August 8, 2013 ~ Jennis Bay to Muirhead Islands

It’s just another beautiful day in paradise.  Not too much fog this morning – rather it was low lying clouds clinging to the hillsides.  The bear that occasionally appears in the back lagoon here at Jennis Bay didn’t materialize, neither last night nor this morning.  What did appear was a huge barnacle, on the rocks near the ramp that goes ashore.  Erin was going to go over and pick it up, but abandoned her quest due to poor footing on the rocks with her sandals on.  I told her that when the tide was up a bit I could go around in the dinghy and reach it.

Laura made another batch of fried potatoes with onions, and eggs to order just like the other day.  It’s nice having some extra galley help to wait on us!

A couple of the boats that were here left in the morning, and within an hour or two, two more boats showed up; a trawler and a sailboat.  We had seen both of them at previous anchorages over the past few days.  The other boat here at the dock is the Deerleap.  It’s an 85 foot fantail cruiser built in 1929 – very similar in style to the Olympus.  I learned from talking to Charles, who was staying on board and also helping out at the marina, that it belonged to his dad and stepmom, and that they had temporarily left for some medical issues.  Since there’s no power here, he runs the generator a couple times a day to keep the refrigeration going and the batteries up.  It was flying the Classic Yacht Association burgee, and when I mentioned the similarity to the Olympus he said they were usually side by side at the Victoria boat show, and still planned on being there for this year’s show early next month.  It’s a gorgeous yacht – eventually I should be able to upload a photo.

Potentate and Deerleap at Jennis Bay

Erin remembered my earlier comment about retrieving that barnacle with the dinghy, so I went over on foot first to check the tide.  The water was right to the edge so it would be easy to retrieve, but I avoided having to launch the dinghy by walking down to it.  The slippery rocks from this morning had all dried in the heat of the sun making the approach much easier.

Giant barnacle now on display aboard the Potentate

We left the dock around noon or so, heading out past the other side of Hooper Island and into Drury Inlet.  We didn’t have to go far – the Muirhead Islands were only 6 miles away, at the head of Drury and across from the entrance to Actress Passage.  This leads through a dogleg passageway strewn with rocks, some uncharted, and on to Actaeon Sound, and beyond that, Tsibass Lagoon.  There are entrances to Actress Passage on either side of Dove Island.  One of the cruising guides describes a couple of sticks with flags on them that mark which rocks to go between for the local tugboats, and we could indeed see those markers.  That’s not an adventure we’ll be doing this trip – we have an outstanding anchorage here in the Muirhead Islands, surrounded by rocky shores and Spanish moss draped trees.

Our trip here only took just over an hour, so we ran the generator for nearly 4 hours to get some amps back into the house batteries.  During that time we took some dinghy rides around the various islets, and everywhere we looked provided a new and incredible view.  It’s a good thing film has gone out of style and that digital cameras today have plenty of capacity, because I’m sure there were a couple hundred photos taken within the first hour or so that we were here.  We found one little harbor that was completely enclosed except for the main entrance, and a narrow dinghy only passageway out the back, past some boulders and snags.  It seemed fairly deep in the center, but I could see the bottom here and there.  I checked the chart later to see if it was a possible anchorage – one chart showed 2 feet of depth at zero tide, and the other chart showed zero.  I guess we’ll leave that to passing through via the dinghy. 
 

  

Both Erin and Lynn were able to gather some Spanish moss from along the shoreline at or near high tide.  I could butt the dinghy’s bow against the rock face and hold it in place with the engine while they stood and reached into the low hanging branches.

Tonight is ‘surf and turf’ night for dinner.  Laura brought some frozen steaks along on her flight up here, and we’ll be combining that with some crab for dinner.  Potatoes are baking in the oven as I type.  I’ll report back after dinner.,

Laura and Lynn crack crab before our surf 'n' turf dinner

Dinner was excellent!  And, just as with the previous few evenings, when darkness fell the sky was replete with stars and passing satellites.