Tuesday August 7th – Skylar and his two friends ran ahead of us in the dinghy to do some fishing at the entrance of Pendrell Sound. We got the boat ready and pulled anchor for our cruise to Squirrel Cove. The boys had about 2 hours of fishing before we arrived to pick them up. Skylar caught a really big Yellow Eye Rockfish but that was it.

Skylar’s friends Jonny and Carson both live on Lake Tapps so they are no stranger to watersports. Wake surfing has become a popular sport on the lake but here in Desolation Sound ski boats are non-existent. Ever since we got our current boat Skylar has been talking about wake surfing behind it. Skylar noticed at about 12-13 knots the boat makes a pretty big wake perfect for wake surfing.

So, with some experts onboard, and the dinghy in the water for quick retrieval of a down surfer, we decided to give it a try. First up, Carson enthusiastically jumped in the water to give it a try. Skylar and Jonny followed along videoing in the dinghy as Carson got right up and we adjusted our speed for the best wake.

It was awesome! Watching these kids wake surf behind a 52’ boat in the middle of Desolation Sound was quite a sight!

Arriving in Squirrel Cove we found a nice spot and stern tied along a wall where stern tying is the nom. After settling in I looked over at a moderately close boat that was not stern tied. On the back of the boat stood a guy, arms crossed, staring right at me. He didn’t look happy with our position. We were too far away to talk (that should tell you something) so I got in the dinghy to go chat with him.

I asked if he was comfortable with our position. He said, “not really”. I was anchored, and shore tied, and he was just anchored without a shore tie, so he would swing around but I would stay in position. After some friendly get to know you talk that was really awkward, I asked him how much anchor chain he had out. He said, “I have no idea”. Really, no idea! How can you safely anchor without knowing that? I thought we were fine, so I told him that if at any point he wants me to move (its customary for the person who anchored last to move if things go south) I would. The boat stayed plenty far away as we swam in the water and the boys took turns on the rope swing.

Wednesday August 8th. 5am, I wake up and look outside to make sure all is well. It was too dark to really confirm but it looked like the boat that “has no idea how much anchor chain they have out” was gone. They must have left really early I thought and went back to sleep. Julie got up about an hour later and found the boat. She said it looked like the boat had moved and sided tied to another anchored boat a couple hundred yards away. Reality was that they drug anchor across the bay past our boat and almost hit another group of boats. Soon there was some rustling around the boats and the anchor dragger slowly motored out of the bay, hopefully with their tail between their legs.

The boys and I embarked on a 6-mile dinghy ride up to Tekern Arm to see the falls and swim in the lake. We had a great swim then back at the dinghy dock a lady said, “hey you guys are anchored in Squirrel, right?” She then explained she woke up this morning to a drifting boat that almost hit their boat. She had to bang on their boat to wake them up! I told her the story about how they had no idea how much anchor chain they had out, and we all laughed about our narrow miss.

We fished for a bit on the way back then pulled anchor and took off for Tenedos.

Sunday August 5th – Skylar has two friends flying in tomorrow to Pendrell Sound, so we need to get to Pendrell today to be ready for their arrival. Pendrell is perfect in the heat. It has the warmest water in the area you can swim all day.

We set the shrimp pots on the way in then tied up to our friends who had already claimed a spot in the busy bay. Busy because Sea Ray was having a rendezvous. One raft had 23 Sea Ray’s all tied up together! With it being Sunday, we figured things would clear out tomorrow, but we were wrong. Monday was a Canadian holiday, so things stayed busy. No problem we had our spot in paradise.

The heat has returned in full force. Thankfully the water temperature hit 79 degrees! so cooling off was not a problem. Ava and Brianna discovered night swimming and we couldn’t get them out of the water. The boat never really cooled off. Even at 1:30am the air temperature was still 75 degrees.

Monday August 6th – Today Skylar’s friends Johnny and Carson are flying in by floatplane to stay with us for the next 5 days. They arrived right on time via Northwest Seaplanes and we picked them up with the dinghy in the outer bay. Almost immediate swimming commenced to cool off then the boys took the dinghy out with the wake board for some watersports.

The rest of the day was spent swimming, shrimping and relaxing in the heat and the new kids had fun exploring the area.

August 3rd and 4th – After pulling anchor and leaving Tenedos we went just around the corner to a little place we call The Cut (not an official name). It’s right off Otter Island and we call it The Cut because if you are brave enough to take your boat through the very narrow (but deep enough) passage you can shave off a little time by not going around Otter Island. But for us, The Cut makes a really fun small anchorage where you can watch all the boats go by as they slow down for the narrow passage.

It’s also a great spot to stay out of the more popular and very busy Prideaux Haven. Prideaux Haven is especially packed this weekend while everyone funnels in for the concert. Every year on the first weekend in August, an 80’ boat hosts a concert off their stern. It’s amazing how many dinghies all raft up together for the concert. We were excited to go but wanted to stay out of the chaos of Prideaux Haven. The Cut was perfect because it’s still within a short dinghy ride of the concert.

First task after getting anchored was to get some shrimp pots soaking! Then we all jumped in the dinghy and ran the distance to Refuge Cove for some lunch, ice cream, groceries, dinghy fuel, and to give “Garbage Dave” our trash, which he gladly accepts for $1 per pound.

Stern tied to Otter Island, Skylar and Zach said they kept hearing some type of animals in the woods just off the stern of the boat. As night fell the noises increased. At one point we all thought for sure a bear was calling us. Todd had the perfect call back, but the bear was not interested. We never did confirm if it was a real bear or not but it sure was entertaining.

A Mink! Skylar spotted it with a high-powered flashlight. He would run down the bank from some sort of home burrow thing in the woods then slide in the water emerging a minute later with a fish in it’s mouth. It was super fun watching him in the pitch black with just the light shining on him. He didn’t seem to mind much. A very fun evening in the wilderness.

Saturday August 4th – A lazy day at The Cut just relaxing on the boat, sitting in the sun and pulling up the shrimp pots with mediocre results. That evening we all dinghied to Prideaux Haven for the concert. Amazing how many people were packed in there and how many dinghies were rafted together. Fun to see everyone having a great time. Todd’s parents braved the crazy and anchored in the bay a couple days before. We all had dinner on their boat before the concert then joined the raft of boats.