Fri Aug 4: Three Finger anchorage to Parry Sound (Big Sound Marina)

There is always a day in every boating season, usually in Aug, where we want to sell the boat.  This was that day.  Hopefully we will only have one of them this year… We were tired and discouraged from our troubles yesterday, Chicago/Claire seems very far away, we are sick of dead bugs and we were scared to start the engine for fear of the 'death-vibration' that follows a propeller strike.  That kind of vibration you never want to feel in your life, and we had been-there-done-that last year...

Rick put on his swim suit and mask and jumped in to see how bad the damage was.  I paced up and down the deck, waiting for the verdict. Absolutely miraculously there seemed to be just a tiny ding on the end of one of the prop wings.  After pulling up the anchor (I never thought I would be so happy to see weeds and mud) we started the engine - and didn't feel or hear anything out of the ordinary.  Back in the channel Rick put her into high gear, and again - all was well.  It seemed almost too good to be true.  Maybe it was because we hit at very low speed? Whatever the reason, our moods started to improve.  The day was lovely and I rolled up the bimini flaps to let air onto the bridge.  And that's when I found the STOWAWAY!

Once I got over the shock of thinking it was a tarantula (don't judge me - there are always spiders on the boat, never once has there been a bat) I could see how tiny (the size of a small mouse…or tarantula), adorable and scared he was.  And confused!  We think he is a little brown bat, which is endangered in Ontario. We knew better than to touch him, and decided to leave him alone until dark.  At one point he flew out the window, but clearly did not want to be out in the bright sunlight (I know just how you feel, little dude) and kept circling back.  Eventually he disappeared.  More on that later...

Between the engine purring like a kitten, and the gift of an unexpected creature, our moods re-balanced, back to their naturally sunny states. We will learn from yesterday, and try to keep it from coloring our feelings about today, and the future.

At one point we passed a convoy of 8 pleasure boats - fortunately in a wide area.

We decided not to stop at famous Henry’s Fish Restaurant -popular with float planes and boaters.  Rumor has it that prices have gone up, while quality has done the opposite-so, hard pass…

Coming around a corner we came across another Mainship, who was lost (you don’t dare wander around in these rocks) and asked to tag along behind us to Parry Sound.  Being able to help someone is always a mood lift!  If we had stopped at Henry’s we wouldn’t have been there to help, so that was a good decision. It helped offset our terrible anchoring decision of yesterday…

Our little shadow, ‘Sea the USA’.

All of us are backed up behind the construction barge, waiting for the big tourist boat Island Queen to clear the swing bridge passage into Parry.

Swing bridge passage-you can see there wasn’t room for the big boat and us!

Construction barge-when you have this many houses on islands you have to have services that can get there on the water. Recently we saw a barge that was one big woodworking platform with tent and grill!

Once we had docked and Rick started to clean the windows, we discovered the little bat had stayed with us during daylight. Somehow he wedged himself between the glass and screen. We decided to see what would happen at twilight.

While Rick was cleaning, and bat sitting, I had a date with the biggest used bookstore I have ever see - Bearly Used Books. They take in around 250,000 books a year (donations from the many tourists passing through, like us) and sell about that many.  Sadly, that’s too many books to keep well organized, and I couldn’t find any of the 9 books I wanted.  Still-it’s a worthwhile destination!

I know Rick is always interested in history, and Vikings in particular right now-so I got him this serious & insightful Viking history book.

As the sun set, we watched our little stowaway stretch his wings and do some grooming.  We held our breaths. Suddenly he was gone, off into the night.  We turned to each other and Rick said ‘they grow up so fast’ at the same time I said ‘it’s always so bittersweet when they leave home’.  Sigh-kids….

It had been a long & emotional 36 hours-off to bed.  Zzzzzzz