Well! The sun was out and the wind was up but the temperature was a balmy 12 degrees on the shore so you can imagine how cold it was out on the water! We persevered though and made the two hour crossing of The Big Sound to the anchorage at Killbear Park in our winter jackets, hats, and mitts. The trip wouldn’t have been so cold but we didn’t have our dodger installed yet, so we were very exposed to the “northern” elements!

Leaving the dock, of course, was a challenge and quite daunting for me since I am totally inept when it comes to steering. I still worry that I will throw the boat into reverse instead of forward. This stems from our original boat – a 27 foot Halman Horizon. For some reason, Bob (Mr. Modify), the previous owner, installed the engine controls backwards so I learned his system and if I do say so myself, I became pretty good at it. Anyway, the Split Crow’s controls all go the correct way – push the lever forward and you actually go forward.

Dennis, the captain, held the lines while I moved the boat slowly away from the dock. He quickly jumped on, ran to the steering wheel and thankfully took over! I just sat there and looked out at the white caps behind the breakwall, and insisted that he wear his PFD. I really was only thinking of myself knowing that if he fell overboard, I’d never be able to dock the boat again, let alone save him!

We headed out into the Big Sound and had a great time crossing. Lots of waves, some spray even came over the bow and splashed us, but the Split Crow pushed her way through it and I felt very safe (except for the fact that the water temperature was so cold that if I fell in, I wouldn’t last very long, but that’s beside the point).

As I already mentioned, we anchored at Killbear Provincial Park. There were four other boats in the anchorage and everyone had their winter jackets on. We sat on deck for a while but eventually got chased inside because of the cold. We had a good dinner, and then the toilet broke, so Dennis spent the rest of the evening fixing it.

The next day was uneventful. There was no wind so we motored back in the rain with a temperature of 9 degrees. Our wet weather gear was excellent and kept us toasty warm! Dennis was given a list of things to fix though, in addition to the toilet. The refrigerator, the autohelm, the radar… Oh well, having a boat certainly keeps his mind sharp – he has to know how to fix everything! (Keeps him out of trouble :))