It is now 7:15 Monday evening and we have been storm stayed since Saturday in Bell Cove. Not that this has been a hardship for us as the weather has actually been hot - still in the thirties - and there have been long hours of reading and sewing and swimming and actually even some maintenance done.

The problem has been that - because of the hot and humid weather - there have been thunderstorm warnings and small craft warnings for the wind and storms and waves. There were supposed to be storms Sat-Sun night but the sky was clear when we bedded down. However, at 3 am Sunday, we were up on deck closing down the vinyl because of the thunder and lightning. But nothing happened until about 9 am Sunday when we had a short thunderstorm, not violent at all, lasting about an hour.

The sky remained overcast Sunday and looked like it might rain again so we decided to stay put. Again on Monday, the forecast was for a small craft warning, possible storms and metre waves. Tucked into our little cove, we seemed very secure and enjoyed (?) another day of 33C although the clouds swirled around us. But again, we try to heed the warnings so remained in Bell Cove.

Bell Cove ShorelineWe decided to do a dinghy ride around the anchorage in the morning before the predicted storms. Last night there were seven boats here at anchor, 5 sail and 2 power. All but us and one other sailboat pulled out by 10 am, irregardless of the warning. Sailboats can handle higher wind and waves than we can. Anyhow, we enjoyed our ride around the bay, marvelling at the rock layers. There is sandstone layered with a much harder rock, all different colours, and the shoreline collapses when the sandstone erodes, leaving huge chunks of rock at the shoreline. These chunks of harder rock are flat and almost like concrete and some are as big as half a garage floor. There were places on shore where there looked to be caves in the rock but we weren’t going exploring. Snakes, you know.

About three o’clock in the afternoon the sky started to cloud in and by 3:30 it was solid black in the west. VHF Radio indicated a severe storm warning and by 4pm it was on us. There was a trawler and a sailboat anchored further out in the bay than us, in a stretch of water that is somewhat open to the west. We were in behind a small headland, further to their east and somewhat more sheltered. Anyhow, what sounded like a freight train came roaring over the trees to our west and as we watched, the surface of the water where the other two boats were, just lifted and blew away, like so much sand on a desert.

Bell Cove In Mid-StormThe sailboat lost its hold and took off like a shot before the wind and within a matter of a minute was heading out of the Cove into the bigger water and we lost sight of it completely. All we could do was watch and pray. Within seconds, the trawler also lost its grip and took off across the cove but it seemed to stop almost in the middle and maybe its anchor re-caught. We bounced but held. And then came more wind and rain so thick you had trouble seeing the end of the cove and we could just make out the trawler, still holding on. The sailboat we could not see. The wind just howled; it was unreal. It reminded me of one of the hurricanes we had when we lived in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

The heavy rain, fork (yuck!) lightning and wind carried on and suddenly we realized that the water in the Cove was actually coming up! It must have risen 6 or 8 inches during the storm as the rock layer on the shoreline behind us started to disappear. And we were being pushed back towards the shore with the wave action! Luckily we avoided the shore but as soon as the worst of the storm was past, I was up on the bow checking the anchor and taking it in about 10 feet to keep us off the rocks. I was so afraid of slipping with the boat rocking in the storm’s aftermath that I put on the life-jacket, and slid up to the anchor winch on my behind. Phil was at the wheel. Now, we had been having a quiet afternoon before all this started and because it was so hot, we had been lying on the bed, stripped to the underwear. So we are doing all of this in our underwear.....

We rode out the remainder of the wind and the waves, which were quite large swells, and when it calmed down, Phil decided that we should haul up the anchor and move out a bit further from shore just in case another wave decided to come through. So I went up front again - yup, still in the wet underwear - and hauled up anchor only to find a huge tree branch with about four forks on it covered with zebra mussels entangled in the anchor chain; over, around, and through. It must have gotten caught during the storm but it held so I’m not going to complain. Phil had to get the dinghy out, row around to the bow, un-entangle the tree from the chain and the anchor, row back, hook on the dinghy and we got to start the re-anchoring all over again.

After the storm, Phil untangles the anchorAnyhow, moved a couple of hundred feet from shore into about 25ft of water and started to drop all our 125 ft of chain. But naturally, nothing is ever simple as the chain gets these kinky spots in it where one piece of chain decides it doesn’t want to go the same way as all the other pieces and so it has to be sorted out. Phil has to lay on the bunk - in his underwear of course - and straighten the links as I feed it out from up top. Must try to do something about this when we get back. Anyhow, we are now anchored further from shore, hopefully protected from tonight’s forecast NW 15 kn winds.

Just as the storm was letting up, the blown away sailboat came slowly back into the bay and is now safely anchored once again. The trawler gave up his mid-bay anchor and has moved closer to the south shore of Neptune Island, where he should be secure from the winds. And a second sailboat came in as well - it must have also been out there in the storm.

The storm made us realize that, even though you don’t think it is going to be bad weather, no place is worth carrying on to when there is a storm warning out. After all, we don’t have the “big” picture so it’s important to pay attention to those that do. The storm may not happen, but if it does, we can say we did all we could to be safe. I was so fascinated with the waves and what was happening that I almost forgot that I don’t like lightning.

But the storm raised some interesting questions:

Before the storm, the local loon was floating in the bay and was in the same spot immediately after the storm. What kind of anchor does he use?

Where did all the seagulls go? Are they plastered up against a mountain-side somewhere? They seem to have all disappeared.

And how powerful was that storm in order to raise the water level that much?

Guess we’ll never know.......

Hope tomorrow turns out to be travelling weather. We shall be sorry to leave Bell Cove, as it is a wonderful anchorage in good weather and it worked for us even in the bad.

Sunset After the Storm

Location