This boat was anchored in Reid Harbor and left the same time
we did. Another one of those vessels that make us say “wow.”
We were able to grab a mooring buoy in Reid Harbor, even
though there were over 50 boats there already. (Plenty of room for more – it’s
a fairly large harbor with good anchoring conditions throughout.) After
kayaking to the beach, we hiked the trail and county road to the community of
Prevost. Beautiful!
The next morning, we were low on power so we decided to
motor again. We headed back to Jones Island.
On the way I kept noticing a few boats hovering in the
distance. That usually means there are whales but they were too far away be
able to tell what was going on. As we got closer to Jones, I finally saw the
blows! I turned Europa in that direction, as we weren’t in any hurry and I hate
to turn away from any potential of seeing whales. As we got closer, we could
determine there were two humpbacks (although it looked like a lot more at
times!) Taking photos on a phone, on a moving boat, from a distance, is very
difficult but I turned the helm over to my co-captain and gave it my best. I
caught a couple of blows, a couple of dorsal fins, and a couple of tail lobs.
The whales moved along so we continued to Jones Island, anchored,
and stern tied. I soon spied a few whale watching boats out through the mouth
of the harbor, and sure enough the two humpbacks were there! Only saw them
briefly before they headed north and out of sight.
After a couple of hours (around 4pm), we realized we were
out of water! That doesn’t happen to us much, as our tank holds 60 gallons and
we typically have more than enough. We really don’t pay much attention to
conserving water, so this time we just used more than normal. We had drinking
water, because we carry that separately, but with no connectivity, no water for
dishes and showers, and a bit low on power because of the short distance we
traveled, we pulled the stern tie, raised the anchor, and headed back to Roche
Harbor! This is not a time of day we usually travel. The water was calm and
gorgeous.
This puts us here a couple of days early, but we got a great
spot because we arrived in the window between the super busy Labor Day weekend
and the arrival of all the Ranger/Cutwater boats on Wednesday and Thursday.
They will let us stay in this berth the entire time. I have a ton of laundry to
do, and we have major boat-cleaning chores to take care of, so the extra days
will be good. We also hope to get a bike ride to Lime Kiln park in before the
event activities kick in.
Technically, the Rendezvous is Thursday, Friday, and
Saturday, with seminars, fun (for some!) games (I actually like the scavenger
hunt), technical help, and dinners catered by the hotel. We plan to leave on
Sunday with Coorie Doon to continue exploring.
