Thursday August 12 – Did our usual breakfast thing and waited for the Roy Show to start. We checked-in, but again needed a relay to register our location and intended new destination. Kathi did her requisite morning swim. After all was done and it was probably around 10:30am, we hauled up the anchor and wound our way back out the entrance of Bearsdrop Harbor and into the Whalesback Channel – of course the wind as from the East, so more motoring. After we exited the narrowest part of the channel to the East it opened up to where we could try to sail, but with only the headsail. The wind was still on our nose and we were really pushing it to do any sailing. We eventually made our way to Thomas Island and anchored behind the No-Name Island to the East of Thomas Island that forms its little anchorage. The water there was very warm – about 80°F and very cloudy with green algae. The 70ft high No-Name Island did a very good job of blocking any winds and waves. We got there just after noon.
We decided later in the afternoon to take a dinghy ride to Spanish, a small town with a marina about 4 miles away. We needed ice and Kathi wanted to talk to Jenessa before she went on her adventure on Friday. Jenessa has been asked to go with a group of doctors, nurses, and nurse practitioners to Haiti for a week to provide medical services to children there. We are very proud that she is doing this.
The channel into Spanish is very narrow and reportedly not very deep. Although we were told by the people in the marina that it was 6ft deep, we had heard it was barely 5ft deep from others. It was a very cute marina with a very large community center that included a large boater’s lounge (with TV, books, and videos), very nice showers, a sauna in each restroom, a workout room with lots of gym equipment, laundry facility, a store (closed when we were there), a restaurant on the second floor (also closed), and what looked like a group yoga/exercise classroom. There was also an overlook atop a 100ft plus ridge above the marina, with a set of switch back stairs up to a pavilion. You could see all round the eastern end of the Whalesback Channel from there, and were we would have to go to eventually pass through “Little Detroit” to get out of the Channel and back into the main part of the North Channel. Down the stairs and back to the dinghy we went and over to the gas dock. We got ourselves three bags of cubed ice (we were smart this time and brought our Igloo cooler to put the bags of ice in – keeping them fresh for as long as possible). Then off we went back to Thomas Island after I took a few photos of the Overlook. The dinghy and 9.9 4-stroke Mercury worked fine except I picked up some weeds in the marina channel and had to stop, pull up the motor and yank off the weeds. No problems after that, although it did take extra effort to get up on plane with this full load. Loaded like this we probably do 14 to 15 knots on plane (with me alone, I have measured it with the handheld GPS at 19.5 knots).
Next day we planned to head to Amendoz Island, but who knows. It all depends on the wind direction and the anchorage. Once again we got up around 12:30pm to see Northern Lights and the meteor shower we had heard about from Roy in the morning. I saw a couple and went back to bed. Kathi stayed up a little longer and saw a few more.
A'Ghrian at anchor between Thomas Island and the No-Name Island in the background
Spanish Municipal Marina and the overlook on the ridge. There is also a windmill that was not running when we were there.
View from the overlook of Spanish marina and the eastern end of the Whalesback Channel
View from the overlook of Spanish marina and the west up the Whalesback Channel
We decided later in the afternoon to take a dinghy ride to Spanish, a small town with a marina about 4 miles away. We needed ice and Kathi wanted to talk to Jenessa before she went on her adventure on Friday. Jenessa has been asked to go with a group of doctors, nurses, and nurse practitioners to Haiti for a week to provide medical services to children there. We are very proud that she is doing this.
The channel into Spanish is very narrow and reportedly not very deep. Although we were told by the people in the marina that it was 6ft deep, we had heard it was barely 5ft deep from others. It was a very cute marina with a very large community center that included a large boater’s lounge (with TV, books, and videos), very nice showers, a sauna in each restroom, a workout room with lots of gym equipment, laundry facility, a store (closed when we were there), a restaurant on the second floor (also closed), and what looked like a group yoga/exercise classroom. There was also an overlook atop a 100ft plus ridge above the marina, with a set of switch back stairs up to a pavilion. You could see all round the eastern end of the Whalesback Channel from there, and were we would have to go to eventually pass through “Little Detroit” to get out of the Channel and back into the main part of the North Channel. Down the stairs and back to the dinghy we went and over to the gas dock. We got ourselves three bags of cubed ice (we were smart this time and brought our Igloo cooler to put the bags of ice in – keeping them fresh for as long as possible). Then off we went back to Thomas Island after I took a few photos of the Overlook. The dinghy and 9.9 4-stroke Mercury worked fine except I picked up some weeds in the marina channel and had to stop, pull up the motor and yank off the weeds. No problems after that, although it did take extra effort to get up on plane with this full load. Loaded like this we probably do 14 to 15 knots on plane (with me alone, I have measured it with the handheld GPS at 19.5 knots).
Next day we planned to head to Amendoz Island, but who knows. It all depends on the wind direction and the anchorage. Once again we got up around 12:30pm to see Northern Lights and the meteor shower we had heard about from Roy in the morning. I saw a couple and went back to bed. Kathi stayed up a little longer and saw a few more.
Route to Thomas Island
Route from Thomas Island through Little Detroit
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