North Channel Great Adventure, Day 9 Away From “Home”
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Yesterday’s idyllic anchorage and last
evening’s quiet reflective moments were somewhat scuffed up by last night’s
wind-direction change and the legion of mosquitos that tried to gain access to
the Aqua RV’s cabin.
CSO and I had enjoyed
several American Bald Eagle sightings on the shore’s surrounding our anchorage
in Beardrop Harbour, Whalesback-North Channel, Lake Huron, Ontario,
Canada. Our last sighting was after
showers as we sat on the upper deck, waiting for the inevitable descent of
mosquitos. Heretofore, the nightfall’s
mosquito population had, while annoying, seemed to be scant. Not last night. CSO and I retired to the cabin below, read
for a bit (by headlamps so as not to encourage bugs to congregate on the hatch
screens) and then decided it was time for dreamland. We had just nicely settled our heads upon our
down pillows when the wind changed direction – rather strongly – and CSO began
the anchor-alarm “watch” for the next hour or so. In the meantime, this odd hum – coming from
outside the cabin – began to increase in volume. Upon investigation by CSO, he discovered,
what appeared in the dusky night glow, to be hundreds of mosquitos just looking
for a way to gain egress into the cabin for a little night snack – us. In the meantime, it looked as if CSO might
have to go out to the bow pulpit to do some anchor adjustment, which also meant
MOSQUITOS IN THE CABIN. Fortunately, the
anchor held, even while going through its flip-flop of 180 degree
wind-direction change, the anchor alarm performed as it should, showing the new
track of the boat as it swung in a large arc with the wind, and the mosquitos
MOSTLY disappeared with the upsweep in wind.
I say MOSTLY because CSO decided, about midnight, that our Canadian
courtesy flag, which flies on the bow, was creating too much noise to sleep
with and that he needed to go out on deck to tie it up for the remainder of the
night.
Out into the night he
went and back in he came, moments later, accompanied by a few mosquitos,
unfortunately. After a brief battle with
those courageous mosquitos who gave their lives in search of some human food,
we settled into sleep, secure – MOSTLY – that the anchor would continue to hold
and keep us off the big rock not too far away from Das Boot.
Now that a new dawn has
arrived and our coffee has been drunk, we are off to find some elusive fish that might be
willing to sacrifice themselves in order to become human food.
Ancora imparo
