Sunday, July 6, 2025, Covered Portage

The mosquitos started buzzing around the outside of our portholes about 5:45AM. We had a few inside which seemed to become active about the same time. I was able to zap them before they got any tasty bites of us. When I came up to the pilot hose I saw that we have left one of the door screens open. Usually we close the glass doors as bugs can get in at the bottom of the screen door which is probably what happened.

Heavy rain, 1.5 inches, is still forecast for today. It was just sprinkling lightly when I was having my morning coffee. The radar does not appear to show a huge amount of rain coming. It's was totally still this morning, so you could see each little drop splash and make an expanding ring in the water. Mesmerizing to watch. 

It appears now that Peter and I will not do our annual climb to the top of the cliffs here this time. We've always done it before. We were kind of ambivalent about it and had not really decided. I did not want to admit that now that I am 80 I might not have the energy for it. Last year we got lost and had a difficult climb down. Kerry solved my problem by telling me it was too dangerous for me to go, and that she did not want me to do it this year. Problem solved - I was ready to go but Kerry won't let me. So, I'm still the macho man I always (thought I) was!

Yesterday while I was hiding from the hot sun, I went through my boat materials to see if I could find the manufacturer information for our kitchen faucet. It is still dripping a drop or two from the nozzle which is very annoying. All I found was installation instructions. But on Amazon I found I could buy a replacement faucet handle for only $17. Whoo Hoo! But, I'll have to wait until we get home to do so. 

Charging my electric motor

Kerry and I have really been enjoying having a dingy. So far it looks like a good decision to purchase one. And so far, the electric motor has worked out well too. We have yet to see how well the towing works out when we get into some rougher weather. With luck, we won't find out!

All morning we had gentle on and off showers. The rain fell straight down as there was little wind. At other times, it was rather strange. You could hear rain hitting the boat, but there were no drops on the water. There was just a real heavy mist outside blowing water at a 60 degree angle through the air. 

I planned to make pancakes for brunch today. But a can of Pillsbury Grands in the fridge decided to pop open on its own, so it seemed that would be the logical choice to bake them. We had them with jelly, butter and honey so it was a tasty lunch. This afternoon I baked bread. We had a loaf of frozen bread in a not so cold part of our freezer and it decided to start to rise like it does when it's being thawed. We love to bake bread on board on cold, rainy days. 

Random thoughts - 1-My Starlink stops working when too much rain accumulates on it. So I go out with a squeegee and clean it off and I'm back in the internet business. 2-We are doing OK with alcohol. I have just opened my one legitimate case of beer I was allowed to bring in. I have been drinking illegitimate beer up to this time. Kerry has not opened her bottle of Mighty Moose Vodka yet. I'll probably have to buy a box or two of red wine before we leave. 3-When I say Peter and I are smoking cigars, we are really smoking little cigarillos which are about the size of a cigarette - not big stogies. 4-Kerry is doing a nice job of reporting on the photo contests. 5- We used wi-fi calling for the first time yesterday. We were able to talk with Anne even though the cell service kept crapping out - another win for Starlink! 6- I consistently use about 14% of my battery power overnight. I run the generator to charge up before tuning in at night so I can avoid charging in the early morning and not disturb the peace. 

I took 2 naps today. During the second, Peter moved to the center of the anchorage. I was sure surprised to see him gone when I woke up and looked for him. He said he thought he was uncomfortably close to the rocks. We are 40 yards away from them. The wind is supposed to build from the NE, but at the moment it's coming from the South, which makes our stern closer to the rocks. I will keep a close watch tonight. So far we have not budged at all from our position where we anchored on Thursday. I turned on tracking on my Navionics app so I can double check that we are not dragging. On the screenshot below, red shows Annie's location. yellow shows where Annie has been. You want a nice circle as the boat swings around. What you do not want to see, is a single yellow streak leading from the circle, meaning your anchor is dragging.

I did a lot of thinking about our position before I went to bed. After Peter moves, the chap next to me put out an additional anchor. Both actions making me ask myself if I should be doing something. If I had been at a dock I am sure I would have put more dock lines out. That wasn't an option tonight. As it was, I don't think the wind got as strong as predicted and the real heavy rain never came, so we were fine. 

I have had to run the generator several times today because of the lack of sun eliminating most of our solar battery charging. It's amazing the difference the lack of sun makes. 

Tonight we enjoyed our freshly baked bread for dinner. We adorn it with butter, jelly, honey and peanut butter. So with the Pillsbury Grands for breakfast and the bread for dinner our diet today was not the most balanced of the trip. No more carbs for two weeks!

Tomorrow we are heading to Little Current for two nights. As of tonight we have been anchored out for 6 days in a row, and still going strong. Our record is 8 days. On Wednesday we will go out anchoring again until we pull into Gore Bay on Saturday.