We headed out to Kwatsi Bay and it took us about three hours to get to the bay. It was very pretty along the way. Once we arrived., we started dropping our anchors but quickly discovered that Al and Sue's winch would not work. Bob offered to drop ours and wouldn't you know it, ours wouldn't work either. Both of us had tested them this spring so we aren't sure what happened. Larry dropped his anchor and the men helped him tie a stern line to the beach. Then Bob and I rafted to Larry, then Al and Sue rafted to us. Lastly, Jack dropped his anchor and we helped him get his stern line to the beach. He rafted up next to Al and Sue. That put one anchor and stern line on the outside edges of our four boat raft.
Just around the corner is the Kwatsi Bay Marina. It's a small marina but very intimate. Apparently, some of the boaters who return her regularly volunteer their time to help maintain the marina and help with whatever Max, the owner, needs at the time. Mary and Jerome stayed at the marina while we went out to the bay to anchor.
On our way back to our boat we spotted Larry and Cheryl out kayaking. We didn't get any kayaking in ourselves because we just ran out of time. We knew this evening we wanted to go out in the dinghies and explore.
The following picture should be on a Facebook meme called "Why women live longer than men". Fortunately, Bob successfully got the anchor light fixed and lived to tell about it.
After dinner about 7:30pm we got all our dinghies together and headed out to explore the estuary at Otter Creek about 8 miles away. We were told that bears and wolves frequent that area because of the salmon that come in to spawn. Also, there are many otters, birds and other wildlife. We knew we had to go near high tide for the water to be deep enough for us to enter but we also wanted to be back before dark. When we got there we found that the water was still to shallow for us to enter without putting our dinghies at risk. We got as close as we could so I could take a picture then the others poked their bows in to see what they could. It is obviously a beautiful place and we look forward to going there again someday at high tide.
We tried to go in through Ahta River a little further up but it was too shallow for that entrance. There was a beautiful green marsh along the bay. I am eager to come back and possibly see bears and wolves. Yes, I am totally stuck on finding a bear!
On our way back to the boats we noticed in the distance someone in a red coat frantically waving their arms. Suddenly we realized it was Cheryl. They had planned to go with us to the estuary but part way there they told Al and Sue that they had a small leak and figured they better go back. We said okay, "See ya later". We assumed they were back at their boat enjoying a good book when we saw her on the beach. That entire area is stone cliffs ranging from ten feet to hundreds of feet high. There are no beaches at all. Except this one. As we approached she motioned us to go around a little "island" that they were on. When we went around we saw her and Larry standing in water with a broken dinghy. Apparently the tube tore away from the metal hull and it was a very large leak. They had tried to go back but were taking on water so fast they knew they had to find somewhere that they could get off. Fortunately, this one spot was available and they motored over to it. They were both wet to the waist and the tide was coming in. Soon there would be no land connecting the two islands and they would have had nowhere to go. They knew we would be back within 1-1/2 hours so it was good that we did not take extra time at the estuary. We loaded them in our dinghy and towed theirs back to our large boats.
This was a great lesson for us all. Never again will we leave one of our boating friends alone when they are having any kind of mechanical or other issue. No matter how small it might seem. We are also always going to carry our hand held radios on a designated frequency so that we can always stay in touch with each other in case of a problem. No exceptions! That is why we boat together. It is a safety issue and very comforting to know that three other boats are there to provide support, help with repairs, or to lend a hand as needed.
On our way back to where we were anchored we spotted some Pacific White Sided Dolphins. There were dozens of them jumping up to 15 or 20 feet in the air. It was unbelievable! None of us had ever seen anything like it. Then many of them started swimming up around our boats, diving underneath and becoming "aggressive" as they swam by. Some actually looked at us with what appeared to be a menacing look as they went under and beside the dinghies. Moon told us later that she had seen a documentary on this behavior. The dolphins will form a large circle to trap the salmon in the middle so they can feed on them. They actually send scouts out to keep the prey away which apparently is what we were. We do believe that some were also playing. One of them we nicknamed "Bob" because he was quite the ham. He jumped high in the air over and over and over. It was really something to see. We were all overwhelmed by what we were watching. We were laughing so hard but also reacting with startled shouts as another dolphin would suddenly come at us. The last photo shows the edge of our dinghy in the bottom right corner as the dolphin went under our boat. What a fantastic way to end our day!
