Where WhimSea Takes Us

Posted by Karen A. Brown

We awoke to a beautiful day and a bumping by Charlie. The breeze had brought him round so he was softly tapping us awake.

We went up to the ranger station and Troy go us registered while I went shopping. We picked up a couple of books and a poster commemorating 50 years of Moose-Wolf Studies on the island. The ranger there didn't know us, but said she'd heard of us, the pirate ship WhimSea, from other rangers.

Next stop, the store for ice and shower tokens. We enjoyed a cup of joe on the deck and watched birds as they came to pick berries from a nearby tree. As we were leaving the store another ranger called out our names, "Troy, Karen, glad to see you back". It was a ranger we've met a few times before. How amazing that he would remember our names! He was guiding a couple about the site and stopped to visit with us briefly and told how we had a pirate ship that visited the island every year. How cool is that!

Since we were docked in the Voyaguer II's slip, we didn't have a lot of time to visit. We needed to shower yet, and pump water out of Charlie before shoving off.

We got under way in plenty of time and were soon motoring down the harbor. We would slip out through the gap into Grace and halfway down Grace Harbor before crossing wake's with the Voyaguer II. Before the Vogaguer came through a Ranger boat proceeded them and gave a hearty argh at the sight of our flag, which Troy, of course echoed back.

We rounded Cumberland Poitn and raised sails only to be strongly disappointed. The waves must be left over from the previous nights storm for the wind was not enough to keep a sail filled. So, we motored along the shore to Sisikiwit Bay. We had intended to stay on Wright Island, but wind from the east chased that notion away. So, we traveled instead up to Hay Bay.

Hay Bay is an amazingly shallow bay with a dock near the end of it. We thought there could be enough room to get up to the dock, but the closer we got, the worse the idea seemed. The alarm for the depth sounder went off. I could clearly see the bottom. So we came about and anchored instead.

Hay Bay is a beautiful little hidey-hole. The ducks and loon were fishing around us all day. We got out our lounge chairs and sat on the foredeck, enjoying first a martini and then some red wine before finally heading below for dinner.

We indulged in a second bottle of wine with dinner before Troy took to sleeping and I went topside to enjoy the stars and the moon. Nearly full, she shown with such a brightness that night that she overpowered the stars. To the North in Canada, there was a lightening show going on. So I had plenty of entertainment, complete with the forelorn echoing of a loon cry in the night.