It was another beautiful start to the day. We got up a little later than normal and we were not in a rush to get going. The bridge in Little Current opens on the hour; so we took our time with coffee and enjoyed it in the cockpit as the sun was shining. Our goal was to make the 9am bridge headed East.
Once through the bridge. The winds look promising at about 10-12 knots. However, as usual, we were directionally challenged. It was right on our tail and without a spinnaker, we make really poor progress downwind. We’ve tried wing and wing sailing before with marginal results. The head sail usually flogs and it’s noise takes away from the joy of sailing.
So, onward we motored. There was only a short window for sailing anyways; as we would be passing through the Landsdowne Channel. The charts told us that it was very-very shallow in some parts. But, the water levels seem to be higher this year and we also hailed a slew of sailboats exiting the channel just before we entered to check the depths.
Motoring through the Landsdowne Channel has to be the prettiest part of the trip while underway yet. I really enjoyed Little Current while stationary, but hands down, this part of Georgian Bay is beautiful. The lush greens of the forest, the deep blues of the water, and the slight build in topography. All excellent. And, it served as a prelude to the treat that awaited in Covered Portage Cove.
Yesterday during the Cruisers Net call there were probably about 10-15 boats that relayed from Covered Portage Cove. So, we expected it to be busy when we arrived. However, to our delight, the cove was empty. Well, the part of the cove that we could fit into depth wise. A part of it does go deeper inland, but our boat would be too big to navigate safely in the confined waters. Nevertheless, a few smaller sailboats were collected there still. We think that we saw a great number of the boats that called in the day prior leaving the area through the Landsdowne Channel as we were coming in. I counted upwards of 10 sailboats.
After we anchored, I set to cleaning off some of the bugs that accumulated during transit and from the night prior in Little Current while my dad made lunch. My mom would be happy; as we have been diligently eating salads at least once a day (while we’re at anchor that is). For those of you who know me personally, this is pretty astounding!
Shortly after lunch, we broke out the fishing poles and started to cast off the boat. The fish weren’t biting and we agreed that maybe we should try our luck closer to shore. So, we hopped in the dinghy and my dad rowed us around to some of the shallow areas on the windward side of the cove.
We didn’t have any success. If we were depending on our fishing abilities for survival, we would be starving and losing a lot of weight. Nevertheless, it was a lot of fun just fishing with my dad in the serenity of the little cove. It’s probably been about 20 years since the last time that I’ve been fishing with him. It felt good 🙂
Back on the boat, my dad worked on his tan on the bow while I continued to try my luck (and a few dozen different lures). Eventually I gave up, read a magazine, and went below to start on dinner. I did get in a few additional casts while I was waiting for our pasta water to boil 🙂
My dad and I both collapsed after dinner. We ate too much pasta for dinner and spent too much time in the sun today. It will be an early night; as we have the goal of hiking to the top of the highest point in the cove early tomorrow morning before we depart for Beaver Stone Bay.
