July 16, 2011 Beaurivage Island

My day started with the great sound of a mosquito going CRACK on the electric bug zapper. Love that sound! I guess it’s like the smell of napalm in the morning . . .

After I typed the blog update into Word, Kerry and I went fishing. Hard to believe but she was up and out at 8:15 with a cup of her favorite tea, a Chinese lung flushing tea that she bought in Picton. She likes that with a fresh spearmint leaf from her garden.

It was a beautiful morning in the anchorage. We fished in several different spots. Kerry rowed us to some and we motored to ones further away. I caught 6 little bass but none that I felt were keeping size. Kerry got a little bored at one point (pictured). We fished for 2 hours then decided to take a tour around the islands. We got about ½ mile away and ran out of gas. We left the phone charging in the boat so calling Lew was out. We started the long row back. It was going really slow so we decided that flagging down a passing boat would be a better strategy. We were successful once a boat finally came by. A very nice couple towed us all the way back to Excalibur.

I made blueberry pancakes for Kerry. She wanted just one huge one that filled the entire skillet. After breakfast I went fishing with Lew. We just caught small bass again and one bluegill. Lew wanted to keep them, and cook them on the grill, bones and all, to see how that worked. He did the cleaning (yea).

We took a midday boat ride around the anchorage, then showered for dinner. During cocktails we made several phone calls to catch up with friends and family. Dinner was on Windchaser at 5:00 but when we were ready to go to Windchaser we saw them re-anchoring. The wind had piped up a bit and they were dragging anchor. I checked our compass readings and one had moved 10 degrees so it was possible we were dragging a little too. This place is full of seaweed. We also decided to move to a spot more protected from the wind. It was an easy move but required that I hang over the bow pulpit and cut seaweed off the anchor chain like the explorers going through the African jungle.

The solar panels are working out great this trip. At 5:00 today I had only used a net 21 amps of power in the day and ½ we have been here. Lew had more of a challenge with power as he has two separate compressors for his fridge and freezer. He runs a Honda generator and his engine frequently.

We saw our first French Canadians from Quebec yesterday. They have Holiday the last 2 weeks of July. They were noticeably absent from Kingston this year, perhaps because of when we were there. Last trip they were quite rude to us Americans so we did not miss them at all.

During cocktails on Windchaser it became apparent that they were still dragging. This time we moved them to a more sheltered location also. No more problems. I grilled pork chops that Gretchen had marinated in teriyaki sauce and they were delicious. We cooked the little fish in foil with lots of butter and a lemon slice. They turned out pretty tasty, although without much edible meat. I think next time we should allow the little guys to grow bigger. We got back to Excalibur about 3 minutes before the mosquitoes started testing the screens to get to the delicious people inside. They were unsuccessful, fortunately.