July 2, 2007 – Cortes Bay

We awoke in Gorge Harbour rather early. The sun comes up so early up here it is light by 4 am. After a vain attempt to sleep in, we got up to take the dogs to shore in the dinghy. It was a quick trip and with the rain, Alabama and Cooper were in no mood to fool around. We got back to the boat and I made Bob and I some breakfast sandwiches. After a couple cups of coffee, we decided to pull up the hook and get going. By 9:30 we were exiting Gorge Harbour and I was programming the chart plotter to Cortes Bay. It was a bumpy ride and Cooper and Alabama and I climbed back into bed to read. Interesting book called “Adrift” about a guy who had to abandon his sailboat in a trans-Atlantic voyage and survived on a life raft for 76 days. Anyway, not long into my read I began to smell something. Popping my head into the bathroom, I recoiled in horror (okay, overly dramatic but this was seriously gross). Somehow we had a toilet catastrophe and the blasted holding tank had backed up filling the shower area with sewage. Gross. Finally, after we hosed it out and disinfected, Bob and I settled down to finish our voyage. We pulled into Cortes Bay around 1:30 in the afternoon and were delighted to discover we were the only ones using the Yacht Club outstation. And what an outstation! Big decks overlook the bay and there is a common room where you can go and lounge around with books or board games.

After we explored the area and walked on a rocky beach with the pups, we loaded up the dinghy with our crab pot and set out to hunt and gather. We’ll see how much gather actually takes place. We dropped the crab pot in between some large rocks at the mouth of the bay. While out there, we discovered that the rocks were covered entirely with mussels. I picked some and am planning to experiment with them for dinner. Bob of course pointed out that it would be much easier to just pluck them off the pilings for the docks, but it seems much more rugged to climb onto the rocks for them. So, we’re planning on spending a lazy evening (with power and water!) on GONE WITH THE WIND and probably watch a movie on Bob’s laptop. It is still raining and we are resting up for the long hikes we plan on doing later this week when it is supposed to clear.