he was Annie's type.

It was a little too chilly and windy to sit out and read so I stayed inside. I did see the Orros exploring in their dingy. I was happy to see them out as I know they enjoy doing that, and this is a great location to sight see. I recommended this anchorage. It's their first time here so I am glad they are enjoying it. It's one of our favorites.

We hosted tonight's dinner party. Kerry made her blackened shrimp alfredo linguine dinner with a fresh garden salad. It's very delicious and spicy. We had a great time together after our day of separation. 

We started with cocktails in the pilot house, then had dinner and desert (Vanilla Oreo cookies) and then finished up with liquors in our little glasses. We put one or two little ice cubes from Jimbo's ice maker in the glass, then top them off with our favorite liquors. I like Sambuca, Kerry and Marinna like a Rum Chata and Fireball mixture, and Peter likes a chocolate liquor. We emptied the Fireball and Sambuca bottles. so a visit to the LCBO store needs to happen in Gore Bay.

Fill, Empty, Refill

Tonight's nautical discussion was about knots. I tied a rolling hitch on my rope rode and proudly showed it to the Orros. Peter had developed his own knot, he said, a double rolling hitch (We think he really just screwed up the regular rolling hitch) that was holding nicely. That spurred me to get out my book of knots which we all paged through to find our favorite ones. It  has 600 pages of knots - more than I need for sure! Marianna wants each of us to pick one and then teach the others at tomorrow's cocktail party.

We had a brief discussion about when we will be starting home and which route to take. We usually go down the Michigan side of Huron, while the Orros usually backtrack through Canada. No decisions made. We did decide to go to Gore Bay on Thursday instead of Friday as Thursday is a better travel day. 

Tomorrow could be a fishing day.