It was just an ok day for travel
yesterday - not really great, cool and windy so we ended up just
cruising for 12 of the 21 miles to Croker Island. Even with the
flybridge canvas down to take advantage of the sun, jeans, long
sleeve shirt and jacket were still in order. I sure do miss the
flybridge enclosure of the trawler :-)
The Benjamins are easy to spot as the
high granite cliffs really stand out as we approached this unique group of islands.. Most of the
islands in the North Channel are lower in elevation and mostly tree covered.
We ended up at Croker Island – in
the same area in which we anchored three years ago when we were
traveling the loop. The depth below the boat is about 3 feet with a
mud bottom :-) Not too many boats are interested in this shallow of a
spot so we were mostly alone.
There are two people (circled in red)
on the cliffs behind us to give some perspective on the height of
these granite rock islands.
A quick kayak ride was in order but it
was really pretty windy and the waves didn't make for a very nice
ride. Afterwards, Steve went hiking up to the top of the cliffs. What
a view!! Plus he came back again with blueberries – they are all
over these islands and right now must be prime season.
A day at anchor without some kind of
issue just isn't a day. It was 6 pm or so when it seemed we were closer to shore than we were before. Seems like a familiar
story but on the positive side at least it was still light out :-)
That plus it's only 3 feet deep with a mud bottom – how much
trouble could we get into???
By the time Steve had hauled a second
anchor to shore (the back was tied to a tree already), it was going
on 7 pm. Late dinner tonight …
This is the chart shot of the Benjamin
Islands. We are at the red dot at Croker. But we really wanted to go
to South Benjamin but didn't really want to move the boat. No
problem. Someone (not mentioning any names here) used the charts to
determine it was only a mile across. So I'm thinking – I can do
that – right? I mean Lion's Head was a farther kayak than that.
Ok – so I take maybe 20% of the
blame. Real distance? Two miles. And two miles back. Doesn't seem
like much until you stoke that kayak paddle for the 10,250th
time. I almost had to make use of that tow line on the front of my
kayak :-) Note to self: check that the scale of miles on one side of
the chart is the same as the scale of miles on the side of the chart
in which we are interested :-)
Truthfully? It was a really nice ride.
Especially on the way over. The water was smooth so
we could go along the shore of the nearest island and see the
bottom with no problem.
Once we got there, I parked my kayak in
the reeds and took a snooze while Steve hiked around. The views over
the harbor are amazing. Lots of boats but lots of room.
A truly crazy beautiful place. We REALLY need to come here and stay a while!
We kayaked the two miles back to Guppy,
reset the anchors again for the storm due in tonight and took a nap
:-) Again admiring the rock formations on the way back. The movement
of the glaciers is so clear through this area. Maybe I will be a
geologist when I grow up …..
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