We grounded Polar Seal
Today we start making our way towards Boston - Ryan needs to make a flight from there to go to a business meeting next week, so our cruising plans are set.
We set off from our mooring ball in Lunenberg. It’s a beautiful sunny morning, but unfortunately there is no wind and I have to work. So I go down below and start working on my latest project. Luckily, this time around I don’t feed the fish because the conditions don’t change. On our way down, we pass Carters Beach, which the locals call “million dollar beach” because you can find sand dollars on it. Cute. Our first stop is Port Mouton, which looks spectacular. We only stop here for the night - literally. We get up at 5:30am to continue our journey south.
Shortly after setting off, we notice some irresistible seals near some rocks, thanks to a catamaran which changed course to go look at them. It’s super fun to observe them chilling out on the rocks but that’s when disaster strikes. We touch the bottom, multiple times. Our keel gets stuck between two rocks and we need to use the bow thruster to free ourselves. Luckily we weren’t going fast and everything looks ok down below - Ryan checked.
We looked at the chart plotter once again we can’t see any rocks. However, we discover that, on the mobile version of Navionics, a user left a note saying that there was an uncharted rock. They called it “f***ing rock.” Yup. Indeed! We later discovered that we didn’t ground on the “f***ing rock”, though. It was yet another uncharted rock, unbelievably. So we did the locals a solid and added “another f***ing rock” to to chart. Careful if you’re ever out there!
After grounding, the fog settles in, so we get to use our beloved radar yet again. We arrive in Shelburne Harbour without any further hiccups and anchor out, exhausted. Here, we take a chance to discuss grounding and what it means. No all groundings are equal - the speed at which you’re going is crucial. We also talk about what to do if you ground your boat. Just to be sure, Ryan dives under Polar Seal. All the bolts are still whole and well-attached to the hull. Phew!
