Bay of the Benjamins - Home is Where the Anchor Drops

Home is where the anchor drops...

View from Seapickle of Bay of the Benjamins

Messy morning view inside Seapickle

We had an amazing first night of our North Channel trip in the quintessential North Channel harbor - Bay of the Benjamins. A bonfire on shore with Paul (Orca) and friends completed the perfect evening in the perfect anchorage. We hadn't had much sleep the night before, so Friday was an early night for us, and we were excited to start the morning and our vacation!

Boat mornings are typically about the same every day no matter where we are.  RJ wakes us up, first whoever is sleeping in the bunk with him, with a head bump and "mama!" or "dada!" as if he's just so delighted to see us there! (awww) We try to sneak in some more sleep by cuddling with him (doesn't work), so we then start a movie in the bunk and hope he'll stay occupied while we get a little more shut eye.  Ben, who usually sleeps up in the v-berth which we call the "apartment" now, starts coffee on the swim platform in our propane coffee maker.  While we wait for coffee, it's usually books and cars and snacks to keep RJ busy while we try to wake up.  We love our big boat breakfasts, but this trip we prepared a lot in advance, so we were able to heat up some breakfast burritos that we brought with us (frozen).

If we're going to leave an anchorage to find a new spot, we typically have breakfast and coffee then clean up and get ready to move on.  That part can take awhile, so we usually will start gathering in our lines and pulling anchor around 11 or 11:30am.  This seems to be about the usual time for most other boats as well, although the sailboats sometimes leave right at dawn if they're going a further distance.  For us though, we planned on staying within the Benjamin Island Group (Benjamins, Fox, Croker), so we pulled out around 11:30am to start looking for the next spot.

11:30 is also right about naptime, and babies sleep really well while the boat is underway, so we try to time our movement with the time RJ might fall asleep.  I'll get him settled down below (aka I bribe him with snacks and/or Blaze and the Monster Machines), and try to help Ben with getting the lines in and anchor up.  Usually I'll have to go and lay down with him, but he'll fall asleep once the boat gets moving and I can make my escape.  Sometimes it takes longer than usual though, and Ben is stuck navigating and finding the next spot himself... which is what happened next...

Bedhead and breakfast

Playtime in the Captain's seat

Leaving "our spot" for anchorages unknown...