Sun Aug 13: Killarney to Baie Fine anchorage

Rick encouraged me to take a 'run' while he did all the important things necessary to get us off the dock.  We both noticed this new addition to the horizon - a Viking Cruise Ship.  Now that's a big ship!  If I am reading their website properly, their Great Lakes Expedition costs more per person than our trip to Antarctica.  Yikes!  To be fair, our own Great Lakes Expedition true cost is probably quite a bit more than $16K/ person...

Here is the 'tender' boat they use to get people to shore.  It holds 200 people!

The plan for the day was to find a good anchorage in Baie Fine - one of the key stops for Loopers. This bay is considered 'one of the largest fresh water fjords in the world' - but we took that with a grain of salt as we saw the Saguenay Fjord last year.... We tried to keep a positive attitude about finding a spot, even though it's so popular.  We had planned it for a week day for that very reason.

We cruised 2/3rds of the way up, examining every possible anchorage and dithering.  There was only one other boat that we could see.  The top 1/3 of the fjord is called The Pool, and is the most popular place to anchor.  However, narrow, weedy and crowded are reasons to stay away, and we finally found the 'Goldilocks' anchorage.  The anchor seemed to hold and the wind came down, so Cap Rick was finally able to relax.  We both love it when that happens!

He deserves a good sunbathing break!

Later in the evening successful fishing was had - but no actual fish were harmed in the making of this blog.  It was catch and release.  For those of you concerned about such things (Kim!), Rick does any catching and cleaning required.

Big mouth for a Small-mouthed Bass.

Our anchorage was very isolated, as you can see here.  We were surrounded by trees, and the large quartz mountains that border the bay.  We have been in bear country since Wright's marina, and I hoped our little pool would bring them down to drink, but there was no sighting of anything but loons.

It was an absolutely gorgeous evening.  The water was certainly clear enough for swimming, but it was too cold (the air, not the water)!  I guess I'm a fair-weather swimmer.  My aunts and cousins who used to swim in Maine would certainly despair of my lack of fortitude.

After dark I was ready for bed, but Rick made me bundle up and sit on the back deck to look for Perseid Meteor shower shooting stars, which goes on until Aug 24.  OH MY, am I glad he did.  It was GLORIOUS!!  Zero ambient light, and a shooting star about every 5 minutes.  At the peak yesterday there are 20/hour - but I felt so lucky even to have seen one. And the Milky Way was indescribable. Nature awed us once again, but I was glad it wasn't in the wind/storm category...