Trapped!

Wednesday August 12th – Today we are moving the boat to Squirrel Cove (10.75nm) to meet some friends for the next few days.  We arrived a couple hours before they did so we set a temporary anchor until they arrived.  We are meeting our friends Todd and Tami, their two kids Brianna and Zach, as well as Todd’s parents Bruce and Gloria.  Bruce and Gloria also have friends aboard their boat, David and Toni who are visiting from Florida.

Our boat is now officially for sale with delivery available just as soon as we get back from this trip.  A nice couple contacted our broker to say that they were interested in looking at our boat.  They happened to be coming south from the Broughton Islands so we rendezvous here in Squirrel Cove so they could take a look at the boat.

After the showing we pulled anchor, motored over to where our friends were anchored, and tied up alongside them.  Skylar was itching to play on the big rope swing that throws you out into the bay, so we all went over and took turns swinging.  Its really fun and shoots you at least 15’ high before you let go and drop into the water.

Squirrel Bay has a huge saltwater lagoon that’s fed from the bay via reversing rapids.  The tide was coming up and the current was flowing into the lagoon when we took our dinghies and ran the rapids into the lagoon.  The water in the rapids was shallow but with the rising tide we figured it would be deep enough soon to get out.  The lagoon is a beautiful untouched saltwater oasis.  We explored the whole thing and the kids got pulled on the tube with Todd’s fast dinghy.

After at least an hour, the water level in the rapids had not gone up much. We made the best of it by playing in the rapids – floating through on our backs or taking the inner tube through.  Todd decided it was time to get out, so he and I built up speed in his 17’ – 70hp dinghy (more a real boat than a dinghy) and tried to fly through on plane with the motor up as high as possible.  We got about half way through and WACK, the motor hit a rock.  Back out to the lagoon we floated to assess the damage.  Not too bad but the prop had some nicks out of it. Luckily, Todd has a spare on the boat.

We waited at least another hour, trapped in the lagoon, until we got a bunch of people together and pulled our dinghies through the rapids as close to the edge as possible where the current ran slower.  It was a lot of work, but we were finally successful.

We got back to the boats just about dinner time and Bruce, Gloria, David and Toni had made a wonderful dinner for us all.  We all had a great time that evening, talking, laughing and having fun with friends.

Trip Log – 262.30nm