The plan was to have the boat all packed up tonight then simply set sail early tomorrow morning. Unfortunately while having the head pumped out, I discovered the depth gauge wasn't functioning properly. Our 5 day trip almost had to be called off until we found a portable fish finder that clipped onto the transom. After some very stressful moments our trip was back on!

We got off to a slow start today but were able to leave the dock just before noon. The goal was to head south for Cintiss Island but no thanks to a south-south west wind it would take us a majority of the day to get there. We arrived early evening and dropped anchor, keeping in mind that the wind was scheduled to shift north overnight. Next was swim time followed by BBQ'd chicken burgers served on the beach. As the sun set we could see the clouds rolling in and the winds picking up. It was still quite hot and humid as we tucked in for bed but with the fans running we were able to doze off. By 1am the wind was howling through the cabin and lightning was flashing in the distance.

After rocking to sleep all night we ate breakfast and had our morning swim before setting off on the next leg of our journey. The wind was now coming from the north so we sailed with the wind down to Tranquil Channel. We ate lunch as we motored through the channel and noticed the black flies were starting to get bad. It's a good thing I made my wife sew up bug screens for both the front hatch and companionway. We sailed on to Monkey Rock Reef before losing wind. Once again we fired up the motor which took us to the border. From there we set sail across Little Traverse towards Bear Island. By Massacre Island the kids were ready to cool off by dragging behind the sailboat in a life preserver. It was at this point we realized the entire hull was covered in black flies. This would not be good once we stopped moving! We anchored at the south end of Bear Island and went for a quick dip. Quick only because the flies were so bad. Wife and children hid below as I BBQ'd supper, at the same time being eaten alive by the black flies. I hung 2 fly strips in the cockpit and withing 20 minutes both strips looked like fuzzy strips of black velcro. Fortunately we had a very late supper so we could go to bed right away.

Today we motored from Bear Island to a little cove on the west side of Big Island which we like to call Sandbar Beach. The interesting thing was that the sandbars were missing. I can only assume that they come and go from year to year based on the currents. Lucky for us the wind was quite strong and the black flies were not around. We all swam to shore, towing a load of goods in Coconut (our dinghy) and started exploring the beach.

As we all wandered down to the south end of the beach we discovered a small waterlogged raft. It weighed a ton but we managed to get it back into the water. This of course provided much entertainment for the kids and made for some great photos.

We spent the entire morning playing and exploring on the beach but by noon the wind had died down and the black flies were back. We had lunch and a swim but spirits were down. We knew if we stayed we would slowly be eaten alive and any new location would welcome the same fate. Based on this knowledge we decided to throw in the towel and start heading home. It's a good thing we have a strong reliable motor since from this point on, the waters would be like glass for the next 2 days.