Louisa Island to Matheson Island

Louisa Island to Matheson Island

July 4, 2010
6NM

As you’ll notice if you’ve been following the nautical mileage I post in all the headings, our daily mileage has shrunk and we’ve been spending less time sailing and more time relaxing at anchor. This is by design. Now that we’re midway through our cruise (1 month behind us, just over a month ahead of us) and we’re in the heart of the North Channel we’re taking it slow and stopping at all of the anchorages that call to us on the charts.

Today’s destination is little Matheson Island along the North Channel’s northern shoreline. This pretty little rock island has a nice natural harbor that’s protected from the southwest winds forecast for today. As it turns out, we’re the only boat at this off-the-beaten-path island and so we’ll celebrate America’s Independence Day as a family enjoying our freedom to travel, freedom to explore and freedom to grow!

Bare in mind, this is a cruiser’s celebration somewhere between here and there so we’re not afforded the “luxuries” of sparklers, parades, bands playing the Star Spangled Banner or Old Glory flapping lazily in the center of a park. What we do have is unlimited quantities of refreshing blue water. So, we started our celebration by diving in from Island Bound’s gunnels and taking baths, complete with shampoo, conditioner and three bladed razors to remove the stubble that seems to sprout up on a cruiser’s body. Our Independence Day dinner consists of cheeseburgers and veggie-packets on the grill and Yankee Jim Ice Lager (brewed in Utica, NY). It doesn’t get any more American than that, does it?


Allow me to take a mid-cruise diversion from my normal blog entries. Are cruisers made or are cruisers born? After having lived in a floating 28.5’ by 9.5’ home that travels where the wind blows for more than a month, I’m starting to believe the answer isn’t that simple. I’ve felt an almost magnetic attraction to the water for as long as I can remember. Somehow I’ve always known that the seas (oceans and inland seas such as the Great Lakes) would shape who I am. And so, while cruising seems to be in my blood I can now attest that the fun, adventure and hardships have strengthened the attraction. I once read that “The cure for everything is saltwater: sweat, tears and the sea”. Whether you’re happy, whether you’re sad; whether you’re lost, whether you’re found; cruising will expose it. There’s no hiding your emotions from yourself when all you’ve got is 28.5’ by 9.5’. So we continue to live by the theme of our cruise: Sail far, live free!

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