“Best Day of My Life”
Thursday August 6th – Today we are going to cross the boarder into Canada, but first we have to get the anchor up after setting it over a ship wreck yesterday! Our boat has a windless (a sort of winch that pulls the anchor up) so you don’t have to pull it by hand. Everything was coming up just fine until the end when the windless started to get really stressed and slowed way down! The chain started slipping on the windless pulley so I had to stop. Oh no I thought, we are going to be stuck here all because I didn’t pay attention to the chart! I looked through the window to see what Julie was thinking, but she wouldn’t even make eye contact. I waited a minute and tried a couple more times – still slipping! This was the most stuck our anchor has ever been. One more time and all of the sudden it seemed to break free and up it came. What a relief! I don’t know if it was stuck on the ship wreck or just really stuck in the mud but we were free!
As we motored out of the bay and around the south-west side of Stewart Island we decided to try our luck at fishing for salmon again. Skylar was all freaked out like a crazed bunny, because we were fishing off the big boat and not the dinghy. For some reason he had it in his head that he couldn’t catch fish off the big boat and it was killing him.
It’s a Pink year so there should be a lot of salmon around. We pulled out our Buzz-Bombs and casting poles and started chucking them out there. Noting for a while then all of a sudden I got a bite! It got off – then another bite – it got off – then another, and it stuck! Everyone scrambled for the net and watch the fish come up. Then, just as the fish came close to the surface I watched as a seal quickly swam up and snatched my fish. My pole went zinging toward the ocean floor and I couldn’t believe what just happened! I yelled to Julie and the kids “a seal just stole my fish!” I kept fighting the seal/fish combo for a while longer until the pole lightened up. Surprisingly the fish finally come up without the seal but the poor fish didn’t have any scales left on the tale section.
We fished for a while longer without much luck and Skylar started to get discouraged. Julie grabbed Skylar’s pole, started fishing, and WHAM another fish on! We all watched in excitement as Julie fought the fish to the surface. As we drifted along Skylar finally got one on but lost it. Another few casts and he had one on for good. He was in heaven fighting the fish. After netting the fish he was right back at it. I kept a couple of the Pinks, one to eat and one for crab bait, and started cleaning them. Skylar kept on fishing and caught 4 more fish, each was one just as fun to catch as the last. At one point he was having so much fun, he said in excitement “This is the best day of my life”. All together we caught 7 fish but threw most back to the sea.
At one point, while fishing a couple hundred yards off Stewart Island, Julie and Skylar saw a Humpback whale surface close to shore. It was right between us and the island – super cool! Later, it surfaced once more and we all got to see it just off the point ahead of us.
We wrapped up the fishing and headed for the Canadian boarder. After clearing customs at Bedwell Harbor we tied up at Poets Cove Marina (7.99nm), sharing our dock with float planes coming and going.
We needed to get off the boat so we took the dinghy to Bedwell Provincial Park for some hiking. We had a great hike but super steep way up the mountain behind Bedwell Harbor on South Pender Island. Ava has been pretty scared of bees this trip se we have been trying to teach her to keep calm her calm. Of course, just as we got back to the beach, and never seeing it coming, she gets stung on her arm. Poor little girl, she toughed it out like a trooper but her fear is now a reality. While eating dinner outside at the restaurant that night the bees started to swarm as our food was served. Ava tried really hard to keep it together but we had to move inside away from the bees.
All the way up here in Canada, while walking back on the dock that night, Ava sees a classmate named Blake. So funny to happen to be at the same place. We talked with his parents for a while while Ava played with Blake.
Wow, a long eventful day!
Trip Log – 135.12
