Tuesday, July 1, 2025 Canada Day, eh? Deadbolt Island

I tossed and turned a lot last night as I often do before we travel. I was up at 5:45 to fill the water tanks, drinking containers and attach the wash down hose. FOG! I was not happy to see a pea soup fog when I glanced out the window. Visibility was really poor and I would not want to travel in it. As I worked around the boat, the fog would lift, raising my spirits, and then roll back in again. I had forgotten how often it is foggy here. 

I was ready to shove off at 6:30. It was frustrating to just sit here in the fog. Peter and Marianna felt the same way. One reason was that the wind was supposed to pick up later in the day, so time was a wasting!

The boating activity is really down this year in Tobermory. The dock folks kept expecting many more boats for Canada Day, but they never came. They gave us anecdotal stories about the large percentage of Canadian boats for sale. The poor economy was offered as one explanation. Americans are still coming, but fewer than before. 

The floating docks here in Tobermory are really appreciated by the crew of Annie. Having our deck several feet below the dock is not safe or easy to live with. So much more convenient when the dock and boat height are compatible. I could not have done my mini-maintenance yesterday if that was not the case. I think all the ports we will visit in the North Channel have floating docks. 

Finally we decided to leave in the fog. It had lessened a little. So at 8:20 we cast off. Peter took a longer route around Flowerpot Island, We set a course between a couple of islands and ended up ahead of Voyager where we stayed the entire trip. Our courses were similar until the very end. For one half hour the fog was thick. Radar and Navigation lights were the order of the day. Then the fog lifted. It was clear and beautiful. Another half hour later we were back in fog, then out of it for good in 30 minutes. 

One of the Flowerpot Island Flowerpots as taken by Marianna

The wind did as expected, that is built from the beam. I suggested to Kerry that she put her acupuncture bracelets on and she did. No sea sickness for her today! Eventually the wind picked up to 19 knots from the rear quarter with waves 2-3'. As she does in a a following sea, Annie started her wandering back and forth across the course heading, sometimes veering as much as 40 degrees. The wind diminished once we were by Club Island, also as predicted. Ventusky weather had said we would go through various wind zones. It went down to 1.7 knots. Later as we neared our destination, it was back up to 19 knots on the beam. The whitecaps were beautiful against the blue green sea in the bright sun.  I remembered to get our solar anchor light out so that it could be charging as we traveled. 

Peter photo bombed our course screenshot to our first North Channel anchorage

The course to the anchorage was about 2.5 miles down the Small Craft Channel. We went to Keyhole Island first but thought it was too open to the breeze and had a rather narrow swing area for Annie. So we moved to Deadbolt Island where we anchored. It's breezy here too, but it has more room to swing. Two other boats are anchored nearby. 

Our first channel marker in the Small Craft Channel

I took compass readings so I could check that the anchor was not dragging. Then I remembered that now I use a golf range marker to track any possible position changes occuring because of a dragging anchor. I quickly determined that our anchor was solidly planted. 

The trip today wa 48.7  NM. It took us 6 hours at 8.1 knots. We have now traveled 339 miles. Peter made it to the Sportsman's Inn in Killarney where the docks are empty except for Voyager. So far it does appear that boating is down this year. 

It was really breezy in the anchorage. I took down our flags to reduce the noise of their flapping and save them from beating themselves to death. There is a high wind warning for tonight and tomorrow and Thursday morning. 

Typical shoreline view from Deadbolt Island

We started our happy hour about 4:30, a little late. We chatted and munched on a few peanuts. Kerry then made a nice salad for dinner and I cooked our leftover pizza from the Princess Hotel in our air fryer. 

We planned to watch television after dinner. But I kept falling asleep. Kerry changed shows but the captain proved he could sleep through the best. So, I turned on the anchor light, and shut off Starlink for the first time on this trip (to save battery power) and went to bed at 8:00PM. The wind was still strong, but diminished from earlier.