July 24, 2011 Grenadier Island

I woke up hearing the pressure water pump running. Since no one was using water that meant that there was a leak somewhere. As I suspected, it was the stern shower again. So, I got up, took a shower and then managed to stop it leaking again.

It was cold this morning, quite a change from the last two days. I wore a long sleeve shirt and a sweatshirt. It was a beautiful morning. I sat out and did the blog update while watching the little town of Alex Bay come alive on Sunday morning. Gretchen made her delicious pancakes with cut fresh fruit for breakfast. Lew and I rowed across the channel to a store where we could buy a NY fishing license. It was $35 for 7 days. It will be an expensive fish if we ever catch a good one. We have it set to start the 31^st of July, a period in which we will be doing a lot of anchoring.

The wind had shifted to the North during the night so we decided to go to a Grenadier Island anchorage near a place called Pitch Pine Point. We motored the 4.2 miles which took us about an hour from start to finish. We had to call in to Customs since we were back in Canada again, by about 300 yards.

It is a beautiful anchorage and it was a perfect day. This is a Canadian park and was full of motor boats anchoring close to shore and swimming at the beach. Kerry and I took the dingy into shore and toured the island. We walked across the island to see the old windmill that was said to exist. When we got there all we found was a sign stating the Angler’s Inn use to be there, although it did provide a place for a photo opp.

We snapped a few pictures of Excalibur in the anchorage on the trip back. Lew and Gretchen appeared to be napping. Kerry did a Sudoku puzzle. I read some stories in the Inland Sea magazine from the Great Lakes Historical Society, chatted with some friends on the phone and took a swim off the stern. Cocktails were late as I wanted to finish my story. I grilled hot dogs for dinner. We sipped a liquor as we watched the sun set and called it a night. Tomorrow we officially start our trip back as we go to Clayton NY, starting our travels west. Rain is forecast for the next day and ½. Jim and Jola will meet us again in Clayton.