Hi All,
Got up bright and early this morning so that we can get to Tobermory in
time to get some groceries. It's now about 0745 and we are 6 miles out
of
yesterday, so I only have an outline of the coast a couple of miles
away. Peggy says this is how one gets to the Isle of the Wise from the
Avalon legend -- something about wandering aimlessly in the mist...
The forecast still promises a bit of breeze later, but right now it is
totally flat. When I was pulling up the anchor this morning it looked so
close that I could reach out and touch it, even in 10 feet of water. It
was spooky motoring away from the beach with everything looking so
close. We were in 25 feet of water before the bottom looked like it was
a comfortable distance away. We're now in about 100 feet of water and
that feels like an adequate margin. That puts us about 3 miles offshore
of the rocks and almost 5 miles from the coast.
The oddest thing just happened. I was standing quietly at the helm and I
felt this feather flapping brush at my wrist. I made a shooing motion
and it turned out to be a bat. He flew about the boat for a while, then
crawled into the main sail. I swatted about the sail with the fly
swatter and eventually convinced him to try elsewhere. I guess he was a
little farther offshore than he planned when the daylight came.
It's 11 now and no real change except a few more miles under the keel.
I've taken a few pictures and added them to the web page. I won't be
emailing pictures to clog everybody's inboxes, but they will eventually
go up on the web.
It's now 1345 and we are in the Devil's Island Channel approaching Tobermory in
pretty thick fog. Visibility a little over 100 metres, but I am finding the
marks. I just hope nobody is out here travelling at speed. Just after I wrote
that the fog lifted and three boats magically appeared -- two dive tugs at
anchor and big multideck tour boat. Just clearing Russell Reef at 1400 and
turning down towards Tobermory, about 2 miles away. We are now in Georgian Bay!
1450, on the dock in Tobermory, time to look for facilites!
I hope everybody is doing well. Cheers!
Rick / Dad
PS I have combined these trip reports into a web version,
for those who are really keen to read the installments again. The
address is:
http://me.queensu.ca/people/sellens/personal/dragonGB/
It may not be completely up to date.