Dundee, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia to Halifax, Nova Scotia
On July 9, we returned briefly to Prince Edward Island to provision for our sail South, which involved buying groceries, wine and beer and gathering up any boat equipment left at the cottage. On July 13, we put everything in Mike and Nancy's (Susan's first cousin and husband and good friends) pick-up truck and set out with them for the boat at Dundee Marine, Lake Bras d'Or, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. We were delighted to find Gratitude sitting in the water, fully rigged and clean - and a bouquet of red roses on the table with a "welcome back" note! Getting the boat to this stage on PEI in years past has required weeks of work, often in the cold, and anxious moments handling 19,000+ pounds of boat swinging from a construction crane. We could get used to this! We spent the next few days checking rigging and systems, taking her out for test sails and doing final provisioning and spending evenings and nights on land at Sam and Mary Helen Adams' lovely cottage overlooking the lake with them and Nan and Mike. No, Sam is not THE Sam Adams of beer fame, but he has become a master wine-maker and is responsible for developing our taste for ice wine, another expensive habit. Nothing like the Adams' Cape Breton hospitality!
We left Dundee for St. Peter's Marina at the entrance to the lake on July 16, a beautiful morning, with the hope of heading out to the Atlantic the day after that. Unfortunately, the marine forecast that night predicted big seas, fog, rain and wind out of the SW, the direction we were headed, for several days. To make the best of it, we decided to stay in the lake, spend the next night in one of our favorite quiet anchorages (just us and a bald eagle who swooped down over us) and a few days at St. Peter's. A wise decision, as we could not see much beyond the end of the dock for three consecutive mornings. One of the nicest facilities in Nova Scotia, the marina is operated by the local Lion's Club. They offered a wonderful seafood chowder feast (just leave a donation, if you like) one night and guitar players and sing-along on another. The town of St. Peter's is within walking distance and offers a number of restaurants and museums. We met another couple who were making their way south, Bruce and Esther Havlin, from Toronto on their Irwin 43 (Con El Viento) and decided to set out together as soon as weather permitted.
Finally, the skies cleared the afternoon of July 22, and we decided to head out the next morning, fully fueled, watered and provisioned. We cleared St. Peter's Canal by late morning, and headed with Con El Viento across St' Peter's Bay toward the Atlantic. An easy afternoon's sail would have been to the town of Canso, the site of the famous appendicitis attack, but Richard was having none of that. We passed the town, waved at the marina and emergency room, and headed toward Andrew Passage, an inside passage through numerous islands that avoids the necessity of going some distance offshore to avoid shoals. It took a little bit of a leap of faith, as it looks narrow in places with lots of boulders poking up, but it is well-marked and deep. And beautiful! We traveled a bit beyond there to Whitehead Harbour, a beautiful, very sparsely populated area, and found an anchorage behind an island. The only sign of habitation were some muscle strings and one vacant cottage. The only difficulty was anchoring. Our plow anchor, which worked very well in the sandy and sand/mud bottoms of PEI and the Bras d'Or lake, would not catch easily in the soft mud bottom. After 40 minutes, and some tense moments, we finally got a solid hold. Then we enjoyed a beautiful evening, with cocktails and dinner on Con El Viento, and a peaceful night. Woke to dense fog, so stayed put and did boat chores until a fishing boat visited and then disappeared around the corner into what we thought was land. At that, we hopped in the dinghy to explore what turned out to be a river into another beautiful bay populated by more muscle strings and loons making their mournful calls, which echoed all around. Fantastic spot. When the fog lifted in early afternoon, we set out again, only to find that the fog had merely retreated offshore. It ebbed and flowed, was accompanied by 2-3 meter swells and wind on our nose, so we motored and motor-sailed, often losing sight of Con El Viento. Eerie and somewhat uncomfortable with waves hitting our sides, but a good opportunity to become accustomed to staring at the radar. As evening approached, we headed into Country Harbour, once again leaving the fog for a lovely anchorage in Webb's Cove. While it was quiet, we were the object of some curiosity for folks in cars on a nearby road - some waving and picture-taking.
The day dawned mostly clear, with a weather report similar to the day before. We headed out again, 5+ miles offshore to avoid the lines of shoals nearer the shore - spectacular to see large waves hitting the rocks and shooting water straight up. We quickly became enveloped in fog again and would lose sight of what we could occasionally see on shore when we sunk into the troughs of 3-4 meter swells. Wind on our nose again so more motoring and motor-sailing. We hoped to head into the Liscomb River to Liscomb Lodge, but as the wind and seas built and a rainstorm threatened to overtake us, we started looking into another closer anchorage, and began to head toward it.
Fortunately, conditions improved, and we decided to make a run for Liscomb. Once we entered the river, the sun came out, and we began stripping off some of the layers of fleece and rain gear. The ten mile cruse up the river was beautiful. We arrived at the Lodge, where the river makes a sharp bend and becomes fresh water - only 40 or 50 yds. wide.
After fooling around in the soft mud downstream from the Lodge, we moved around the bend and got a good, sudden hold, probably on a rock (the Lodge guests were enjoying the entertainment, especially when the bow took a sudden dip, as the anchor grabbed.) We were welcomed ashore to use the pool, hot tube, canoes and kayaks. Good restaurant and lovely hiking trails. The marina manager, Chester, gave us his car the next afternoon so we could visit historic Sherbrooke Village, and the grocery and liquor store. Spent two nights (no fog, very warm days) before we decided the weather was favorable enough to make our way further southwest.We (reluctantly) left Liscomb on the morning of July 27, headed for Pope's Harbour. Another day of wind on our nose and lumpy seas, but thankfully, not much fog. Found Pope's Harbour late afternoon, a beautiful secluded achorage with two boats already anchored there. Another difficult time anchoring in soft mud - not sure our relationship will survive anchoring, after surviving years of racing - but a lovely evening with all feeling better after a good dinner and good wine on board our boat with Esther and Bruce. Some light fog in the morning, but a gorgeous sunrise, and we were off early for an anchorage near Halifax. Our friend, the fog, was back with us, as were the lumpy seas and wind on our nose (we did expect the wind, as SW winds prevail). Bundled in fleece and foul weather gear again, we caught the extende forecast, which was for fog, rain and wind, even onshore. While we hadn't planned to make the long trek into Halifax Harbour, we decided that waiting out the wet weather in a slip, with distractions around, was better than a secluded anchorage (described in one crusing guide as a port of last resort). We entered the harbor Saturday afternoon, with sunshine greeting us at the mouth, a good breeze (15-20 knots, gusts to 25), and sailboats everywhere. We put up more sail, shut off the engine and sailed all the way in, happy to be reminded that we are indeed on a sailboat. Bruce had called ahead to reserve 2 slips at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, the oldest yacht club in North America. When we arrived, it was warm and sunny.
We were delighted to find a pool and showers! By this time, given the fog and the very cold waters of the Labrador Current (barely above 50 degrees), everything on the boat was damp - lots of condensation on interior fiberglass. We opened all the hatches and later turned on the heat to dry us out. We celebrated with a wonderful fish dinner on Con El Viento.The weather forecast remained grim and was unfortunately accurate, with the first break forecast for Wednesday, so we settled in. We were fortunately rescued first by Bill and Norma Adams , friends from Dartmouth, NS, who took us to their home/B&B for a wonderful lunch of seafood chowder and salad and very kindly invited us to bring our laundry. Mutual friends,
Greg and Donna Rutledge, had us all to their home for a delicious scallop dinner. Great to be dry and on land for a bit with such wonderful company and fantastic hospitality. Next day, with Greg's help, we bought groceries and shopped at a marine supply store. We waited out the rest of the time at the yacht club where we enjoyed the restaurant and meeting other sailors, a delightful benefit of traveling in this fashion.To be continued........
