Luke’s Arm
We had two sets of charts for a superbly sheltered bay SE of Cottlesville on New World Island. Each chart showed different depths for the entrance. One gave a minimum depth of 2m and the other of 4m.
For the first time in years we had our forward looking sonar working with it’s freshly soldered connections and new transducer. We had removed it when in the ice for fear that it would be destroyed by an angry encounter with a growler. Today we made our approach with the sonar scanning 50m ahead. There was no obstruction to be seen and, indeed, the minimum depth we recorded during our low tide approach was 8 metres so neither chart was even close!
The pool within was perfect. Above the orange seaweed shore lay the variegated greens of aspen quaking in the breeze, silver birch and black spruce. There were a few wooden jetties in various states of disrepair, a tied up trawler, various rickety sheds and a few scattered houses each with their log stores neatly stacked and ready for the winter.
The anchor bit sweetly into the mud giving us a good firm holding and the prospect of a peaceful, stress free night. We wandered ashore and struck up some conversations with a carpenter and a fisherman. Once again comprehension was a challenge as the dialect here seems to be thicker than ever. One exchange from the dinghy to a guy on the shore left both Sally and me clueless about what he had said!
In the evening we flew the drone high above the forest trying to capture the pure evening light and serenity of the moment. It was the first drone flight for a couple of months and rustiness at the controls, overhanging trees and flight over water made sure that it was an anxious few minutes in the air. But all went well and the drone lived to fly another day!
