My daughter Jennifer and my grandson Hayden came into town for about a week for a visit.
Unfortunately, the weather was not so great while they were here, but we made it work.
They came in pretty late on Friday night, so we spent most of Saturday morning getting provisions and making preparations for the trip. We stopped by the library and picked up several DVD videos for Hayden to watch while we were out. We pulled out of my slip at Bar Harbor at about noon on Saturday.
I do want to show Hayden the Naha but thought it best not to try to go there late in the day on a weekend, so I set my destination as Shoal Cove in Carroll Inlet. There is a nice dock there and a road system so we could get out and stretch our legs. It was expected to blow a bit on Sunday and the dock there at Shoal Cove has pretty good protection so it would be a good place to sit out the worst of the weather.
Jennifer & Hayden kept themselves occupied on the run out there.
The ride out was uneventful, and we pulled into the USFS dock at Shoal Cove at about 2:45 PM. No one else was there. The rain had slacked off a bit, so we took the opportunity to take a short walk up the road.
Faraway at the Shoal Cove dock.
The rain was pretty heavy most of the time, but when it stopped for a brief time, we jumped out there and got a timed group photo. Hayden had a great 1-piece rain suit and rain boots that served him well on this trip.
We were there for 2 nights so we had to come up with activities to keep Hayden occupied. I had gotten him some things to help with that. I got him a sling shot (which was a big hit), a BB gun (it's too early for that, he can't pump it up himself), a Swiss Army knife, and a couple of kites.
We also set up a bottom fishing rod for him with a couple of hooks baited with herring. We started out fishing from the dock but then decided to just let the rod sit in a rod holder off the back deck and let him reel it up from time to time to check it. That ended up working the best because he didn't have to sit there and hold the rod.
Hayden got acquainted with the herring we used for bait. At least he wasn't squeamish about touching it like some kids are.
When we first started fishing from the dock it was pretty rainy.
It wasn't long before he started catching fish. I call them Bullheads, but not sure that is the correct scientific name for them. He was pretty excited about catching them. And then of course we had to put them in a bucket so he could see them and play with them for a bit before releasing them.
We also set up 1 crab pot and just dropped it off the dock and tied it off. We caught several very small crabs, too small to keep. But of course, they also had to go into a bucket for a while so he could inspect them closely before we released them.
When we were in Gig Harbor and Hayden was much younger, we lived on a lake. I had gotten him a rod with one of those push button reels because they are usually much easier for young kids to learn to cast. On this trip I taught him how to use an open-faced spin casting reel. I was surprised at how fast he picked it up and before long he was flinging the lure way out there.
Jennifer took a short walk up the road and got some photos on her phone of a doe with 2 fawns. The fawns were very small but no longer had the spots they have when they are very young. Hayden and I had seen the doe with the fawns earlier but due to the heavy rain were unable to get photos.
Later on, a different doe came out on the beach across from the dock and I put my telephoto zoom lens on my new camera and got some photos of her.
I had brought firewood in hopes of having an evening fire, but it was just too rainy to do that. Maybe next trip.
On Monday morning the winds had died down quite a bit. We left the Shoal Cove dock about 9:15 AM and headed north up into Carroll Inlet. We pulled into the Shelter Cove dock about 10 AM. No one else was there.
Jennifer and Hayden explored the beach a little bit. There is a ramp of sorts nearby where the logging companies can load and unload their big trucks and other equipment. No one was around this day but in the past, there has been lots of logging activity in this area.
We took a short walk up the road and then returned to the boat. We set the fishing rod out again and in short order had another Bullhead.
After a quick lunch we pulled out about 12:30 PM to head back to town.
I had bought Hayden a couple of kites and on the way back Jennifer put them together and attempted to launch them (one at a time of course) off the flybridge extension. The first kite would not launch despite many attempts. The second kite did launch, and Hayden flew it for some time. When he was attempting to reel it back in it got away from him and was lost.
The ride back was uneventful except for 1 mistake that I made. I was running from the flybridge helm and had the boat on autopilot, which I use probably 90% of the time when we are underway. I wanted to go down below and pump out the sewage tank before we got close to town, so I put the engines in neutral and went down below to do that. However, I neglected to put the autopilot in Standby mode when I put the engines in neutral. This is a mistake I have made before. Once the boat starts drifting with the wind and current the autopilot tries valiantly to maintain the heading that it was on. It keeps turning the wheel over further and further until it can go no further and then it throws an error on the autopilot. I had a very hard time getting the rudders back under control as they were hard over to the starboard side. For a bit I thought I might have to limp back to town and somehow get into my slip with no rudder control.
We got back into town and into the slip with no issues at about 4 PM.
51 nm for this trip.
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