Long Point Cove

Thursday, April 8

The calm before the storm.

That’s it! this anchorage has me spooked – We’re moving! Just before high tide, we packed up, yanked the anchor and motored out through the narrow entrance back into Lagoon Bay. We set a course directly across Fisher Channel to Long Point Cove. By 12:30 we were re-anchored and shortly thereafter eating lunch. I told a story I’d heard to Wendi about how Codville Lagoon got its name. After the collapse of the cod fishery on the east coast a very large fisherman, a Frenchman, who had become well known in Newfoundland, moved out west to take up fishing salmon. He had lived on his boat in this place for a long time so when it became a marine park it was named in his memory. While in Newfoundland the moniker he was most known for was “Lé Goon de Codville” and so it became “Codville Lagoon”…. True story 😉

Friday, April 9

After dinner on Thursday evening, we enjoyed a nice quiet anchorage with a blazing fire in Toklat. We went through quite a bit of wood and the boat was so incredibly warm and dry, it was a real treat. Despite the difficulties with finding dry wood, I do not regret the decision to swap out the old diesel heater for a wood stove at all. That evening we watched the barometric pressure begin to drop from 1021 MB as the gale approached.

At around 8:30 PM, we decided to watch a movie and wait for the gale to kick up. We were not anticipating a good night sleep. About half way through the movie the wind started to pick up and along with that came difficulty in keeping the fire going and the inevitable cabin full of smoke. The one regret I do have is not buying the barometric damper. What was I thinking? Ugh! Near the end of the flick the gale really got going so I declared the fire a lost cause, turned off the movie and turned my attention to the anchor alarm. We had set two – one on the phone and one on my laptop.

The forecast was for a southwest gale starting in the evening with 20 to 30 knot winds, increasing to 30 to 40 knots overnight, then veering to westerly early Friday morning and diminishing to 20 to 30 knots and it was accurate.

We decided not to go to bed and instead bundled up and got comfortable on the salon settee. At around midnight I went out to the bow to check the snubber and all was well. Afterwards, I nodded in and out pretty much all night, waking up when the winds hit 30 knots, so every couple of minutes. Wendi sat all night fixated on the anchor watch app like a golden retriever on a tennis ball. With no fire and the wind howling through the rigging and right through Cosmic Debris, it was a long, cold, and very loud night of living on the edge – The edge of the anchor alarm circle. The highest windspeed observed was 42 knots and the Rocna never budged.

Finally at daybreak the wind diminished and veered as promised and the barometer bottomed out at 1005 MB. Wendi went to sleep at the table and I poured a coffee and began contemplating trying to light a fire.

We spent the entire day resting, recuperating, and rocking and rolling in the left over slop that came into the anchorage from Fisher Channel while preparing to head south on the coming northwest wind the next day.

© 2021 Ron Morrison