The first time we came to the North Channel eleven years ago, we had a smaller boat, Evensong, which needed only five feet or so of water depth to stay afloat. At that time we anchored in a beautiful spot behind Hotham Island off the McBean Channel (the North Channel has many such "channels-within-a-channel"). Hotham Island offers many different coves to tuck into, so we decided to return and look for a place with enough depth (six or seven feet at least) to accommodate Cattitude's keel. We arrived late enough in the afternoon that many of the "good spots" were already occupied. As we approached "our spot" from 1998, we found no one there. Water levels have been down over the last several years, so we figured it probably wasn't deep enough. We anchored in a more open, and therefore less attractive spot, but immediately took our dinghy over to explore with a lead line and found that if we threaded our way carefully between shoals, we might just squeak into our little haven, where the depth was a pretty uniform seven to eight feet.
We decided to take the challenge, and were richly rewarded. Our little "Evensong Cove" is one of the few that offers a view of Mount McBean, and for the whole time we were there, we had the place to ourselves, a rarity, especially in late July. And after all the autumnal weather we've been having, we were thrilled to enjoy a bit of summer. We spent the better part of a day on a flat rock with a view of our harbor, Roger with his sketchbook, I with my knitting and the camera.
Only reluctantly we hauled up our anchor on the third day, when the forecast suggested we had a window of opportunity to make progress on our westward journey. As we threaded our way out of Hotham Bay, a loon came over to call out a plaintive farewell. It's difficult to leave such a beautiful place.
No comments:
Post a Comment