Chaffeys to West Bay, anchor

Grueling hour long trip today. No, not really. Quite lovely, although the start was exciting.

Yesterday we locked down from Chaffeys and tied onto their gray line for the night. Our buddy boat, however, stayed on top. First thing this morning, they needed to lock down. Locks open at 9 am, and one of their crew had to take a phone call at exactly that time. Russ and I volunteered to crew and get them on their way.

Lots of boats on the wall in front of us at Chaffeys.

As luck would have it, the lock master wanted to lock UP first. We all waited while the 4 boats below got in, tied off, and rode up. Just as the gates opened, the phone call ended. Russ and I headed back down to inQuest.

The trick was we needed to get underway before they finished loading the chamber above us, because once they do, they'll empty it. That wash will make getting off the skinny wall so much more tricky; it's adding a 2 knot current. However, the boats were seriously buttoned up next to us, so there wasn't much wriggle room to get out.

Lots of little rocky islands.

Needless to say we scratched the dinghy ever so slightly. But we got out without too much drama.

While short the trip was really nifty; the channel weaved between rocky islands. That made for a stunning little ride.

There was one other lock we had to get through, Davis Lock. We wanted to stay there but they had no grey line big enough for our vessels. We pressed on to West Bay where Highwind dropped a hook that stuck nicely in the mud immediately. We were all a little nervous about anchoring after yesterday.

Before I took this we had a small downpour. 
Then the sky cleared up again.

This one needs a little volume. While on a little dinghy ride

we came across this loon. I just love their calls.