Wallace Island
There are several little bays on Wallace Island we have wanted to explore for some time.
We chose Conover Bay and arrived early enough to get a great anchor spot with stern tie right at the mouth of the bay. We got all set and Eric and Sue rafted up. There is a dock but boat length is limited to 35 feet. Chris and Maryanne joined us, anchoring a little more inside the bay.
We took a short hike down to the sound end point. The path was so beautiful with the tall trees and the point was amazing. Someone couldn’t help himself and had to climb down the rocks.
This island was once privately owned by a family who created a small resort. Some of the buildings are still standing and a tradition was created to decorate the old buildings. New boaters are to bring a piece of driftwood with their name and year on it and hang it somewhere in or on the house. Some signs have multiple years proclaiming their repeated visits. Eric and Sue hung their driftwood but we didn’t know about it. We do now and will be ready the next time we visit. It was amazing - if you look closely, all of this is covered with driftwood. So cool and unique.
The afternoon was made for floating, so in we jumped. Notice the red rope… it ensures you don’t float to far, something we learned from Suedelle last year in Melanie Cove who had to be rescued.
First night was calm and quiet and we slept well…. read on for the second nights adventure.
Day two was a hike out to the north end of the island… round trip was just under four miles. Again, a beautiful hike, the hills/valleys were not to steep and it was a very pleasant hike.
We found this beauty along the way and I couldn’t help myself. This so reminded me of the old jalopys when I was a kid on my grandparents farm. Sitting on the unpadded seat was a bit of a challenge, but it’s all about the picture, right?
Second night, a wind was coming up out of the north. I had anchored at a 5:1 scope and everything was safe and sound the first night so I mistakenly thought we were good. Just before falling asleep, the dingy kept hitting the back of the boat and Keith went out, in the dark, to tie it up and noticed our stern line was slack. Oh NO - our anchor was pulling. We thanked Jesus for an annoying dingy 🙏.
Sue heard a saying “If you can’t see the show, you are the show” …. yup, we became the show.
Sue and Eric pulled away from us and went to the dock where there was one space available for them. They stepped it off to see if we could get in behind them, but it was too small. In the meantime, Keith was trying to pull in the stern line, only to realize it was snagged in a rock crevice. We pulled in as much as we could without endangering the boat with the rocks and then cut it. I pulled in the anchor with the remote and had to determine where to go. Aftrr we got all the kayaks abd dingy secore, we ended up rafting to Sue and Eric and called it a night. Whew - crisis averted 😬.
My mistake in calculations was I didn’t include the high tide mark and the wind took it from there. Lesson learned… again! Comments on the dock the next morning had something to do with stupid Americans who don’t know how to stern tie. We laughed.