Position Report 1030 August 5, 2010 59° 47′ 44″ N ~ 064° 08′ 47″ W Eclipse Harbor, North Aulatsivik Island, Labrador Anchored awaiting changes in the weather.
Another red sky morning but I still wanted to move some with a slight land breeze coming from the northwest. Getting ready to get underway. Trouble! The little Honda is having a urinary problem. Now this is scary. She’s running fine but no pee. Overheating problems with the engine are a “Show Stopper”! There is no changing of an impeller short of going to the shop according to the manual. I check the intakes. Clean. Only one thing to do. Try a catheter. I search to boat and find the remnant of the stainless steel wire Jon Birdwell used when building the splendid gantry to hold the radar and wind generator to give it rigidity.
I climbed to the stern weaving my body through the gantry locking one leg around to free both hands and felt for the little port through which the cooling system squirts just enough water to show that it is working. At first it’s hard to find where to insert the wire. It can’t be seen from this angle. Then the question is the wire small enough. Yes, just barely. It stops, starts and stops again but by now I have it at least 3 inches into the outlet so pull it back out. I look closely at it and think or imagine I see some scum. But it’s too early to tell and I don’t want false hope.
Carefully disengaging myself from the gantry making sure I don’t step on and break the Autopilot, like I’ve done before, I climb back into the cockpit. Turn the key and start the engine.
The operation is a complete success. The patient has recovered. One more crises averted and I go haul the anchor. Very little is very easy on a boat.
Radar dome on top of mountain Caption Whiteman's Inukskuk
I motor out of the harbor and turn south past the Whiteman’s Inukshuk perched high on the hill and catch a south flowing current and just enough wind to move along a slow 4 knots.
By 1030 I’ve come to the end of Eclipse Harbor. I had hoped I could make it all the way around the west side of North Aulatsivik Island but no, an isthmus blocks the way and even at high tide there will not be enough water to cross it. Never mind, it’s a beautiful and safe anchorage to wait out any storm. And I’ve planned something special. A bath in a bucket!
On the way in I come across a mother white bear and her cub swimming for the far side of the fjord. I only come close enough for a picture then turn quickly away to give them peace. Yes, there are bears here, but I don’t believe they will come onboard the CAP’N LEM. I’m ready though, with my air horn and signal flares, just in case.
