Sunday, July 20, 2025, Hotham Island

I heard the water slapping on the hull this morning so I knew the wind had picked up. I got up to see which way we were facing. We had turned around and were pointed at Heart Tug, but still a comfortable distance away. I was worried that we might be too close if the wind direction changed. We were 75 yards apart with the wind blowing us away from them. But we have 125' of scope out because it is so deep here, so how close would we be if the wind blew us towards them? I had no clue. 

It was a bright, beautiful, sunny morning. Obviously the sign of a good day to come. I made a nice cup of coffee, posted the blog and balanced my checking accounts - all before 7:15. Kerry and I went to bed really early last night as we were pooped, so I was up and at 'em this morning. I did my first weather check for our trip home and it looks now like Thursday would be a good day to travel to Michigan. 

The decision of the judges for Photo Contest 7 is now posted. Check it out. Kerry was the winner. 

Before we left Gibson Cove I motored over to Heart Tug to visit with Randy. I don't think he recognized Annie, but his face lit up with recognition when he saw me. We had a great chat. He got to the NC a little late this year. He travels the Trent Severn to get here and all the spring rains forced them to close it for 2 weeks. It's the first time in 20 trips he has been delayed more than a day he said. Then his maintenance stop to have his batteries replaced with lithium batteries lasted 10 days, a lot longer than expected. He was so happy to be here now. But he loves his new batteries - they are apparently a game changer.

Randy and Aubrey on Heart Tug

The trip to Hotham was uneventful. It was 5.3 miles and took 1 hour. We anchored in a popular part of the island with several other boats. Peter called and said before we left Gibson Cove the crew of Spirit gave them over a pound of bass fish filets, which they offered to share with us. So nice of them! Finally a fresh fish dinner! Spirit had caught a boat load of them. Wish I knew how they did it.

It's nice in Hotham, but breezy today. In hindsight, I wish we had stayed at Gibson Cove. It was a lot more protected, intimate and prettier. And I bet we could have gotten Randy and the captain of Spirit to show us how to catch and clean fish. Next time. 

We noticed two tiny milestones today. First, we finished our first bag of Costco potato chips and opened our second. They stay fresh so long it is amazing. Second, I finished my second box of wine from home. I only brought two this year. I must be drinking a lot less. Last year I brought 6 boxes, I think. 

We had a great dinghy party happy hour with the Orros'. The hors d' oeuvres were great. We shared the treats. Kerry brought two basil mozzarella tortilla pizzas. Marinna brought cheeses, crackers and veggies. The wind was brisk so we motoroed to the upper end of the harbor and floated to the back end. We passed lots of anchored boats as we drifted and used our motors to position us so we could drift by them. And one boat party seemed like they wanted to join us. 

1/2 of the dinghy cocktail party

Once at the far end of the harbor we neared drifting into some rocks, so we started to motor back. That's when we realized that the wind had picked up and we were getting splashed by little waves coming at us. We decided to motor to Voyager and then continue our cocktail party inside. That was a good decision, and fun

Anne called as we were boarding our dinghy to return to Annie. We talked with her until she arrived home. We were back at Annie by then. Tomorrow we head to Gore Bay. We'll leave once the captain is up and ready to go, probably sometime around 7:00 AM. We turned in early again (or does that solar light turn on late?)