the broughtons: mound island
Date: July 15, 2019
Time Start: 11:50 a.m.
Time Finish: 3:15 p.m.
Cruise From: Lagoon Cove
Cruise To: Mound Island
Engine Hours Start: 1027
Engine Hours Finish: 1030
Weather/sea conditons: Nice! N.E. winds late, low 70's, a perfect day.
We wander the docks with our morning coffee, chatting with our fellow boaters, and then wander ashore and up to the spacious grounds surrounding the beautiful old house at Lagoon Cove. There is a lot of whimsy here! A catapult, lawn mower exercise station, totem pole made of odd parts of machinery, outdoor ping pong - a fun place! Back on the dock, we fuel up NORTH STAR with diesel and ourselves with ice cream.
Time Start: 11:50 a.m.
Time Finish: 3:15 p.m.
Cruise From: Lagoon Cove
Cruise To: Mound Island
Engine Hours Start: 1027
Engine Hours Finish: 1030
Weather/sea conditons: Nice! N.E. winds late, low 70's, a perfect day.
We wander the docks with our morning coffee, chatting with our fellow boaters, and then wander ashore and up to the spacious grounds surrounding the beautiful old house at Lagoon Cove. There is a lot of whimsy here! A catapult, lawn mower exercise station, totem pole made of odd parts of machinery, outdoor ping pong - a fun place! Back on the dock, we fuel up NORTH STAR with diesel and ourselves with ice cream.
Cruising again, we move southeast in Clio Channel to Potts Lagoon, a great spot to stop for lunch with picturesque floating homes along the shoreline.
Continuing on our way, we have a beautiful cruise with lots of small rock islets along the way, the islands lying low with higher mountains in the background. The narrow passages between islets as we enter Beware Passage are just stunning. We wonder how you would ever find your way in this maze of islands and islets without a map.
Passing the native village of New Vancouver, we drop anchor in Indian Channel near Mound Island in a beautiful setting.
We're ready to go ashore and check out the shell midden. We have a glimpse of the white shell beach from NORTH STAR. It is amazing to us how deeply into the soil the shells go, there could easily be a few hundred years of shells from the people who once thrived here. There is a sacred and spiritual feeling to being here now, as we wonder about the stories that this place has witnessed.
"Outer Marker", a sailboat from Portland (with the Ranger dinghy dating to 1958) is anchored near us. We chat with her crew about history and anthropology in this area. There is so much we don't know. And so ends another day of adventures on NORTH STAR, with thoughts of days gone by.
Date: July 16, 2019
Mound Island morning layover
Weather: Calm, warm, low tide
Overnight the low lying islet near us has become more of an island, rising to greater heights from the depths of the sea as the receding tide exposes more and more of it. What was just a grass topped low knoll yesterday is now a mini mountain with a cap of grass, and made to look even larger by the added reflection in the mirrored surface of the water. Layers of life are being exposed - algae, barnacles, sea stars. It is hard not to love mornings on the water when they begin like this. I row along the islet, mostly drifting and soaking in the beauty of this rich environment with its abundance of life on the barnacle encrusted rocks and beneath the surface of the water. Sea stars, anemones, crabs . . . all visible due to the extremely low tide. And then Dan gets his turn to enjoy his moments of solitude along the islet. (Can you believe that no one packed kayak paddles for this cruise? Yes, a kayak is aboard, but the dinghy is our only water toy for now.)
Mound Island morning layover
Weather: Calm, warm, low tide
Overnight the low lying islet near us has become more of an island, rising to greater heights from the depths of the sea as the receding tide exposes more and more of it. What was just a grass topped low knoll yesterday is now a mini mountain with a cap of grass, and made to look even larger by the added reflection in the mirrored surface of the water. Layers of life are being exposed - algae, barnacles, sea stars. It is hard not to love mornings on the water when they begin like this. I row along the islet, mostly drifting and soaking in the beauty of this rich environment with its abundance of life on the barnacle encrusted rocks and beneath the surface of the water. Sea stars, anemones, crabs . . . all visible due to the extremely low tide. And then Dan gets his turn to enjoy his moments of solitude along the islet. (Can you believe that no one packed kayak paddles for this cruise? Yes, a kayak is aboard, but the dinghy is our only water toy for now.)