Sunday August 4: South Benjamin Island - Day 3

So there must be a law of nature (like: sun setting = less heat = more clouds and storms) or something that makes the squalls come just as it's getting dark, right? You know, just enough light to realize something is blowing our way but not enough light to really see anything? Kind of like what happened in Bay Fine. Only now the storm was here at Croker Island.

We were ok but the small sailboat near us was pounding on the rocks on shore as their front anchor didn't hold. Fortunately for them, they ended up right next to our line (the one Steve had run to shore earlier in the day). They were able to pull themselves along this line and then just tied to us for the night. They were very happy campers after that and joined us for coffee in the morning. Always an adventure, I guess!

Lesson learned this day: if you choose a small bay for anchorage, you may be out of the wind but the surge of the waves will rock you most of the night :-) We had moved from Croker Island with the intention of going to a large anchorage at Eagle Island. On the way, we spotted a small bay that looked perfect. Once again we tied both front and back to shore – just to be sure.

Our intention was to kayak over to the rocks not too far away but the wind and white-capped waves just never let up. We rocked most of the night but secure in knowing we weren't going to go anywhere!

Friday (8/1) we went a short 5 miles to South Benjamin Island and have now been here for our third day. The winds continue to blow at 10 – 25 knots but in our little anchorage, we are VERY well protected. We may have to just stay a week!

Winds are predicted to calm and turn from the south so tomorrow's plan is to go back to Little Current and a dock – and a place to resupply. Steve's larder is getting pretty empty (as is the fridge!), holding tank is getting full and drinking water tank is getting empty as is the gas supply for the generator!

When we first arrived, we did have a problem in trying to get the aft anchor to hold as the “mud” in this small bay is about 4 inches deep – underneath it is granite (go figure) over which an anchor just slides.

Steve's solution? Tie the anchor line around the large rock behind us! It has worked great although we are both kind of hoping we won't have to cut the line in order to get it out :-)

In the meantime, the clouds, rain and sun come and go. Kayaking in this area is once again just amazing with the granite rocks.

We even managed to find a small beach along the south side of the island and stopped for a picnic lunch. It was still very windy but just small rollers coming into the beach.

A small open bowed boat joined us after a while. First thing they did was to spread all of their wet clothes and towels on the rocks. Seems a wave went right over their windshield! I'm not sure what in the world they were doing out there in the first place. What part of the “HIGH WIND WARNING”did they not understand???

Of course Steve had to climb around on this side of the island as well. Ok by me – time for a quick snooze and besides – someone had to stay and guard the kayaks from pirates, right?

Check the trees on the right. Can you determine the direction of the prevailing winds??

Someone in the past was kind enough to raise a Canadian flag on the peak of rock near our boat – makes it easy to determine the direction and strength of the wind out there …. and it has been blowing. 

This is a holiday weekend in Canada but you wouldn't know it based on the lack of boats in this very popular anchorage.

Tomorrow the wind is predicted to finally turn to the south and be more of a breeze. It'll make for a nice trip back to Little Current.

It's been a nice 3 days here. Time to read, kayak and hike (mostly Steve but I did manage to climb the slope across from us). It doesn't look very high but use the boats and person circled to get a sense of the height of this one single rock!

The view from there is incredible … and there were again blueberries :-) We've eaten so many I thought we might end up like the kid in Willy Wonka that blew up and turned purple!

And the blueberries seem to be a favorite food of the ducks around here! The ducks just make their way from boat to boat and obviously are used to being fed. Here's a 30 second video of Steve feeding them – watch the duckings dive under the water to get the blueberries!