Rafted up in Marienne Cove, Baie Fine

Overhead drone view of Marianne Cove - Seapickle is on the right side of anchorage rafted with 2 other boats. Photo © Geoff Wendt

Thursday - Saturday, July 27-29

Marianne Cove is a popular anchorage in Baie Fine, as well as the closest anchorage to the start of the hike up to Casson Peak/ Frazer Bay Hill (more on hiking with a toddler in an Osprey backpack in the next post).  This was our 3rd visit to Marianne Cove, but our first rafted up for the night with other boats! (Actually, our first North Channel raft-up)  We were happy to join Orca and Ceiba II who were already tied to shore when we joined them from Little Current.

RJ and dada aboard Orca

The "Christmas in July tree" aboard Orca 

RJ's Christmas in July gift from the Orca crew

Our first order of business after rafting up to Orca was to hop aboard and open RJ's "Christmas in July" gift! RJ is such a lucky little guy to have friends everywhere he goes (especially ones who bring presents!) :-)  Seapickle usually finds her own little space close to shore, but we tried out being social and rafting up with TWO other boats this trip, and we had a great time! (haha I swear we're not antisocial, but who wants to raft up to a toddler boat?)

Swimming with mama in Marianne Cove, Baie Fine

Snacks are ALWAYS necessary

Second order of business, cooling off with some swimming and then fueling back up with some snacks! Life sure is tough on our boat vacations. ;-)  Let me just say, if I forget to post the pictures of some of the meals we shared... we have never eaten so well on a boat as we did hanging out with the Orca and Ceiba II crew!  Fresh baked bread, daily charcuterie board... we were definitely not roughing it.

Just a toddler on a dinghy (RJ 1 1/2 years old)

Finding rocks to climb is a favorite activity

This was our first year with a dinghy at Marianne Cove, so we took the opportunity and a chart marked by folks we'd met some years back, to find new coves along the shore of Baie Fine that might be less populated.  We found some great locations and contenders for anchorages for future years, and spent some time exploring the shore in the process!  Maybe we just got lucky that RJ loves riding in the dinghy and going hiking, but I hope that we're setting him up for a lifetime of adventure. :-)

This kid is so much cooler than us ;-)

Happy rafting Seapickle (always the little boat)

Exploring Fox Island, North Channel

Dana out for some dinghy exploration on Fox Island

Ben's Fox Island Anchoring Adventure

Ben checking things out in the Bay of the Benjamins anchorage

Saturday, July 22: A lot of work and preparation goes into a trip like this, but the payoff starts with that first sip of coffee in the morning after a good night of sleep on the hook. We were happily moving slowly this morning just taking in the scenery, enjoying our morning coffee, cooking breakfast, and listening to Roy Eaton on Little Current Cruiser's Net. We checked the weather report and were disappointed to learn the wind would be switching midday to North/Northeast, the only direction we didn't have full protection from. Paul, aboard Orca, packed up early for a run to Little Current to pick up crew, then planned to return to nearby Croker Island. As we watched the anchorage start to clear out, we knew it was time to pull anchor and look elsewhere for protection. Croker was a great option, but going there meant we were repeating the same first 2 days itinerary as last year, something we try not to do. We decided to explore and try and find a new spot and keep Croker in mind as a plan B.

On the move from Benjamin Island...

After pulling anchor, we motored slowly clockwise around to the South side of the island, passing Croker along the way. The first cove we wanted to check on the south side was full with a raft up of 3 boats. We would now have to cut between a group of rocks know as the Sow and Pigs to continue our search of a handful of other coves we had seen previously. After seeing the finger coves were occupied and the wind already starting to pick up, we decided to try anchoring in the South Benjamin main anchorage, a large cove with decent protection from NorthEast winds. Anchoring here should have been easy, but not today...RJ had other plans. Maybe it was because it was around nap time or maybe he picked up on the increase in tension as we prepared to anchor, but he decided it was the perfect time to go into full toddler meltdown mode. I've become pretty confident in my anchoring skills, but something about a screaming crying toddler tornado in a quiet anchorage full of boats really threw my game off. After a couple attempts and failures, I tucked my tail between my legs and declared this anchorage was not going to work for us and pointed the bow back towards open water. As we motored away I was listening over my shoulder just waiting to hear a round of applause, but it never came. Maybe they felt sorry for us. Anyway, I was glad our dinghy was covering our boat name.

The Benjamin Island Area - Fox is the unnamed island above. Image is a screenshot from Google Maps.

We decided to move on to Fox Island, a beautiful and highly recommended anchorage we had never visited before mostly because of a tricky entrance. As I set our course Dana took RJ down into the cabin to lay down with him and attempt to try and get him to sleep, I hoped it would work as I needed her help guiding me through the tricky entrance. It was a short trip to Fox and as it turns out not enough time for our plan to work so after some quick surveillance of the entrance I decided to go for it since it didn't look as tricky as I had heard for many so years, in fact it was actually pretty easy to pass through the rock littered entrance. We passed through the front bay which was empty of boats and head further back into the well protected main anchorage only to find it was packed full of boats. Dana came up from the cabin at this time and agreed that anywhere we anchored would be infringing on some else's space. Frustrated with our situation and RJ starting to cry again down below again we decided our best option was to turn around and head all the way back to Croker Island and hope there was still room for us in the popular anchorage. Planning on a long slow ride back, Dana went to join RJ in the bunk to try and comfort him back asleep.

Entrance to Fox Island Harbor - Image is a screenshot from Google Maps.

Before departing Fox Island I decided to go to the middle of the empty front anchorage and hover for a minute so I could set up the chart plotter and get out the appropriate charts needed to travel to Croker.  I was also getting concerned about leaving Fox because the wind had picked up to the point I wasn't sure if I could see those rocks I avoided when we came into the anchorage. 

Waking Up on a Rock

Seapickle "rock-docked" in Fox Harbor. Alternate caption: Ben is crazy.

More to come...