Off the Dock

We woke up this morning (July 14) in Little Bay Islands after 8 days off the dock.   This is our fourth harbour and the busiest.

Bon Voyage

Leaving Lewisporte on July 6 was after a morning waiting for the fog to lift. We had risen early, grabbed showers and prepared breakfast in the clubhouse. Others have gathered and know we are anxious to leave. After an early lunch at Kinden’s Bakery the time has come.

Mike, Ann, Paula and Craig are there to release our lines and to see us off. It feels good but we have really enjoyed our time with these new friends.

The wind is in our favour so we raise the mainsail just off the freighter wharf and head North out Burnt Bay. The plan is to travel just 7nm to Sivier Island. We are glad we did not plan to go further as the island is enveloped in fog.

One quarter mile off Sivier’s Western Harbour Harald goes forward to check the windlass and to prepare it to drop the anchor. For some reason the fuse keeps tripping, which means me running below to reset it.  Suddenly, the anchor is dropping and we can’t stop it. We are now anchored in 125’ of water. (With all 200 feet of chain now down) Fortunately it is not windy.

If you understand how a windlass works, you might understand that the chain had come off the wheel in its speedy deployment. It’s quite the process to pull it back up. It takes us an hour winching and continuing to reset the fuse. All the while we have a lovely view of the ice berg on the other side of Shoal Tickle.

Sivier Fog

After a moment to catch our breath, we enter the harbour following the Lewisporte Yacht Club notes, spotting the mooring balls and the area I had determined to be ideal for anchoring. It’s 4:30.

There are 5 summer cabins in this inner harbour but today they are vacant.

We install the enclosure and cover the sail, have cocktails and supper of pasta while watching the terns and the loons.

I win our first round of Phase 10 with a score of 40 to Harald’s 170!  The boards are in, the furnace is on and we head to bed at 9:30. Glad to be in the water, off the dock and heading north.

It rains during the night but we sleep soundly until 7:30.  We start the day wiping condensation in the cabin. (A warm boat in cold water)

We’ve decided to stay for the day as the it’s cool and cloudy and the fog keeps creeping around the treetops.

The day progressively gets warmer (thus the fog) so we head to bed without the furnace.