July 22, 2012   Pelican to Mite Cove
     Great morning to sleep in. Another sunny day! We had to wait for the ebb tide which is at 3pm before we make our way North up Lisianski Inlet. After Kelsey made another delicious breakfast (eggs with goose tongue greens,chives, bacon and cheddar), I went over and sat outside the closed library, but was still able to get the WiFi so I updated my blog and sent a few emails.  It was nice sitting there and saying hello to people as they walked by on the boardwalk. People are very friendly here.
     Pete filled up Privateers three water tanks while we waited to head out. When we started up the engine, Privateer’s engine would die every time he put her in neutral. Peter had to go down below and open up the engine compartment, and grease the throttle cables.     
     We motored today because we didn’t have far to go and it was getting late. Pete had me practice follow the GPS route and after I didn’t notice a fishing boat coming toward us, reminded me I should always be looking around for other boats.
     The plan was to head North up Lisianski Inlet and anchor in Mite Cove (or HangOver Cove as the fishermen call it). Pete’s GPS showed him that there were two boats already there. The original idea was that Pete was going to teach me how to figure out where to anchor,  but when we turned into the small cove, we found  it full of fishing boats, so Pete had to take care of the anchoring tonight. For a moment it looked like there was not enough room for us to anchor, but luckily as we pulled in, the larger boat in the middle was getting ready to leave so we were able to fit in.
     There is a large boat here called a tender and they anchor and the fishing boats come in and tie up to them and sell their fish to them. The tender has fish totes filled with ice and the fishing boats off-load their catch of the day. Kelsey told me the tenders work at building good relationships with the fishermen--such as providing showers and baking cookies--so the fishermen will sell to them.
     Kelsey fed us another great dinner, then we shared songs off our computers (Pete had sailing songs) while the wood stove warmed us all up. Tomorrow we will be entering Cross Sound and going to Elfin Bay so Kelsey and I read the Coast Pilot and we discussed the tides and current speeds  as the currents are strong there. We’re three miles from Cross Sound so we’ll be leaving on the slack and hit Cross Sound on the flood.
     A great companionable, pleasant evening. Kelsey and Pete are so easy to be around and I find myself feeling very comfortable being my goofy self with them. How lucky I am that I get to experience this great adventure with them.

Entering Mite Cove

Fishing tender  pic by Kelsey