August 16^th

We departed Admiralty Inlet early afternoon trying to time with the forecast winds and to ensure our arrival in daylight.  The wind forecast was for roughly 24-30 hours of solid north west wind, swinging north later the next day and fading, which would give us a comfortable 17-22 hour downwind run, depending on how strong the wind stayed. We hoisted the sails and enjoyed a sporty sail doing 7-9 kts in a beam reach above the islands then headed south. We were trying to work with the forecasted wind and the fact that Tikaani does not ‘do’ direct downwind sailing well – we generally have to be 15-30 degrees off. Also, without our masthead wind instrument we had to go “old school” in trying to sense wind direction, which is very hard at night. We definitely did not want to risk an unplanned gibe at night, so we planned a reach-run-reach plan across the Notre Dame Bay.  

Anyhoo…so much for the forecast. About 40nm into our journey the wind died, but we got to keep the chop, with the seas  +1m and confused waves across beam and stern. There just wasn’t enough wind in the sails – they flapped horribly so down they came. This also prompted a change of course/plan as we chose the ‘calmest’ angle to the waves for the next 11 hours of motoring (gag).  Our new course sent us west of our original target  of Fogo Island, and we arrived at the Exploits Islands in Notre Dame Bay at sunrise, 0605. The wharf was vacant so we tied up and caught a few hours sleep.

Sunday August 17^th

We woke to a beautiful day at 1100! Exploits Bay a busy with beautiful cottages and visiting boats, so we sat in the cockpit with our coffees and watched the world go by. We had stayed here last year but did all our exploring on land (the 4hr trail to Surgeon Lighthouse). So this year we decided to take the dinghy and explore the bays and the Tickle.  The Tickle is very narrow , 50’ max, but still we watched a 26’ sailboat with their main up casually plow through. We met several residents in their fishing dinghy’s who shared their fishing know-how and their mackerel (delicious)! In the west bay, we met Leon and Joanne on their Nonsuch – members of Lewisporte Yacht Club so we will see them again over haulout. Leon gave us a copy of the local Notre Dame Bay Cruising Guide which we will scour for anchorages this last week of sailing.  So much of this bay is “uncharted” on the modern maps, but the NDB Cruising Guide has included charts and soundings from the old British Admiralty Charts, so we have better insight into what harbours/coves might be “accessible” to us.  Oops – no pics:(, sorrry.

Monday August 18^th

The south wind made the wharf at Exploits uncomfortable so time to leave. We headed south into the many islands (with some recommendations from Leon) to search out a new anchorage.  The bay in South Samson was occupied (AIS signal) so we headed to West Samson since it would offer shelter from the SSE winds but the soundings were way off with deep water, rocky shores, a huge rock island at the stern; we assumed it would alos have questionable holding (no mud). This forced us to the plan C: Knight Is or if that failed, Intricate Harbpir. The orientation of Knights was great for south winds and it was recommended by a local last year. Knights is a small, narrow fjord-like cove so (never confident of the map soundings) we pulled the keel up, drawing 3ft, and headed deep into it. The cove turned out to be 5-6m deep all the way in, and the width did not provide much swing room. On the first try at setting the anchor, it skipped on the bottom. But this location was too pretty and too sheltered to give up on, so we pushed further into the cove despite the narrowing rock walls. Tikaani was perfectly head to wind (Southwind).

We dropped anchor, then immediately rigged shorefast lines – 2 off the bow to big rocks on the shore to keep Tikaani from swinging. We had not brought shorefast lines with us (they never made it high enough on work list in the spring), but we had scavenged several hundred meters of usable heavy weight polypropylene line in Meckleburg Harbour that probably came off a fishing boat.

We were feeling very pleased with ourselves only to have a north wind come down the cove and the stern swing close to the rocks. Steve quickly dinghied our second anchor (Danforth) out the starboard stern and we then secured a port shorefast line to a big rock.  We were now ‘spidered’ in a quadrant, protected by the forecasted South winds and potentially any stray NE winds that found their way down the cove.

You get what you pay for……the Port Bow shoreline (which was the oldest/most worn of our scavenged lines) broke twice, but we spliced the bits together, gave it a good inspection, and set it again.  Thankfully it was during the day and not at night.

This cove is littered with jellyfish – Lions Mane and Moon. Also, lots of little jumping fish that the Terns easily dive and catch. Curious, but it looks like the Lions Mane eat the Moon jellyfish…?! Must google this! Found nothing on google. (videos).

Tuesday August 19^th

Woke to a windy and overcast morning, so we settled into a “chill” day — which was just as well as it rained in afternoon.  Given we are now less than 2 hours from our haulout destination of Lewisporte it feels little weird (no pressure to “get” anywhere). We could go exploring the multitude of bays around here, but that is the plan for part of next year, so no rush – we just settled into cruiser/cottage mode.  Ali baked some wonderful fresh bread, scones, and brownies and we read books, played the guitar and ukelele. Cleared for a beautiful evening.

Wednesday/Thursday/Friday

Weather brightened and daytime temperature was a lovely 20-25 so we pulled out all the inflatable “toys” we have dragged around all summer – a kayak and a paddleboard. Ali mastered the kayak and Steve put on his drysuit to go paddleboarding.  It was warm enough that the drysuit was massive overkill, but it provided “jellyfish proofing” in case he fell in (Lion’s Mane sting – big ouch!). Also took the dinghy for a ride to a rocky beach to stretch our legs.

Aside from the jellyfish, the jumping fish are schools of small capelin and they move up and down the cove in groups, creating moving vortex’s in the water that look and sound like bubbles (2 videos). This provides of an easy target for the numerous terns that expertly dive and feed on them.

Other wildlife – birds: we have spotted 2 Hawks, Pipits and a Kingfisher.

Our thinking is “why move when we are sheltered by all winds, have all the privacy in the world and all our toys are blown up and playable in this small bay?”  No reason… isn’t this what normal cruisers do? We think we will stay here until Monday, then head for Lewisporte Marina (after the weekend rush) and start prepping the boat for haulout.

A small motor cruiser arrived this evening with a couple on board. We waved, they hooked onto the mooring about 300ft away. Then the wind came up in all directions; enough that the stern line snapped and we started drifting to the rock wall but held tight 50ft from it. Sun has set, light is fading fast. Steve dinghed out to repair, then checked all lines; winds still circling. Not sure it is going to be such a restful night. These winds were not forecasted. Could these just be thermals? Not happened any previous night…?

Restful night only after we changed 2 lines. Out with the breaking polypropolene line. We heard the north wind and wave action on our stern for an hour more then it was a peaceful night.

Saturday August 22

We took the hint and at 9am the winds were calm (still NE) so we systematically took the lines down, were able to hoist the dinghy as Tikaani stayed in the centre of the cove; anchor up and bowthruster gave us the tight turn we needed. All good. Sun is shining! It’s warm! Our neighbours in the cove last night were not there… they were out fishing the local shoals. The Mackerel are biting this time of year.

Headed to South Samson Is anchorage which was occupied last Monday thus we elected for Knights Is.  Some shoals to avoid, NDB chart accurate. There are a few cottages but there doesn’t seem to be anybody here despite the beautiful weekend weather. Dropped anchor in 7m, lots of swing room. Going to find the island trail that is written in the book.