Killarney to Baie Fine

We have no internet here in The Pool on Baie Fine. So I'm killing time by writing a very detailed blog that could also be title "Adventures in MedMooring." Feel free to just look at the pics. I won't be insulted.

We left the small but adorable port of Killarney around 8 am and headed to Baie Fine (pronounced Bay Fin). Looking on the map, a bird could have traversed the distance in 15 minutes. It took us 3 hours. But the weather was pleasant enough and the water placid, so the trip was calm and beautiful. We left about a half hour earlier than our buddy boat, and traveled faster. By the time we arrived to "The Pool" we were about an hour ahead of As You Wish.

We thought we'd execute another MedMoor, anchoring closer to shore then backing up to attach a stern line. The last time we did it we dropped anchored, sidled up to another boat (About Time) and rafted, then attached a stern line. All that was much easier since being attached to another boat meant you weren't going anywhere, so getting that stern line out was no rush, and no worry.

Sunset in Killarney

Doing it alone was much harder. First, we didn't choose a wise spot. I knew we wanted the wind (and it was only a breeze at this point) to be on our nose if possible. But the wind kept changing direction, swirling a bit in the bowl created by the rocky hills that surrounded us. 

Second, our eyes -- mine in particular -- still aren't accurate judges of safe distances, and with MedMooring that's key. You want to set your anchor as a safe length for your depth. There's a whole doctrine around this but in short, if your depth is 10 feet, you want anywhere from 50 to 70 feet of rode (line or chain) between the anchor and the boat. Then you want to be close enough to short that your stern line isn't crazy long. It isn't the strongest line (the anchor is) so you don't want any real force from wind or current straining it.

Anyway, we picked a spot, tried a couple of times where we dropped the anchor out too far in the lake, and couldn't back up close enough to shore, partly because we dropped it too far away, and partly because the wind make it a tough to back up straight against the wall.

We changed our tactics, looking across from us at the two boats already MedMoored. We turned around and parked there. Easier since I could get an idea of where to drop the anchor judging by the other boats, and it seemed a bit sheltered from the wind. 

Mountainy views

Anchor dropped, boat backed, all we needed to do was get the stern line attached. Which meant lowering the dinghy (we had to foresight to do before we started) but it needed it's paddles, which are stored in little cubbies in the dinghy, which have been shifted and now tough to reach since we're storing the little boat on the bow. It took Russ a good 10 minutes just to get the boat ready. 

Jesse had the stern line out by the time Russ was good to go. Meanwhile I'm keeping the boat more-or-less in place. Russ takes one end of the line and rows to shore, only 30 feet way. He gets out of the dinghy but can't find a handy place to tie THAT to before he ties Cat-n-Dogs to a tree. In that process he accidently drops the stern line, which floats away. He freed the dinghy, got back into it, rows out to where the line drifted, retrieved it, and tried again.

By this point, As You Wish was anchored and had their dinghy lowered. I half expected John to come over and say, "Can I help?" I would have found that funny, given we were so far ahead of them.

Anyway, the second time worked like a charm. We successfully MedMoored by ourselves. 

Safely Medmoored during a purple sunset

Anchoring accomplished, the men-folk started unloading the kayaks while I took down the helm. A few minutes later I hear some commotion and look behind to see one of the kayaks in the water upside down. I assumed it just got away from them until I realize that Jesse is laughing ... from the water. Yep, he took an accidental swim. Said the water was way warmer than his swim yesterday.

The rest of the day was spent hiking and kayaking. With no other incidents of adventures.