Eagle Tracks at the Manitous

We have been itching to sail our boat somewhere, anchor it and spend the night.  Thursday night was the choosen day so John and I provisioned the boat and set sail for the Manitou Islands.

We left the North Bay marina (A) at about 6:30 pm and headed out to the Manitou Islands (B).  The distance is about 8.5 km.  There was no wind so we motored out in about 50 minutes.  We picked a spot and backed in to about 7 feet of water and dropped the anchor.  We set it nicely and had no  problems throughout the night.  There was one motor boat nearby--also anchored for the evening.

The full moon illuminates the water.

We had been working on some sort of tarp system for the boat to protect us from sun and rain so we took the opportunity to set it up see how it looked.  Seemed to work fine.  We prepared dinner on the boat's origo stove and I was happy that everything worked well.  We timed the water boiling at 7 minutes--not bad and the stove gave off little or no fumes and the meal was prepared easily.  That night we read our books and looked out at the beautiful full moon.  For a mast light we attached a prezil head lamp--worked perfect.  The boat swung easily around the anchor throughout the night as the wind shifted and a cool breeze flowed in threw the forward hatch and out the screen at the hatch.  John was out and slept till 10:30 the next morning.  I was a bit restless and spent some time up on deck in the early morning watching the moon and stars.  The moon went down at 4:20 am.

View from the forward hatch.  The camera flash has illuminated the picutre, but the moonlight was bright enough for our own eyes to see the deck and beach in the distance.

The First Mate sound asleep.

I was up at 8:30 and watched two eagles on the nearby beach.  The male was perched on a limb, while the female stayed on the ground.  At one point a raccoon chased the female, only to be chased away himself the the male eagle who swooped down protecting his mate.

Both eagles are on the right of the tree.  The male, half way up, and the female on the ground.

Once John was up, we had a breakfast of bacon and eggs and jumped in the water for a swim to the beach.  We walked along and explored looking for the eagle's nest.  No luck.  But we did find eagle tracks on the beach.  Too cool.   I remember the distinct three  for-claws and the one rear talon.  Just over 24 hours later I was holding eagle claws in my hands while participating in a native teaching ceremony at Project Dare--all very cool.  We finished our exploring and swam back to the boat, hauled in the anchor and set out for North Bay.  On the way home we turned on the auto pilot and sat up on the bow of the boat in the shade and enjoyed the ride home.

View from the stern showing the distance we swam to the beach.  A great morning workout.

A great first experience sleeping on the boat away from the marina.