Islands, Shipwrecks and Questionable Batteries

​For the past week, we have been hanging out near Beau Rivage National Park island in the Thousand Islands.  This is a popular but small anchorage, and one that we have rarely had the chance to enjoy.  Until this spring, we both worked full time so we only had weekends and some holidays to get out on Wild Horses and by Thursday night, Beau Rivage is always fully packed with sailboats and powerboats, swinging away on their anchors, having already claimed their spot in this gorgeous part of the Thousand Islands.  If we had a smaller boat, we might have been able to eke out a spot to drop anchor but Wild Horses is long and wide (for a monohull) and so she needs a fair bit of space to swing.  She also needs at least a 2 metre depth to sit in.  Any shallower and our keel would be hitting bottom.  So, weekend after weekend, we would sail past Beau Rivage, onto larger anchorages where space isn’t such a premium.  Not this year though.  Getting to Beau Rivage on a Tuesday morning yielded a multitude of anchoring spots (yeah – retirement!).

​Beau Rivage sits just outside of the city of Gananoque but it is so nestled in the islands that road and boat traffic is dulled and the views from the anchorage are of islands and neighbouring boats only.  Still, Gananoque is only a fifteen-minute dinghy ride away should we need provisions.  Tranquility with benefits! Plus, Beau Rivage gets extra points for having a spot for us to beach the dinghy so that Ocean can do her business on shore. 😊

A post-swimming ocean at the anchorage

​Exploring our watery neighbourhood by dinghy is a treat.  Snaking through the scenic waterways, each turn provides breathtaking views – exposing small land masses swallowed up by a tiny home, or larger desolate islands, ready to be explored by foot.  Twisting through the islands, you really feel like you have found a place in time that is really quite magical.  

Kayakers paddle past an island home

One of the beautiful boat houses in the islands

​Friends of ours from Trident Yacht Club told us about an old shipwreck hidden behind one of these islands.  The Briton was a 19th century coal schooner that was sunk and abandoned off the shallow waters of Mudlunta Island.  It was incredible to see her enormous hull and steel rods, hanging on just below the waters edge, after over a hundred years. 

Remnants of the shipwreck

The length of the vessel is apparent

Peppered in amongst swimming, reading and island exploration, however, was a growing concern for our battery setup.  We had installed a battery monitor a week ago to have a better idea of the state of our three battery banks – one dedicated to starting our engine, one for our bow thruster and then the really important one (to me!)…the house battery bank that feeds our lights, electronics, refrigerator and anything else we need for living aboard a boat.  Our old system of monitoring our batteries involved just checking the volts, but as anyone who knows about batteries can tell you, that is at best an imprecise and clunky way of checking your battery states and, at worst, misleading.  This is what happened with us.

Our battery monitor is providing some readings that cause concern (curiously low voltage on the bow thruster and starter) that requires some checking into.  So, today we are weighing anchor and heading back to dock for an appointment with our trusty boat mechanic.
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Au revoir, Beau Rivage!  We hope to be back soon!

Ocean enjoying sunset from the deck of Wild Horses

A beautiful sunset at Beau Rivage