EXTREME-ER Kernel Adventure!

One of Kernel's original purposes was to be a "dingy" to get from a moorage to the shore. That is what we need at Salty Shack, so we decided to bring her along. The dingy we have up there is an inflatable row boat which takes approximately 3596 pumps with the air pump to get full, and a leak that is MIA, so you need to add air every time you use it. So taking Kernel was a good idea, right?

You'd think so!

However, we have found yet another way to abuse the poor rowboat. We were towing her behind the boat. She was listing left to right quite badly, even though we'd filled her with roofing material. Putting weight in it is supposed to help. The faster we went, the more it shook back and forth. Then all of a sudden....SNAP! The rope busted, leaving Kernel all by herself in the Ocean!! Luckily she didn't sink, and all the roofing material was still in there - bunched up on one side. No WONDER it wasn't going straight.

So then we had to devise a plan to get her to the cabin and since we were only 5 minutes out of the boat launch, it was still WAY TOO FAR for someone to row her there. They'd arrive with enough time to row back home!

We ended up lifting this 100 pound boat out of the water, and putting her on top of all our stuff... soaking wet! Did I mention the boat was already packed to the brim with the gargantuan amount of stuff we "need" for a 4 day trip? Then Colin and I had to hang onto her for the remaining 20 minute ride, so she didn't fall off the boat. It was a funny sight.

Almost as funny as the time we had a recliner in the boat, and Justin sat in it drinking a cup of tea on the ride up. Or the time the entire interior was covered with a few mattresses (covering the seats), and I was laying on the mattress the whole ride up.

It rained one morning up there. Colin and Kernel went fishing in the pouring rain, but didn't catch anything. They also went the next day. He caught a huge Ling, but couldn't get it into the boat because he had no net, and Ling Cod have REALLY sharp teeth (See above photo - from Savary)! Later on, he caught another one! So he rowed Kernel to the cabin with the fishing rod tucked in between his legs. We pulled the boat to shore, he got out of it, and then reeled the fish onto the beach! J, L and I were running aound madly trying to find some tool to help. We took a knife, shovel, crab trap and a fire poker stick We found out that a fire-poker stick makes a great gaff hook, and the rest of those things were useless.


Colin is an extremely resourceful guy. We ate half of the fish for dinner, but had no way to freeze the rest. So Colin went behind the cabin (aka the "junk heap") and found an old propane fridge (we think), a BBQ grate, a TV tray and an old piece of art. He turned these material into a smoker, and then proceeded to smoke the rest with a cedar and alder fire! He really does amaze me!

We had no salt though, so we used a "Garlic Plus" spice mix on it. Lets just say...I had a SMALL piece about an hour before bed, and I ended intentionally sleeping with a piece of gum in my mouth.