Monday, August 3:
We both got up right away. Wes got the boat ready for travel while I did the dishes from dinner the night before. I started working while everyone else was getting ready to depart. We pulled our anchor around 0815 and started making our way to Kilcoursie Bay. We arrived around 1030 and dropped our anchor. I worked all day while Wes hung out with Charlie, Sue, Wayne and Karen. Karen and Sue swam for a bit. The wind was pushing us closer to shore and into shallow water, so Curiosity took their stern anchor off our port side and dropped it and we tied to to our winch on the bow to keep us out in the deeper water. When I was done with work, we hung out on the aft deck for a bit. It was quite windy so we decided to eat dinner inside. Sue even brought over some ice cream for dessert. Then we called it a night and headed to bed.
Tuesday, August 4:
We both got up and did our bible study groups. Then we pulled our anchors around 0900 and made our way to Hopewell Bay. We arrived around 1200. It was a beautiful anchorage and less busy than the others we stayed at. Curiosity was already there, so we pulled up beside them and dropped our anchor so we were bow to stern again so we wouldn't swing. When I was done working, we all got in the dinghies and went exploring. It's so beautiful up here!! I still amazes me how many houses you see on these rock islands. We also saw a "sunken" steam engine tank in the water. From a distance it reminded me of a big turtle. We stopped at an ice cream place on Ojibway Island. Our timing wasn't great as when we arrived it was camp pick up time, so it was very busy! As we dinghied back to the boats, we stopped at rock cliff area and Karen, Wayne and Sue all jumped in. Once back to the boats, we made burgers on the grill and enjoyed dinner on our aft deck. While we were visiting on the aft deck, we noticed a drone way up in the air. It came down near our boat as we all waved. We noticed it was a boat near us that was taking the video, so Wes and Wayne got in our dinghy and went over to introduce themselves and gave them boat cards for all three boats. He was kind enough to send us some of the footage. We all stayed out on the aft deck until the bugs got too much and we all went in. We stayed up and watched a little baseball before calling it a night.
Wednesday, August 5:
We got up and Wes started to do computer work while I worked. Wayne and Karen needed to head back so they left around 0845. They wanted to get going as the wind was supposed to pick up and they wanted to avoid as much of the wind as possible. At least heading south the wind wasn't supposed to be as bad. Curiosity (Charlie and Sue) stayed with us for the day as the wind/waves were not favorable for travel. I worked all day. Charlie, Sue and Wes went out fishing in the afternoon, but they didn't have any luck. After I was done working, we enjoyed dinner on our aft deck with Charlie and Sue. Then Colleen from The Nati Nomad and Paul and his brother Drew from Wade-ing Around stopped over for a quick visit. Once they left, we stayed out on the aft deck until the bugs became too much and we called it a night.
Thursday, August 6:
We got up and I started working. Wes sprayed the boat down with the anchor wash to try and get the bugs off the boat. Colleen from The Nati Nomad came over and rafted to us as Wade-ing Around took off. Wes did some boat work and computer work. Then Wes went in the dinghy and Charlie and Sue went in their dinghy on shore to see if they could find some fresh blueberries. Unfortunately, they didn't find any ripe ones. While I was on a work call, Tim and Sarah on Black Diamond arrived and rafted up on Curiosity's port side, so we were 4 wide. When I was done with work, Curiosity, Black Diamond and us all got in our dinghies too an 8 mile dinghy ride to Point au Baril where we stopped for dinghy fuel, some provisions and an early dinner at Fish and Chips. Then we got back in our dinghies and headed back to the boats. We all put our stuff away, then enjoyed a beverage on our aft deck. We called it an early night as we were getting up early the next morning to make our way to Bad River.
Friday, August 7:
Wes and I were both awake by 0500, but didn't get out of bed until about 0530 then we got the boat ready for travel. Charlie and Sue untied Tim and Sarah on Black Diamond, then we untied Colleen on The Nati Nomad. Then we untied from Curiosity and we both pulled up our anchors and were underway around 0615. We arrived at Bad River around 1200. Curiosity was already there and hooked. We pulled up beside them with our bow to their stern so we wouldn't swing and we rafted together, then Black Diamond rafted to their other side. Everyone dropped their dinghies. I still had to finish work, but they explored some. Once I was done working, I joined everyone and we checked out the area. It's absolutely beautiful! Sue and I made a casserole and brought it over to Black Diamond for dinner. While we were there, Black Diamond's generator quit. Tim went down in the engine room to investigate and found a broken belt. The belt broke because the alternator froze up. The boys "brainstormed" ideas. They figured they could get it to work if they bypassed the alternator for now until he could get another one in the states. The measured out the length of the new belt they would need and figured it was around 33 1/2 inches. For the evening, we ran a cord from Toscana with adapters from Charlie to get Black Diamond enough power to run their refrigeration and other essentials for the night. Then we all called it a night.
Saturday, August 8:
I woke up around 0315 to the sound of Wes's phone going off for a notification. I got up and used the bathroom. Shortly after I got back in bed, his phone went off again. So I asked Wes if he needed to check his phone. It took him a second to wake up enough to understand what I was asking. He checked his phone and the batteries were down, so he got up and started the generator. Wes got up around 0700, and I was closer to 0800. Wes reached out to the other loopers that were there to see if they had a belt that was the correct length. Unfortunately, no one did, so Black Diamond took off to Little Current so they could get to the Napa store before they closed at 1300. Wes then made us breakfast sandwiches. We gathered our fishing stuff and decided to do some fishing. Sue caught a nice bass. We didn't get anything, so we went back to the boat to relax. I went and laid down for a bit, then a storm went through. After the storm was done, we took our fishing stuff and Curiosity and us went to explore up the rapids to where the fishing was supposed to be better. Going up the rapids was cool!! We went up there a long ways! It was getting late so we decided to turn around and fish our way back. Charlie caught a small walleye and I got 3 small bass. We slowly made our way back down the river and rapids. You can really see God's beauty up here! We got back to the boats around 1930, so we all decided to just have leftovers for dinner and we put the fish on ice. Then we went over to Curiosity for dessert and visited a bit before heading to bed.
Sunday, August 9:
We got up and pulled our anchors around 0700 to head to Collins Inlet. It was a short trip, but the winds were to pick up that afternoon so we wanted to get in there and settled before the wind picked up. We arrived around 1030. We got rafted to Curiosity with our anchor set. Then Sue noticed we were moving, so we both pulled our anchors and moved over a little and reset our anchors and rafted together. This time they held. We relaxed a bit then went over and had lunch with Charlie and Sue on Curiosity. Then we got in our dinghies to check out a waterfall and do some more fishing. The waterfall was very small, but still neat. We caught some baby fish, but no keepers. We headed back to the boat where I started cleaning the fish. Then I seasoned them and let them marinate a bit. Wes cooked up the fish on the blackstone, and Sue made some fries and a salad. We enjoyed dinner on our aft deck surrounded by the beauty and quiet. While Wes was cooking our generator stopped again. After dinner, Wes went down to investigate and found the oil was slowly leaking out and it was out of oil. So he refilled the oil and tightened things up and it started working again. As it was getting dark, we all went inside and I watched some TV while Wes did our chart plotting for the next day as we are hoping to get into Sportsman's in Killarney. We called it a night around 2300.
