Vacation on the Rocks

It was quite overcast when I got up this morning, and cooler than the last couple of mornings.  It was that kind of humid cool that makes you feel like you are wearing the weather, that you were being enveloped by it.  The dragonflies were still in bed, so the mosquitoes were out in full force, with hundreds of them plastering themselves to the screen on the open door in the front of the boat.

I actually slept last night.  Not for the full night, but a lot better than last night.  I was up at just after 5am.  I loaded up on ibuprofen and Bronkaid, which seemed to reduce the symptoms I have been struggling with. We were joking with each other that as we get older and need more medication, we’ll just trade medications with each other when something happens on these trips.  I got the ibuprofen from Connie and the Bronkaid from Dave.  I actually felt like a real person today, and was able to participate in what was going on.

Deb and I made breakfast of French toast using raisin cinnamon bread, actually quite good.  After breakfast we put the kayaks in the water and paddled around the islands in the area.  We spotted an eagle on the shoreline under some trees and as we slowly approached, it flew off with a large ash grasped in its talons.  Really cool to watch this.  Here is where a camera with a really long lens would come in handy.

Back on the houseboat, we motored east for a while and checked out some potential camping spots.  Deb and I also checked out the hot tub.  It was cool enough outside where the hot water would feel really good.

We were disappointed.  The water temperature was only 89 degrees, the result of the breaker being turned off for the last two days.  We soaked in this tepid water for a little while then got out.  I made sure the breaker was turned on.  Perhaps we’ll have another chance a little later.  So far, the hot tub is a bust.

We beached the houseboat near the Namakan Narrows and kayaked through the Narrows.  The dividing line between the United States and Canada runs right down the middle of this, so crossed the international border a few times.  It was surprisingly busy in this channel, with lots of powerboats chopping up the water.  Other eagle sightings; there appear to be lots of eagles in this area.

Just after 5pm, we were heading to our final location for the night, tooling along at full speed (probably a blistering 4 miles per hour), each person doing their thing (snacking, reading, sitting on the top deck) when there was a loud bang and the boat lurched.  This was followed by some scraping noises.  Russ cut the throttles and the boat came quickly to a stop on some submerged rocks.  Other than a few water bottles falling off the counter and a little water splashing out of the hot tub,  there really was no evidence that we just high-centered the boat on rocks, but we were stuck fast.

Here is where you see the different personalities come out.  Some wanted to call base immediately and have someone come out, others wanted to try reversing the engines and trying to power ourselves off the rocks.  Since the engineers on the boat were the ones who wanted to try the reverse option, that was the first attempt.  All of us stood on the back of the boat and Russ throttled up the engines in reverse.  We watched for movement.  Lots of noise, lots of water sloshing around, but the boat didn’t budge.

They must have this happen all the time in this business.  In the manual, it’s one of the extra charges that get added if it happens.  Rock or sand pulls are $150 plus fuel.  Looks like our vacation just got a little more expensive.

Russ called base on the radio and exchanged some information about location and they said they would send someone out.  So we sat, dead in the water, until they came.  It was about an hour and half wait.  Justin Ebel, the owner of the business, came out with another guy, hooked up a big rope behind their boat, and easily pulled us off the rocks.  The boat made the same grinding sound coming off as it did going on.  Normally, the rocks are exposed in this area, but the lake level is up about a foot and a half, and those rocks can’t be seen right now.

We had dinner during the wait, finishing up just as the rescue boat pulled up.  Also while we were waiting, Dave received a text that one of his RVs was broken down and he had no signal.  We beached the houseboat at Mitchell Bay, our destination spot, just a short distance from where we ended up on the rocks, and Dave took off in the dinghy with Russ’s phone to deal with the problem. The only reliable signal was in the middle of the lake.  It was kind of like Robin Williams in the movie ​*RV*​.  He snuck off with his laptop to do some work while his family was on vacation.  We also high-centered our “RV” on the rocks, just like in the movie.  Some of the parallels are getting scary.  

The rest of us played Skyjo for a while.  Kind of a fun game which doesn’t require a lot of brain cells.