Tuesday September 11th
The sun never came up again this morning, clouded in, rain, but very calm in Rattlesnake Bay. A very peaceful place. The weather report on the VHF Radio was another story. Gale winds up to 40 knots, waves to 3 meters this afternoon. Seemed unbelievable, with this calm we were experiencing before the storm. Our barometer was dropping fast, another almost sure sign of a storm. The seas were expected to build to 1 meter out of the North by noon and we were sailing south. So we headed out around 7:15 on a run to beat the weather into Tobermory. We made it in around 11 (only 20NM). A very wet day with the rain, but the weather was not a factor.
Tobermory is a nice little town. There are lots of reefs and wrecks around here. Tours are run in glass bottom boats and lots of dive excursions that go out to the reefs and wrecks. We had a clear path in, but need to be very careful negotiating the reefs when we leave. I don't understand the geology. But we are currently at latitude 45 degrees north. They say these reefs here were formed when this land mass was at latitude 10 degrees South (that is south of the equator). Someone has to explain this. The water depths are also interesting. It is over 400 feet deep in places right off shore from our harbor. With the weather as it is, I imagine we will be able to explore more around Tobermory tomorrow.
We were taking the force of the weather on the beam at our dock.. The dock was flying up from the waves, yanking our lines, then Albion would bounce up then we all came slamming down. After sitting on board an hour we opted to move and tied up between two docks with the bow to the weather. We are now secure and comfortable to ride out the storm. If our well protected harbor is this rough, I imagine the reefs and seas are intense. The old seamen didn't have the weather reports, such good charts, and electronics. Thus, the wrecks!
