Fossil Bay to Reid Harbor

Fossil Bay, Sucia Island to Jones Island: 10.8NM 

Jones Island to Reid Harbor: 7.1NM 

Our last full day on the boat. Sigh. 

We decided to explore Sucia a little, so we walked some nice trails over to Shallow Bay, where I had initially wanted to overnight.  

 

Karen and the park sign listing the yacht clubs that bought the island and gave it to the park service. 

 

Best of Times in Fossil Bay, Sucia Island. 

But we were on minus tides, so Shallow Bay just would have been too shallow for comfort. It looked like a great place for sunsets. 

 

Karen overlooks Shallow Bay. Lots of mud at low tide. 

Spur of the moment, I suggested we head for Jones Island, another Marine Park that was about an hour way. I had read that it was a nice place, and we had nothing better to do. 

As always, the park dock was full, so we got another mooring ball and went ashore in the dinghy. What a lovely place. The island is well kept and has great “lawns” on both the north and south ends of the island with picnic facilities and campsites. The island suffered a major blow down of large trees in a 2000 storm, and many have been left to decompose in place. It makes for an eerie sight.  

 

Karen poses with uprooted trees from the "big blow" on Jones Island. 

We took the southwest trail, which was a gorgeous walk along the southwest side of the island. A narrow but nice trail, it stayed very close to the water with some precipitous drops. I had read that Jones Island had tame deer, but didn’t expect to see one. We saw a small doe that came right out of the forest to greet us and walked within 10 feet of us. I was torn between wanting to make friends and wanting to shun it for all the damage its brethren do to our trees and plants back in Philadelphia. 

 

Tame deer on Jones Island. 

We had a quick lunch, and then left for Stuart Island and Reid Harbor, our last anchorage for the trip.  

It was a quick motor to Reid, we snagged a mooring ball, and spent most of the evening packing and cleaning up the boat. Bob made shrimp scampi for dinner with prawns from Canada….another great meal. 

 

Karen settles in for an evening of reading in the pilothouse.  

 

Sunset in Reid Harbor.

Genoa Bay to Fossil Bay

  Genoa Bay to Roche Harbor: 20.6NM

Roche Harbor to Matia Bay: 16.7NM

Matia Bay to Fossil Bay: 2.4NM

Up early in Genoa Bay to head for Roche Harbor and re-entry into the good old USA. We left about 9am for the 1 hour and 40 minute passage, seeing lots of great scenery and wildlife along the way.

Of course, as you might imagine, things don’t always go according to plan. As we got close to Roche Harbor, Bob took a potty break and left me at the helm. When he came back, he asked if I had slowed the boat down (which I hadn’t). Son of a gun! The starboard engine was stuck at 1800 RPMs. We had lost throttle control on that engine. Bob had to shut it down and glide onto the customs dock with just one engine (not really a big deal, it just sounds really cool). We were lucky that Customs wasn’t too busy and there was space for us without having to wait.

Bob cleared Customs while I tried to raise the charter company on the phone. It was a comedy of errors. Bob had the better luck. The Customs agent actually searched the boat, making Bob and I stand on the dock. Not sure what contraband he was seeking, but he did confiscate our lemon, lime and 2 jalapeno peppers. He also said heartily “Welcome back to the United States!” That was actually nice to hear!

Bob got tired of waiting for the call from the charter company so he went down into the engine room and found the throttle arm had detached from the engine. Hmmm…after cursing a blue streak because there were some missing bolts and tight fit issues, he got the boat up and running and we gladly left for Sucia and Matia islands.

Sucia means “foul” in Portuguese. Not foul as in odor, but foul as in “reef-strewn”. Need to watch your navigating around Sucia. But first we went to Matia Island, a nearby wildlife preserve. It was nice in Rolfe Cove and we snagged a mooring ball, as the dock was full. We had lunch and went ashore for a great walk around the island.

Best of Times snugged to a mooring ball in Matia Bay.

Docks at Matia Bay, Best of Times in Background.

Karen in old growth tree on Matia.

Old growth trees are truly massive.

We chatted with the folks on the dock for a while and teased the owners of the Nordhavn 40 about waxing their boat at the dock on such a lovely day. What dedication! Now, off to Sucia, where we caught a mooring ball in Fossil Bay. We just hung out on the boat and did a little pre-packing in anticipation of turning the boat in on Friday.

That was after we had to move the mooring ball from the back of the boat to the front in the howling wind. In a powerboat like ours, it’s easiest to boathook the mooring ball and attach a line from the stern. But because all boats ride best with their bow into the wind, you need to “walk” the ball around to the front. Not usually an issue unless the wind is howling. Bob inherited that job as I lacked the upper body strength to do it! We read and rested a bit, then had a lovely salmon dinner and an early evening.