2010 Log
7/16 to 7/31/2010
This is the current period of our log for 2010. At the bottom of the page are links to this year's pass weeks; our earlier voyages are in Prior Voyages.
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Updated on 07/26/2010
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7/16/10 - AA was underway by 7:20am under gray skies and a light SW wind. We motor sailed 35 nm to Boothbay Harbor, arriving at 12:30 after getting lost once and having to backtrack (we'd actually gone by Boothbay. It's easy to do with all the fingers of water that make up the coast here. It was wildlife day, we saw 5 Minke whales and 7 seals along with our assorted duck, loons and gulls. One of the whales was pretty good sized (I wouldn't want to have tangled with any of them). At Boothbay we fueled and picked up a mooring in front of Ariel. Then we went into town and provisioned for our run to Nova Scotia. We have two stops before we get there but neither is a good place to provision. Our obligatory fog moved in at 4pm, I'd sure missed it. Ruth and I played cards with me winning the first three games and Ruth the second three. Took her a little while to warm up. 7/17/10 - Bright and sunny this morning. We were moving by 7:15 in light haze, about 3 mile visibility. Ariel had left about 30 minutes earlier. We motor sailed the first several hours. Our Autohelm woke up with us and behaved itself most of the trip - surprise. The last 1-1/2 hour we sailed toward Pulpit Harbor while I grilled cheese burgers for lunch. Today we saw two whales and 1 seal along with the sea birds. Kind of a quiet day. Haze hung along the shoreline, giving the illusion that the land was floating above the sea. Very pretty! At Pulpit we anchored in 30 feet of water, expecting to loose 10' and gain 1 in the next 12 hours. Then we settled into relax mode while we waited for our lobsterman. He showed up about 4:30pm. Ruth and I took the dinghy over to buy 6 lobster. He said he'd drop them off a little later and he did, 15 lbs of lobster for $65.00. Miles and Laureen came over for a lobsta fest dinner... it was great! Ruth steamed them to perfection! 7/18/10 - What a gorgeous morning! I had the anchor up by 6:45, headed out of Pulpit Harbor. We rounded the north end of the island enroute for the Deer Island Thoroghfare and on through Casco Passage to Mt Desert's Northeast Harbor. We saw a small whale and a couple of seals. Not a lot of sea wildlife as it was lobster float day and we had to keep a close watch for them. Coming out of Stonington our speed dropped to 4 knots and the rudder became hard to turn. The current was pulling us toward a rocky shoal so I kept the power on and held our heading until we got to open water. Then I slowed and shifted to neutral. Ruth watched behind us, "There's a float she called. There's another... and another." We'd picked up three traps without seeing any of them - that's with two of us on watch! Miles must have snagged at least three, clearing them quickly by turning and backing down. He has cutters on his prop shaft that are designed to shear lines that try to tangle the prop. That noted, coming into Northeast Harbor he commented it felt like they had line wrapped on the prop shaft; I think we could be in same situation. While we strive to avoid all floats, the killers are the pots with a float and toggle both on the surface connected by line. I think you have a 50% probability of snagging those suckers if you get within 30' of them. A diver confirmed that Miles had acquired a float and some line. It was quickly cleared. I missed the diver so we may still have a souvenir of Maine. 7/19/10 - The barometer crept up a little last night presenting us with a clear blue sky this morning. We read part of the morning before going into town to pick up two packages from Cruising Solutions. Found the post office closed from 11:30am to 1:30pm so we walked town and explored shops. Cute little town but you can see where several stores have burned down over the years and not been replaced. They have done a nice job of landscaping the areas that were abandoned. At 1:30 we got one of the packages, the first one shipped is the one that hasn't arrived yet. We'll have to wait and see if it comes tomorrow. By two it was cloudy and sprinkling occasionally. 7/20/10 - The second package didn't arrive today either. We talked to Bradd and he said tell the Post Office to send it back if it ever arrives (it passed through the clearing center one day away 4 days ago). The weather forecast said this was the day to go to Nova Scotia so we headed out a little after 10am for Shelburne, 158nm away. The wind was light and variable so we motored all day and all night. Dense fog came and went about 3 times. Enroute we had something playing under us part of the trip. Our depth sounder recorded bottom at about 560 feet; then something would be under us rising from 80' to 6' (that's only 6" below our keel) before diving back to 30'. This went on for over and hour. Whale? Or just a school of fish? Ruth and I went on 3 hour watches for the night. As the sun set and we approached Cape Sable the temperatures started dropping - air and water. Water got down to 41 degrees F while you could see your breath. The fog closed in to about 100' visibility... we were flying by radar. 7/21/10 - Early morning watches suck when its wet and foggy. It's really disorienting to get up and stagger into a world with no visual reference. By the end of your watch there are lots of things to see; the problem is none of them are real. Radar plotted a lot more boats than I would have expected - mainly commercial fishing boats searching for fish to net. I woke at 7am to a beautiful day. Ruth had brought us safely through the last of the fog and into a stellar clear morning. Wow, what a difference a watch can make. By noon we were in Shelburne, eating Ruth's porridge and waiting to clear customs. Things went smooth (hey, Canada knows how to do it) and after refueling we moved out to anchor, discovering that the rapid drop in temperature compromised our anchor windlass control, sucking moisture into it and preventing it from releasing chain under power. I dried it in the sun and it seemed to recover. Better get a spare on hand. Fish farming is big business in this town of about 2,000. We passed about a dozen large floating operations. They raise salmon and trout for market. The crews of Ariel and Another Adventure had dinner on Sampatecho. It was nice to catch up with Bradd & Maeve again. 7/22/10 - A little wind and lots of rain last night. The strong storm they were forecasting passed north of us trailing the little garbage that we got. Early morning overcast cleared to blue skies. We're hoping to get WiFi today through the Shelburne Harbor Yacht Club. We have a 2 bar signal on our boosted antenna in our anchorage. Ruth had a migraine headache and needed to be in bed, alone, so I went into town with the other two crews. While they toured town I bought a museum pass and explored the dory museum, a shipyard, the county museum and a ship fleet owner's home. It's interesting to see the artifacts that have survived from the late 1700's when the Loyalists settled here to fish and build ships. My favorite was a fire pumper built in London in the 1700's. It was all manual and looked like Freddy Flintstone built it. One of Shelburne's attractions is that they never had a major waterfront fire so the harbor looks much like it did 200 years ago - most of the original frame buildings are still standing. 7/23/10 - Got up to a toasty warm boat; the furnace kicked in automatically last night. Actually it's the second day we've had heat on at night. It's definitely cool up here; especially when the wind is off the ocean. The water temperature in Shelburne is 75F, pretty nice thanks to being 7 miles inland and having a river feed the harbor. The temperature during the day yesterday bordered on hot. We motored 29 miles to Port Mouton where we anchored off million dollar beach, so named because it has sand dollars. It is one of the very few beaches in Nova Scotia. We were surprised to have a dozen vessels anchored off the beach as the day ended. There really aren't that many boats up here. The water temp is 51F in the harbor, almost too cold for our watermaker to work. Enroute we blew an engine belt, it totally shredded. Fortunately we carry three spares so we were back in service in about 3 minutes. Ariel and Sampatecho stood by in the event it was more serious than just the belt. Once we anchored I cleaned up the mess, belt pieces all over the engine compartment. We walked the beach; Ruth collected sand dollars. The water was so cold you really couldn't wade more than ankle deep. Great supper, mashed potatoes, kernel corn and baby back ribs... umum! 7/24/10 - Anchor up at 8:30; wisps of fog hung along shore while we had clear air. The wind teased us into putting up sails, then died before we could really use them. Our three vessels motored up the coast to LaHave River, an island dotted bay. After finding a cozy little anchorage near Covey island we took a dinghy ride to small beaches on nearby islands for a little exploring. We have seals, seabirds and Minke whales with us as we travel. The shore is like a tamer version of Maine, lower with large rocks more numerous than rock bluffs, lots of evergreens but looking more stunted. Renee hosted dinner on Ariel. Spaghetti always goes over big on a cool evening - soul food. Ruth's feeling better after sleeping most of the last 3 days. She seems to have caught some bug or at least one took over after our cold damp rounding of Cape Sable. Good to have her back! 7/25/10 - We woke to fog, ranging from 1/4 to 1/2 mile visibility. The wind teased us and Sampatecho hoisted sails, then the wind closed the door... we motored 3 hours to Lunenburg. A fog was dancing in the trees on the hilltops but never settled on the sea. About half way on our trek it started drizzling and turned to rain. Boy the diesel heater felt great in the cabin. Lunenburg is a visual treat. It's obviously a heavy duty fishing community; large fishing vessel, processing plants and a viable waterfront. 7/26/10 - It's Monday already, where did the weekend go? Okay, I had to check the calendar to figure out the day. I've been trying to get a WiFi connection to no avail. I can identify 61 signals here but non that are available to the public for free or for fee. Miles has lost engine generation. He suspects his alternator has failed. Finally, found WiFi in a coffee shop! |
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We're not lost Our update may get a little sporadic shortly as we'll be dependant on WiFi hot spots once we get to Nova Scotia. Our SkyMate position reports will be posted daily as always.
Stonington, Me on the Deer Island Thoroghfare
Note the Stonington opera house
A golden looper returning from Mt Desert
The mountains (hills?) that mark Acadia National Park
Red light in the lighthouse marks the right hand side of the channel near Mt Desert
Ruth shot one of her favorite work boat names as dusk settled over the harbor
In the slack evening tide Poseidon first visited Ariel then swung over to cozy up to Another Adventure
While I slept Ruth documented our first views of Nova Scotia. When the fog lifted she saw this light on Salvage Rock.
Yup, light houses are typically what we see first, and second...
This one marked the entrance to Shelburne Harbor, our Canadian landfall
Ariel cruising up the Shelburne harbor
This channel buoy directs traffic away from a fish farm
Just like in Wisconsin, working the farm attracts the gulls |
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View our prior 2010 Logs