Tugboat Annie's 2025 Return To The North Channel

I just posted the results of Photo Contest 6. It's the one where we tried to stump the judges with partial pictures of items that they were charged to identify. Much to my amazement, Jim and Jola identified three out of four. Go to the post title Photo Contest 6 to see the pictures and results. Their prize was getting their picture posted in the blog. Certainly well worth the time they spent on the contest! It was a beautiful quiet night here. A second blanket felt good as the temperature dipped into the low 60's. I woke up to mist gently rising off the water as the sun was starting its days work.  I saw Peter in his dingy starting over to me me up for fishing. More motor problems caused Peter to row most of the way over. The motor would not keep running. So we put my electric motor on his dinghy and set off fishing.  Row, row, row your boat . . .  We actually caught a fish today - a big 18" bass. And would you believe I caught him with a hot dog as Nancy's grandson su...

  It was wonderful to see the bright sun rising over the harbor this morning. We have had two days of mostly cloudy weather. What a nice change. We've also had smoke from the Canadian wildfires drifting in and out. While having my morning coffee I made a list of seven things I wanted to accomplish before we set sail.  I completed all my tasks except washing the port side of Annie. I even had time to walk to the marine store and buy some floating line for dinghy towing, I have had a towing system I was not confident with since I caught the towing line in the stern thruster. Since we were towing the dinghy 20 miles today, I replaced the old setup before we left.  We had help leaving the dock. As so often happens the more help you have the worse the procedure goes. The starboard bow line remained tied when I left, or more accurately, tried to leave. Kerry was pretty annoyed about it and wants us to decline future help unless it is a difficult situation. Typically we have no ...

It was really cloudy early this morning.The weatherman has promised a nice day though, so I am optimistic. We had a small hatch of mayflies last night and the starboard side of Annie is the home for dozens of them. I was be able to rid Annie of them with my mop in about 5 minutes. I noted with lots of satisfaction several dead spiders which meant I had a successful spraying last night. After coffee, I opened the bike bags to let them dry out and bailed the water out of the dingy. Kerry's basil is thriving this year. All of these plants are from one pot.  By 8:15 I was making my second cup of coffee and I had already cleaned the port side rub rails. It makes such a difference when they have been treated. I just wish it lasted longer. The bad thing about being so close to the side of the boat cleaning is that I can see how much cleaning needs to be done on the fiberglass. Ugh.  Rub rail before and after cleaning and polishing I sent the Orros Happy Anniversary texts this morning...

Apparently it was pretty noisy in the anchorage last night. I was out and heard nothing until I awoke at 5:00 AM and heard the water really slapping on the hull. Kerry had trouble sleeping she said because of the noise. I actually had an 83 sleep score. We left right at 6:00 AM. Kerry was up and chomping at the bit to get going. She was pushing me to move along - rather unusual. The anchor and chain came up with no mud and no seaweed. Really a pleasure to anchor up here without seaweed to deal with. Fortunately we only had 10,000 bugs because we did not have time to deal with them. I passed a pair of loons on the way out. They were really crying out this morning, a sound that I love hearing.  The trip to Gore Bay was delightful. The travel conditions were perfect. It would have been fine if the trip was longer, although it is forecast to become breezier and rain later today. We traveled 18 miles in 2 1/2 hours, arriving at Gore Bay at 8:30. Initially we were assigned to "G" D...

It was a very quiet night. I'm not sure the boat moved at all. I had an 83 sleep score  I think it's noisier in my bed at home. I lay there thinking I hope Kerry feels better this morning. I also lay there hoping there were not 10,000,000 bugs on Annie this morning.  So, the first thing I did today, before coffee, before the battery check, before the blog post was to look out and count bugs. I only counted 5,000,000 today. Better, but about 4,999,975 more than I hoped. I resigned myself to hose duty again this morning. It's not fun, but it's better than sharing the boat with bugs all day. It's part of anchoring I guess. Once they are gone, they are gone for the day.  Bugs, Bugs! Kerry said she felt better today than yesterday. Yea! Her stomach hurt just a little in one spot compared to all over yesterday. She did say she wanted to do a morning dinghy ride. Oh. I'll need to get the bugs off the dinghy too. Then I'll have to bail it out. Sounds like the captai...

  PHOTO CONTEST 6:  GALLEY GUESS This contest was designed to see of the judges could identify the items pictured below, all of which are found in either Annie's or Voyager's galley.  The judges for this contest are Marty, Jim, and Jola.  The winner will be the judge that can identify the most items. The winning judges will have their picture posted in this blog!  After the competition, the photos will be revealed in their entirety.  One must be very specific in their description of the item.  Good luck to all the judges! The results are in. Jim and Jola correctly identified three of the four items. Amazing. They only missed the first one, but they were close, thinking it was soap suda. Congratulations to them! Our winning judges at their 50th Anniversary Party.  Beer foam on a Stella Glass Pick up tube in a soap dispenser Vegetable and cheese grater Silicone lid for a beverage

The sleep score was up to 84 last night. What a difference when I'm not fretting about travel, current or something else. About 3:00 I got the distinct smell of a campfire. I was surprised because it seems we are totally alone out here. I looked out to see if I could spot a campfire, but could not.  Were my not fully awake senses playing a trick on me? Not sure. It seemed real. The wind shifted to the North and picked up a little about 4:30 as waves started nosily slapping on the hull.  Morning in Amendroz Annie was covered by about 10,000,000 little bugs this morning. So many, that I forced myself to get the wash down hoses out and squirt them off. I usually don't do it because it gets the windows all wet and then I have to wipe them off. But too many bugs to live with all day.  Peter counted out his donuts today so we had no more problems like occurred yesterday. As we had our coffees cappuccinos and donuts we watched videos on how to clean bass and northern pike. After...

Photo Contest 5 was judged by the Karpinski's. Many thanks for their evaluations.  Following are their comments The verdict is in, the photo that most brings out the artistic interpretation of the subject is photo no 1. The composition and perspective of the dock leads your eye to the far docks, the boats, water and distant land,a wonderful composition beginning with the view down the dock. Photo 1. Congratulations to Peter Photo no. 2 the building and docks is a typical tourists photo that Jim would take, the building is the outstanding part of the photo and detracts from the subject matter the docks. Photo 2, Marianna Photo no 3 nice but not pleasing to the eye. Photo3, Don Photo no 4 Nice composition of boat,fender, cleat and line, but not a winner. Photo 4, Kerry