Distance Travelled: 7.5 nm | Destination: Pickering Island

Gavin was up early, as usual. I wanted to go ashore, and Heather decided to stay aboard with Gavin. I grabbed my shoes and wallet and hopped in the dinghy to head in to the Buck's Harbor Yacht Club.

Morning Relaxation

My first order of business was to replace my venerable Oakleys which had finally given up the ghost the day before. Heather had indicated that there was a rack of ten-dollar-sunglasses in the Buck's Harbor Market just a short way up the hill. I figured I would be able to kill two birds with one stone by getting a cup of coffee there as well.

At the club I tied up the dingy. Heather had warned me about the dinghy segregation problem and I was careful to tie up on the correct side of the docks. Dinks with outboards please use the left side! I got a chuckle out of it, but had to admit that it sort of made sense. And it certainly lent an orderly appearance to things.

I took the short walk up to the market and chose a stylin' pair of cheapo glasses, grabbed a coffee and walked back down to the club where I spent some time relaxing on the porch with my coffee before returning to the boat. Heather decided she wanted to go ashore to use the shoreside facilities, so we all trundled back to the club and spent some more time on the porch.

Heather then drove us back to the boat so that she could head ashore for some quiet time without man or boy to bug her. Meanwhile Gavin and I relaxed aboard. I had breakfast and picked up the boat, then put Gavin down for a nap and caught up with the logs.

A Leisurely Sail

During the morning I hailed Glissando on the radio and discovered he was at nearby Pickering Island. Heather and I had been planning to head down to Pickering anyway, and Tim indicated that he would be staying there one more night. Perfect!

At about 1130 we hoisted the main and headed out of the harbor. There was just the barest breath of wind, but with only 4 miles rhumb line distance to cover we were determined to sail. We had some wonderful light air sailing at 1.8-3.0 knots on a close reach. After a while the wind started to fill in and we were soon making 3.5 knots or better. We had a nice beat southward to Pickering. As we approached the wind started to freshen a bit, and the last 20 minutes or so had the rail in the water. Its striking how quickly the wind can build.

At about 1330 we dropped the main and motored in to set our hook. While we were doing so we noticed a rather ugly yellow powerboat steam straight in toward Glissando who was hanging peacefully on the only mooring in the harbor. By the time our anchor was set, Tim was involved in dropping his own anchor.

A Nice Day with Glissando

Tim soon rowed over in his dinghy and came aboard for an afternoon beverage. We enjoyed a beer and chatted for a while. Presently, however, the lure of the legendary Pickering Island Mussels became too much to resist and Tim and I hopped in the dinghy and went ashore for a harvest. We spent quite a while ashore each picking a large bag of mussels. Tim then dropped me at the boat, then headed back to Glissando to get ready for cocktail hour.

We decided that Gavin needed a bath before we went to Glissando, so Heather inflated his tiny inflatable pool. Despite the fact that the water from the sunshower was tepid at best, Gavin had a nice time playing in the tub, and we managed to get him semi-clean which was a nice bonus.

Soon we packed up and headed to Glissando where we had a nice feed of cheese and mussels. For perhaps the first time in history, Dasein was able to provide something that Glissando lacked: white wine and fresh parsley for the mussels. We gave Tim a hard time about being so inadequately prepared! But the mussels were excellent.

Eventually, Gavin began to get fussy and we retired back to Dasein. Tim followed us over and after putting Gavin down to bed, I grilled up some burgers for everyone. We spent a nice evening talking and drinking Mt. Gays until quite late.