Grace Harbour to Isabel Bay, Lancelot Inlet

3.6 miles 1 hour
Fred is not a happy camper. Not only was there no crab to be had, Fred lost the whole lot, float, line and pot. He looked high and low and the pot was gone. We left Grace Harbour and headed down Malaspina Inlet to Isobel Bay. To call this a bay is an exaggeration. It is a rocky inlet that will hold only one boat, and that boat is us. After anchoring it became clear that we should stern tie to make sure we stay off of the rocky shore. In concept stern tying is simple. After the anchor is down, someone in a dinghy needs to run a line from one side of the boat, up around a tree on shore and back to the boat. Therefore the boat is secured at bow and stern. Sounds simple doesn’t it? The poor someone (Fred) had to drive the dinghy, climb a rocky ledge and run the line around it and back to the boat. Then he has to get the line back to the boat and secured. As he was pulling on the line the dinghy swung around and crossed over the line he was pulling. Now he can’t start the engine because he might fowl the prop. So he uses a boat hook to try and get the line out from under the boat. Not working so well, so far. Instead of using the engine and driving the dinghy back he is holding on to one end of the line and pulling hand over hand on the other. I really had to keep from laughing since Fred is working so hard. We have 600 feet of line on the reel and we almost needed 601 feet. The end result was great. We were securely anchored in a beautiful spot all to ourselves. After lunch we took the dinghy over to the adjacent island. It was a great spot for Merlin to run around and we got a little more exercise. Merlin thought he was really hot stuff. He was running over the rocky area and got a little close to the water line. It seemed like slow motion as he slid off the rock into the water. He started paddling away and was back on the shore before Fred or I could get to him. He was pissed! He was shaking and rubbing his head in the grassy area and running round pretty good. When we got back to Aquila he got dumped right in the shower. Getting him clean was the easy part. His fur was full off little stickers. I had to pull them our one-by-one. He tolerated this way better than I was expecting. As soon as the shower was over he wanted to head to the couch. I headed him off and got him out onto the foredeck. It is a beautiful sunny day and he can get brushed and dried off out there.