Things that go bump in the night

This morning I am writing this post at a dock. We tied up at Thetis Island Marina yesterday afternoon after a rough night at Princess Cove on Wallace Island the night before. I was lead to believe by my wife that Princess Cove was named after her so we had to check it out. It was a great little spot. Super beautiful but crowded. It seems that most of these little coves and bays up in the Gulf Islands are pretty crowded.

Anyway, in this little cove it is customary to “stern tie” which is what we did. It's somewhat of a daunting task to do when there are lots of boats around and not much room, especially since our boat does not like to back up in a straight line. It sort of goes where it wants as long as where it wants is sharply to port (left for you non boaters). Anyway, the process is like this. You drop your anchor in the middle of the bay and then back your boat up to a rock wall that has some pieces of chain bolted to the rocks. When you are sort of close to the wall, you yell at your wife to get in the dinghy and take some rope with her to row to shore and tie up to the chain so your boat doesn't swing into the boats next to you or run into the wall. When she is doing this task, it seems helpful to yell even more about how she is taking too long and that she should really be hurrying up and why in the world can't you row in a straight line, along with some expletives (we are actually calm and collected and don't yell but it seems that most boating couples like to do this while stern tying...it was observed by us on multiple boats...I'm not sure if it helps).

So we are tied up. I don't feel great about it because there are a few power boats that decide to come into the bay and drop their anchors right in the middle without stern tying (there are multiple stories of why sailors don't like power boaters and this one just adds a little more fuel to the fire). Now there are boats properly tied up and a few that are willy-nilly floating around causing some grief for us that are “doing right”. You have to remember how tight this bay is. There is some yelling by some sailors (not by us) but apparently the power boaters can't hear the yelling over their massive generators that are running and taking the peacefulness out of the air with diesel exhaust and noise.

At this point, we decide to go for a hike and explore the island. It's great but I just don't feel that comfortable about leaving the boat with the current state of affairs in the bay. So we cut the hike short and head back to the boat. It's even more crowded. More boats have come in while we were hiking. This place is packed. We end up spending the rest of the evening hanging out on the boat and cursing the power boaters.

At around 7pm the wind starts to pick up and its coming in at the wrong angle for the bay. It is basically hitting us right on our side and stretching our anchor and stern lines tight which makes us even more uncomfortable. We see a couple of boat's anchor's break free and then it's a fire drill in the bay. Scrambling. Yelling. It's all happening. At about 11pm I decide that I am going to bed because It seems that we are holding pretty well. At about 12, just as I am in sleepy time, I hear a slight “pop” that doesn't sound like anything I want to hear. I get up and look out and our stern lines have broken due to the wind that has picked up even more. It's go time. “Brenda get up we have broken free!” I am not exactly sure who's panties I put on in the scramble but they were surprisingly silky and lacy...I think I like them. Now these power boats that are in the middle of the bay are within a couple of feet of us and they don't seem to care. They still can't hear us over their generators running (at midnight). We string a bunch of heavy lines together, hop in the dinghy, and row to shore to re-tie to the chain. We get sorted out and decide that we should get up every hour or so and check on things. Alarm set for 1 hour later and its back to bed.

We don't really sleep. 1 hour intervals come and go and in the morning I decide that even if Princess Cove is named for my wife, I don't want to be here any longer. We untie and haul up the anchor and give the power boaters the 1 finger salute on the way out. The wind is still howling which means we get a great sail to our next stop which is where we are now. Tied up to the dock for an easy night.

We are heading for Pirate's Cove today. It's named for me.