Courage, Part Two

Spoiler Alert!  If you have not read Courage, an earlier entry, kindly do so before reading Courage, Part Two. 

We had to think fast.  Following the Man Overboard rule, Peter climbed up higher on Queen Rock and kept an eye on Courage.  I took off running up the hill to get to a phone to call Rudy.  We were both yelling HELP! HELP! HELP! at the top of our lungs.  

Now, keep in mind we are on 18 plus acres of land fronting a very large Bay.  We hardly ever see a boat out on the Bay and when we do it's a big deal:  Look!  Boat on the Water is called out whenever anyone spies a boat on the water.  It's an amazing event to see a boat.  We see more birds in a single day than boats in a given week.   We thought Courage was lost to us, but that did not stop us from yelling, HELP!  

A Rare Boat on Jordan Bay

 I ran up the hill, with my heart pounding in my ears.  Then, out of a corner of my eye,  I noticed something small and dark on the water speeding our way.  It was a dingy.  A DINGY!  The man at the motor pulled up alongside the cliff and asked me what was the matter.  I explained our plight and then the dory took off to Queen Rock.  The occupants on the boat consisted of a local Fisherman, his son and his son's friend.  When they arrived at Queen Rock, the boys scrambled off the dingy and Peter jumped in.  The next thing I knew the Fisherman and Peter were speeding across Jordan Bay in an effort to save Courage. 

Jordan Bay from Queen Rock

While they were gone I stood there with the boys.  The Fisherman's son had a fishing rod and cast and caught one mackerel after another.  With each catch he flicked the fish off the hook and into a rock crevice tide pool.  The friend did all the talking.  He told me that the Fisherman was really good at catching fish, and his friend was, too!  He went fishing with them all the time, but rarely caught a fish.  He was happy just to be out on the water with his friend and his friend's Dad enjoying the water and watching them catch fish.  I told the boys they were always welcome to fish on Queen Rock.  We were so grateful for their help.  After the Fisherman's son caught about a dozen mackerel I could see the dingy with Courage, bobbing behind heading our way.  I could not believe my eyes, they had arrived in time to save our little red boat!

Queen Rock

When they returned Peter and I got on the sailboat, the boys with all the fish got into the dory.  Just as the sun had almost set, the Fisherman towed us to a mooring at the western Breakwater near our cottage.   We thanked him and offered to pay him for his help, but he would not hear of it and headed home with the boys.  We secured Courage and rowed ashore in our little inflatable.  Peter went in search of the property/mooring owner.  I ran up the lane, down the road, to our driveway (approx. 1800 feet long)  for the car.  I grabbed paper & pencil in the event we needed to leave a note about tying up at our neighbor's mooring.

The Driveway though the Woods

I remember running up the Breakwater Road (approximately 2000 feet long)  as the sky darkened and thinking that I could run right into a Bear or God knows what else?  When you are a small town girl from New Jersey, it's freaky to be out in the forest after dark.  Did I mention that I was all alone? Talk about an alive moment!  Not to mention that I am not a runner.  But I have to say, as darkness fell,  I was highly motivated to not stop, but just keep running until I was safely back at the cottage.  

After I got the car and picked up Peter we returned home and called Rudy.  He thought we were pretty funny.  The next day we waited for low tide and took turns out in the bay trying to attach the buoy to the anchor.  This involved swimming out and diving down about 8 feet.  No big deal in a swimming pool, but this was Jordan Bay, filled with a very strong current, fish, lobsters, seaweed and rocks.  Plus, the water was icy cold!  Between the two of us we secured the anchor to reset the mooring.  At last, we were back in business.  

I guess this story clearly illustrates what I meant when I told you about Nova Scotia Fishermen. They really do catch fish and they really will help you out, at a moments notice.