McMicking Lay Day

We woke to a beautiful morning, bright sun and a great day for exploring. The rafted fishing boats left early this morning, but we lazed around, waiting for the right tides to explore our favorite beach. The amazing sand beaches are a key reason to visit McMicking, and are almost on par with Pruth or Rugged Point.

Mcmicking anchorage

looking back to the entrance and the beaches from the anchorage

a peekaboo shot from the cove around the corner

The challenge in visiting our favorite beach is two-fold. First, it’s a shallow approach – we prefer a steeper beach drop off to make it easier to maneuver (and depart). Second, the beaches are exposed to swell and some surf, so it’s key to pick your landing spot with care. We have a spot that leverages some rocks to help protect us from the swell and surf.

our favorite place to beach the dinghy using rocks to break up the waves

Although we should probably have waited for the tide to rise a bit, I was able to get Karen to the shore to hold the dinghy painter while we offloaded more lines and the sand spike.

I brought the drone, as it’s hard to capture the grandeur of this beach with a camera at ground level.

this is but one of many beaches along the island

the river empties across the sand to the ocean. you can see this feature on google earth

rocks and sand are the beachs of the coast

The beach was just as nice as we remembered from 2022. Long and wide, with a hoard of sea shell treasures for Karen to beachcomb.

sand and granite mountains are are certain sign you are on campania Island

After capturing the bird’s eye view, I joined Karen as we walked the vast expanse of the beach and found lots of wolf paw prints. We understand there are a lot of wolves in this area, but have yet to be lucky enough to see one.

lots of critter paw prints

After a long while, we decided it was time to return to OceanFlyer. Getting off the shallow shore was a challenge, even with a higher tide and judicious use of the anchor buddy. But we did it successfully and returned to our anchorage slightly windburned but happy.

We had a new neighbor in the anchorage, another small recreational fishing boat. We spent time chatting with the nice Canadian couple before returning to OceanFlyer.