Thursday, July 16: Day 43: Stern Tied in Deep Bay off Jedidiah Island

⚓ Shifting Winds, Shoreline Sheep, and Upcoming Storms?

Early this morning around 3:30 AM, the anchor shifted, which woke Greg right up. The only thing that woke me up was a single mosquito buzzing around my head, but luckily that wasn't until closer to 5:30 AM!

There was a bit of a breeze this morning that had shifted the boat sideways. Everything was perfectly fine, but we decided it would be best to re-set the anchor a bit further out and at more of an angle across from where we are stern-tied. That seems to have done the trick.

While Greg was bringing up the anchor from the seabed, I kept the boat pointed in the direction we’d planned. Just as Greg was dropping the hook back down, I spotted a sheep walking along the bank just up from where Lil' Ollie was pointed! I would have taken a photo of it, but I couldn't leave my post at the helm and my phone was down in the cabin charging. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

The lonely sheep was there - a strange place to see a sheep I'd say and it wasn't a bighorn!

Fun Feral Fact: I later found out that Jedidiah Island is actually famous for its wild, free-roaming sheep and goats left over from the old homesteading days. So it really was a wild sheep on a shoreline mission!

I haven't accomplished a whole heck of a lot over the last two days. I'm still trying to get my 2026-27 spreadsheet for TOPS set up, and it is driving me a bit mad! Luckily, I don't have to have this completed until after the end of July, but I really want to get a head start on it—it's never a good idea to leave these things to the last minute.

I also hadn't even started writing today's blog post until just a few minutes ago. After a quiet lunch of tomato soup, rice crackers, and red pepper hummus, I sat down with a hot cup of Earl Grey tea and a splash of soy milk to get to work.

Last night, I got a bit of a start when my friend Mary H. messaged to warn us that a storm was heading our way, complete with lightning and high winds. We've since checked the forecasts, and thankfully, the actual threat has been completely minimized compared to the major scare the Weather Network was dictating.

That said, a wind is starting to pick up right now—of course! It was getting so warm in the cockpit earlier that we had to put up a sunshade, and I had just gone below to change into some cooler clothes. When I got back to the cockpit and settled into my blog, a 13-knot gust came out of nowhere and almost flipped the shade right over. It is much cooler now thanks to the breeze and the cool dress I'm wearing. It's amazing how fast the weather can shift out here in just a few minutes!

Before I move on to the rest of today's cockpit entertainment, I got an email with this link this morning and wanted to share it with you in case you like it as much as I did: James Clear's 3-2-1 Newsletter. It's always a great read!

🎭 Cockpit Theater & Anchor Bay Antics

While I was catching up on my writing, Greg took Artemus ashore for a quick walk. That's two days in a row now! He managed to go pee on the shore yesterday, but not today—maybe he took care of business before he left Lil' Ollie. Greg snapped a couple of pictures while they were exploring.

A photo from the shore by Greg. You can see our sailboat at the opening of the anchorage and along side the other one.

While I was typing away, I had some excellent, free entertainment. The boat that had been anchored across from us decided to move right beside us. Greg's photo above shows us sitting side by side. (There was no name on their boat, and we didn't think to ask when the captain came by in his dinghy with his dog this morning to chat, so they'll remain our mysterious neighbors!)

Shortly after, another sailboat came in—a 42' Beneteau called Lady something. I can't quite read the rest of the name now that they are stern-tied with their transom facing away from us, so let's just call her Lady Gaga. If I find out what her real name is, I'll post it in an update.

They dropped their anchor practically right in front of the sailboat beside us. While Lady Gaga was sitting there floating, the couple in her cockpit got into a deep discussion about how they were going to stern-tie her. While they were completely distracted, the boat started drifting right toward our neighbor's boat!

The neighboring couple rushed out on deck, armed with a boat hook and ready to ward them off. They seemed remarkably calm but understandably concerned, likely hoping the captain would notice before something untoward happened.

All of a sudden, he finally looked up, saw how close they were, and said, "Oh, I wasn't paying attention." Well, that was obvious!

I caught the eye of the woman on the boat beside us and gave her the universal "wipe-the-sweat-off-your-forehead" gesture. She laughed, and I called out, "You were a lot calmer than I would have been!" Smiling, she shouted something back, but the wind carried it away and I couldn't quite hear her—drat!

It was a very close call, and I fully expected that boat hook was going to have to be put to good use. I’m just glad the captain caught his boat sliding in the wrong direction due to the breeze.

Once they got Lady Gaga stern tied, she was swinging all over the place—not at all what you want to see in a small stern tie anchorage ! (Preventing that swing is the whole reason you use a stern tie in the first place!).

They quickly hopped into their dinghy and paddled ashore for a walk. No dog or cat for them—just themselves. Fortunately, their boat managed to stay put while they were off visiting the island.

While they were ashore, our neighbors who had the near-miss decided for some unknown reason to pack up, vacate their spot, and head to another anchorage. They didn't share where they were going, which was a shame—I was hoping we could get together and swap some sailing stories. Oh well!

🎣 Snap Dragon and a Crowded Anchorage

Now, we have a different 41' sailboat on the other side of us called Snap Dragon, and another sailboat just came in to join the party across from us where our unnamed neighbors had been yesterday (though they actually just left). Sometime today, a smaller catamaran came in and stern-tied down at the far end, so now there are five boats in here, including us.

Snap Dragon has teenagers onboard—at least four of them—and three of them have been busy fishing. This is a protected marine park, so no fishing is allowed, let alone inside an anchorage! One of the kids ended up snagging something on the bottom with his hook (definitely not a fish). The three boys got into their dinghy to see if they could free his line from whatever had snagged it.

I have to wonder where the captain is; he didn't look concerned at all, just sitting in his cockpit completely distracted by something. I think the kid finally had to cut his line to free himself. I couldn't help but watch to see what the outcome would be, and I'm pretty sure he glared at me—a total teenager thing to do, right? I guess I'm not hitting it off well with this crowd. I should probably be more like a kind, patient grandma, shouldn't I? Instead, I stopped looking, thought this is too boring, and went back to my blog. (Maybe I'm just as bad as he is!)

For dinner tonight, we’re having barbecued chicken, broccoli, and carrots. We still have that Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream in the freezer, or some shortbread cookies—either sounds like the perfect dessert.

I'm a bit tired now since I didn't sleep well last night, courtesy of that pesky mosquito. I think the little bloodsucker got me before bedtime because I've been itching every now and then!

It's started raining now, so we put the canvas enclosure back up. It was so nice to have it rolled up and partially taken down yesterday for sailing. Because we have our traveler in the cockpit, our canvas joiner has to be completely unzipped so the end of the boom can swing through.

While sitting in the cockpit, I noticed the tide is way up, and Greg managed to grab a photo of the "disappearing stern-ties" I mentioned yesterday:

There's still a couple of hours before the tide turns the other way. By that time, the yellow tag will be completely submerged!

Now that dinner is finished, I'm wrapping up today's post so we can settle in and watch another episode of The Resident.