ECHO BAY

Left our crowded anchorage late morning and headed north, knowing that the weather forecast was quite vague. We had first heard to expect thunderstorms , 30% chance of rain and high winds by Monday evening, so I identified several anchorages along the way where we could bail out if things got too rough. We cruised on glassy water most of the day, with not a cloud in the sky. We decided to head for the San Souci area,as we had been told about the infamous “Henry’s” restaurant and thought we’d give it a try.

Hitch hiker statue along the way.

We stayed on the Small Boat Route - a buoyed channel winding it’s way through the many islands - most of the time, with only one deviation to go through Indian Rock Channel with it’s pink granite islands. I have to say that I have never seen such poor boating etiquette anywhere as I have around here the past few days. Technically, one is responsible for any damage that your wake could do, but in reality, that is difficult, if not impossible, to monitor and enforce. The majority of boats we have seen in these waters are local “go fast” boats in the 25 - 40 foot range, owned, I assume, by people within a 100 or so miles who want to get to where they are going, then get back home quickly. Their attitude appears to be that if you can’t handle their wake (sometimes 2-3 feet high), then you shouldn’t be out here boating. Courtesy says you slow down as you pass another boat, so your wake will not be too uncomfortable. Not here! I’ve had fast boats pass me going probably 30 knots, and not more than10 or 15 yards away in a channel which is only 50 yards wide! It leaves me with no evasive maneuvers possible, and I often cannot turn into the wake because their buddies are following right behind. In general, these are not the “cruiser” boats that travel at a sedate 6-8 knots and wave as you go by - these are a different breed that seem to want to impress with horsepower, speed and noise. The only consolation I have is that as they go by, I’m thinking “there goes an engine that is sucking up 60 - 100 gallons an hour versus my 1.5 gallons per hour.”

Anyway, we survived the wakes and made it up to Henry’s. We looked around close by for an anchorage, even did a little gunkholing in marginally charted waters, but couldn’t find anything closer than Echo Bay, about 1.7 miles away.

Elaine catching up with the world while in Echo Bay

We anchored there, a very nice, very protected bay with only three or four boats anchored, then watched another 5 or 6 come in. It’s a fairly large bay, so there is room for them all. The water was nice and clear and I used it to scrub down the boat, getting most of the insect remains off, then jumped in to cool myself off.

Relaxing on a floating cushion.

Because we would have to dinghy over to the restaurant, we decided to have an early dinner so we could be sure to be back before dark, and just in case any of the thunderstorms showed up. The restaurant has, apparently, been widely written up, but we decided it was mostly due to it’s unique location, although the food wasn’t bad. We got back to the boat before 6 PM, and it was so warm, another swim was called for.

The latest forecast is for high winds tomorrow (I’ve heard that before) and 30% chance of rain (sounds familiar), so we probably won’t spend a lot of time on the water. We’re not far from Perry Sound, a fairly large outpost of civilization, and might stop in there to see the sights…