Seeing as how we have not been cruising and have been busy with boring work on our house, I have nothing to post about. So, I thought I would re-post a cruise across the lake that we did in 2012 for anyone that hasn't seen it.
We set off in the morning for a cruise to the far side of the lake. It was around 10:00 am as we left the harbour and the west shore started to disappear off our back deck.
Our boat has 10 mph top speed so, we left early and Sharon and Casey said they would catch up with us later.
When
we were about half way across the lake, there comes Sharon and Casey
right on schedule. She had given me the co-ordinates earlier, so we
took pictures of each other as they passed us and said we will meet you
later at 50'47.37 N 96'31.39 W and they carried on to get
anchored. 
As
we rounded the last large point on Elk Island there was Loafhaven, at
anchor waiting for us. Sharon's enthusiasm for this spot was absolutely
contagious, so we had to see it. 
We
hooked up the re Boarding ladder we made for Sea-Enna, as this is the
first time we have been out of the harbour since we finished building
it. 
Sea-Enna
took one look at it, barked and would not go near it again. We are
obviously going to have to work on this. But, not today. 
Casey
and Sharon climbed the huge sand hill that backs this beach. They
challenged Dan & I to do it, but we declined. I did give Sharon
my camera when she climbed up again and she got some great pictures for
me. 
The is one I took of "The Bird", at anchor. 
We all relaxed on the Beach. Even Sea-Enna relaxed and enjoyed the swimming and chasing her floater. 
Here is Sharon and Casey with Loafhaven in the back ground. 
Then Sharon climbed that big hill and took these great pictures. 
This
time Sea-Enna followed her all the way up, We never would have gotten
all of these great shots of our dog and our boat from such a great
perspective. 
I think Sea-Enna liked the perspective too. 
She also loved the in and out of the water at her leisure. 
It
was a wonderful day of Sun, Surf and Cruising. Sharon's descriptions
were not overstated. Beautiful sand beach, no sand flies, the water was
lovely an clean and no horse flies either. We relaxed and had drinks
and snacks on the beach, all in all it was ideal. 
But
as 4:00pm approached we know it was time to call it a day and head back
across the lake. It took us 3 hours to get here, there is no short cut
to get home. So we upped anchor and headed west. 
It
was so calm and sunny on the lake you could hardly tell where the sky
ended and the lake began. As Elk Island disappeared in our wake. 
So
with an hour under our belts and 2 more hours of travel to go, Dan
started the new Bar-B-Q for me and I put a roast on to cook as we
crossed the lake. 
Then I took over the helm so Dan could stow the anchor. 
When
it's clear but has that sun haze out on the lake, you really have to
rely on your instruments. And of course just like happened to Sharon
& Casey last weekend, our GPS went out in the middle of the lake.
We do have a good compass though so we just carried on and in about 20
minutes it came back on. But it's eerie when you can't see the
normal things that tell you where you are, like the familiar shoreline
etc. But when the GPS came back on there we were right on course. 
Then our familiar landmark came into view right on cue.
It's that little stick, sticking up on this horizon picture.
The good old Winnipeg Beach water tower, familiar to all us boaters. It's what we head for from anywhere on the lake. It means home to us.
So, that was our wonderful day on the lake. The only full day we have
had on the lake this year. But then again we were rather distracted
early in the summer, with our out of town guests, and Anniversary
Party. We are still thinking about a fall cruise on the Red River, but
haven't made up our minds yet.
