Today we left
the anchorage after clearing the anchor of weeds (photo at right) and are
headed 28.8 miles to Killarney, which was about 5 miles from our anchorage as a
crow flies. After watching two other
boats struggle with weeds as they pulled their anchors to depart, we finally
decided that it was our turn so the Admiral set off in her kayak. It definitely
helped to have the windlass since we could get some weeds off just by pulling
the chain up and down. Neither of the other two boats that we had watched had
the benefit of an electric windlass, but we were sure grateful for ours. However,
once the anchor cleared the bottom it was my turn to head up to the fly bridge
and get ready to do my captain “thing”. I did have to briefly leave the helm to
help pull the Admiral’s kayak up to the flybridge where we store them during
travel.
It was nearly
9:00 am by the time we cleared the anchorage, and on our way out we got this
view of our part of the Pool (picture at left). You can see how it had nearly
emptied of boats by this time. At this point the sky was still largely sunny,
but that would change later in the morning so we enjoyed it while we could.
We continued
the 10 mile trip out of Baie Fine before we could turn back south and head to
Killarney. As before the scenery was beautiful as is shown in the photo at right
as we approached the mouth. Just as we exited Baie Fine, the weather started to
change into a damp, cool, dreary morning just as predicted. The skies were spitting at us and sometimes
being even more rude. It was only after we exited the bay that we felt the full
extent of the 14 to 16 mph wind.
For the
remaining about 18 miles until we entered the channel at Killarney the wind and
waves made for a bumpy ride. However, Lucky has turned into a pretty good
traveler since with the help of a (vet recommended) sea sickness pill, she
sleeps most of the trip (photo at right). Since she has had the medicine, she has
been sick fewer times so it really does seem to help.
There are a
lot of islands with channels between them in this area, but we chose a slightly
longer route with a much wider channel. As a result, we were a little more
exposed to the weather, but we had less worry about drifting off course. Our first
sight as we approached the channel at Killarney was the Killarney West Light
(photo at left). Killarney was first established during fur trading in the
1820s and later the fishing industry expanded. There was no access to town by
road until 1962 so boat traffic has always been important. The first lights at
the east and west ends of the channel were built in 1867 when Canada officially
became a Dominion, and the lights today were built in 1909. The East and West
Lights were tended by a man living in Killarney who travelled by boat to light
them. My reference did not say, but I would guess that he rowed to both lights
in all kinds of weather.
Shortly we
turned and headed into the channel at Killarney and finally got out of the wind
and waves. The photo at the right was taken from Lucky Us at her berth at the
Sportsman’s Inn. They have docks on both sides of the channel, but we did not
want to deal with the free ferry that the marina offered. It turns out that by
wanting to be on the town side our berth was located down a narrow channel with
2 right angle turns. There were four helpers on what they called our “team” to
help with our docking. Their first question as we turned in from the channel was
"you have thrusters right?"
The Admiral calmly answered no, and according to her, they looked a
little worried. We had to weave our way around their fuel dock and then quickly
turn left followed by a right. They had people at the fuel dock and the dock
across just in case. After I managed the first turn without hitting anything, you
could see they all relaxed a bit.
We will be
here for at least two nights. We checked in at the office, and then we went
about a quarter of a mile along the waterfront to the local fish and chips
diner recommended by the dock hands. The local commercial fish company has run
this diner for many years, and it is something of a legend amongst boaters in
this area. Sure enough, the fried whitefish was delicious! It was at lunch that
we noticed the swelling in my left hand (photo at left). I had been bitten there by a large
horse fly the day before, and obviously I was having a reaction to it. After I
was bitten I had a pretty good case of hives, but some Benadryl Itch Stopping Cream handled that pretty well.
We did not
have internet or cell service at the anchorage so it was nice to have those
luxuries (?) once again. We had not been
back to Lucky Us for that long until we looked up and sure enough the three go
fast cigarette boats arrived. They laughed later when I accused them of
following us. The idea of boats capable of speeds up to 70 mph following us
would be like the tortoise and the hare…
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