Next morning was a misty morning, but visibility was good and we could see the beautiful opening of Cinq Cerf as it came in from the ocean. Very pretty place and another 10, perhaps 10 and 1/2 due to the beautiful swimming hole it also boasted. I wanted to say that it felt like we were in a water colour painting done by a master, but I realize what we were in at this moment is what a master painter hopes to capture, but never quite can. We were in beauty. Pink rugged mountains backdropping rolling green hills, deep blue waves, white spray against the shoreline, blue skies.. words, nor photographs could capture this experience. We were in it, breathing it in as we went along the shore.

We moved a little further out into the ocean and brought out Mac to help stabilize us in the rolling seas, as we were heading right into the wind. We were passing a very shoaley shoreline, with rock names like 'Bad Neighbor' that made us chuckle and wonder at the story behind that name!

Kato had been out on the side of the deck but now meowed to be please taken in as it was too rolley for him to trust! Dave brought him into the wheelhouse but he chose to go back out and sleep under the bench behind us. We always keep him tethered when underway, unless he goes below deck. We keep humans tethered as well, unless they are in the wheelhouse or below deck. We have a rule that if you cannot swim to shore wherever we are, if on deck you have a lifejacket on. If there are any waves causing rolling, you are tethered to the boat. We have no intention of ever having to use our MOB techniques for anyone on this boat.

So many cemetery markers and memorial markers line the shores for lost mariners and 'Those drowned at sea', that you become aware of the cost of ocean life, the situations that can easily arise that you need to be prepared for. Here few can swim and we so rarely ever see anyone in lifejackets that one wonders. The ancestors that survived here must have had an ability to let go and trust, or they would never have left Europe. That ability to just step out into it and let fate decide is bred in the bone here and it makes sense it was so, but I want the life jackets and jack lines, the security of the life raft and survival suits we have aboard.

Yes there are many gravestones with 'accidentally drowned' , 'lost at sea' , but imagine if shore locked cemeteries put in 'died by car accident', 'killed in a collision', 'killed by a drunk driver', 'fell asleep at the wheel'. Our cemeteries would be far more ominous than any by the sea, and one would think twice before ever getting on a highway! Perspective, you are actually statistically more likely to be killed playing golf than sailing. Accidents happen and bad weather happens, but so does it in a car. Every storm brings traffic fatalities, but most storms are waited out at sea with no fatalities. Still, I want lifejackets worn when on the outer decks of our boat.

I was playing with the chart options of my ipad, as the charts for this area are based upon the 18th century charts and have not been updated, I thought to use the sonar charts which map the contours of what lies beneath the waves, This was an interesting way to travel, and when we came to sudden and steep contour lines we would put on the fish finder view on our Raymarine to see what it looked like. At one point it rose up to 200 feet below sea level and then dove down to 1,3401 and then a few minutes later back up to the 200 range! I was wondering what the solid grey blob meant! An underwater canyon!

Our AIS showed a big container ship off our port side. It is fun to find out who else is out there. 20 miles away you would think we could see such a huge tanker, but in the gentle mist along the ocean horizon, we could not see a thing. We could see the waves crashing along the many shoals and rocks of the shoreline on our other side though! We were coming through "Wreck Island Sunkers' and 'Slammer Shoals' as we headed into Little Garia Bay.

We could see the bay from the wide entrance and headed straight in to where two little summer homes perched against the green hilly backdrop. Anchoring was easy and we sat out for a beer on the back deck in the sun. It was positively hot today again! I started some bread for the next few days and we took Origami out for a search for the swimming hole the guidebook told of.
Nothing was apparent along the shore, but we came to one spot that had two little brooks coming down. Kato and I explored the one grassy side, seeing caribou tracks in the drying bog. Dave hiked up the rockier one, and came back down about ten minutes later. 'I found it. Just you wait. The place is beautiful.' It was after six already so we opted to come back in the morning, although I had a feeling I was going to regret that. The sun was shining and it was hot now, it may not be that way in the morning.

We explored a few more spots, getting out to walk along a short pebbly beach where Kato spent time sniffing everything he could! We ambled over a stretch of smooth rock that looked like seals aught to be sunning there. Both rock hounds, we were picking up pyrite and citrine looking quartz, noticing the shale and the granite intermingled on the shore. Kato made his way along the upper ledges but when we came to a kelp stretch he meowed to be carried to the sandy beach around the bend. I noticed some sun bleached vertebrae scattered along the beach and upon further exploration found the skull and a few other bones. There was the only seal we would find on these shores, or what was left of him.

Back to the boat for cod au gratin, mashed potatoes and turnip and apple for supper with cake for desert, and for one of the few times this trip, we could enjoy our dinner out on the back deck enjoying the warm summer night. Glorious.