Waupoos :: Day XVII

Waupoos sunrise at anchor, AB's bow through hatch screen

Brian and Maria have left our tiny flotilla to head back home. It's always sad when people leave.

I follow Grey Ghost to a "new to me" anchorage called Half Moon Bay. The water is deep and the hold is good. The Grannans join us a little later, having sailed from Portsmouth near Kingston. It's nice to see them! For supper that night, Aldo cooked a great pasta dish with plenty of zing for my palate. The wine is good -- Layer Cake, an Argentinian Malbec that I picked up in Rochester for Maureen. Memories of Lake Tahoe!

The next day, Saturday, is a day of swimming, reading and visiting. Eventually, one after the other,  we lift anchor and head back to Waupoos to reset the hook. I decide to spend a quiet night alone. Cook prefab Indian + couscous. Eat out of the pot while watching a movie. Nice... and then I heard thunder. I pour a glass of wine and head for the cockpit to watch the show! And what a show it was. Lightning of all sorts and everywhere! I remember thinking that I was glad that there was little wind. And then it rained and rained and rained and then HAILED for approximately 15 minutes! The sound of the hail on the boat! And then high horizontal winds made the boat heel and swing. First to the left. I catch a glimpse of the shoreline. Then to the right so fast that I find myself catching my breath. Please anchor hold. Come on AB! Sit tight. I often talk to the boat. And I sometimes find myself screaming at parts of it. The boom. The sails. The autopilot.

In the morning, I assess the damage. I lost an elastic line for my forward hatch. Minor. My dandy compass cover flew away. Sad. Back on land, I hear that lightning touched down on Waupoos Island and set something ablaze. The hail and wind ripped through a few unfortunate dodgers and biminis. And to top it off, another storm was moving in. We decide to eat on shore in the Waupoos Marina hangar. We find three Montréalais couples cooking a haute gastronomie meal of fresh local vegetable papillotes and lamb. Being a foodie, I am ashamed of my bottled salad dressing. The wind drives the rain in and brings us closer. We end the evening sitting at the same table, exchanging stories and drinking red wine. There's nothing like a storm to bring people together. Nice.

As I finish writing this, it is the morning of day XVIII and guess what? It stormed again last night. Nothing violent. Thank goodness. Believe it or not, I am Waupoosed out! Bonnie Lassie has joined our flotilla for a stint. Today we move on to Kingston and the Thousand Islands. Aurevoir Waupoos! Might stop in on the way back, you never know.