2010 Log
8/16 to 8/31/2010
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.
The Google Custom Search box immediately below is an internet search tool for more information on subjects and locations mentioned in our site.
Updated on 01/28/2011
|
8/16/10 - Another beautiful day - we sure have been blessed. We went ashore for breakfast at the Yellow Cello Cafe followed by a walk downtown. Baddeck is a small town that triples in size for the summer. On returning to the boats I stopped to help Bradd a little with his heater installation. It's going to be a neat installation with a dedicated 5 gallon diesel fuel tank. The system is almost fully installed - Bradd's been working on it for a few days. We saw a grey seal today. Ruth got a good look as it "spy hopped" around our boat. It's the largest seal we've seen to date. 8/17/10 - Today we're paying the weather tax. Gray and drizzle. I spent a good part of the morning sorting through all the photos Ruth took at the Highland Village - whew! We have WiFi so I was able to handle some correspondence with the Sr Editor of Good Old Boat magazine, putting the finishing touches on an article for their November issue. Not much else in e-mails though... Ruth is waiting on some contacts. While Sampatecho went to a boatyard to have a new freezer compressor install Ruth and I walked to the Alexander Graham Bell museum. We spent several hours walking thru exhibits and viewing films of this remarkable man, the teacher of the deaf. Additionally he invented the telephone, designed a large hydrofoil that held the world speed record for a decade (114 kph), designed and built with others a series of 5 or more successful aircraft and hundreds of other inventions or improvements on the discoveries of others. The museum is here because this was his home most of his latter life. His mansion is still owned and occupied by the family. 8/18/10 - Last night's forecast rain didn't materialize. We woke to a cloudless morning. Sampatecho is back together and ready to roll. We've enjoyed Baddeck and would readily revisit this recreational harbor community. We left it around noon and sailed to Otter Island and Otter Harbor, a 4 hour run. It was a fluky sail down a long channel bordered by 600+ foot high forested ridges. The winds ranged from 2 to 24 knots from varying compass headings - challenging sailing. On arrival we did a little exploring before going to Sampatecho for a shrimp pasta dinner. 8/19/10 - We slept in until 8, had breakfast, read and looked for otters. We saw eagles but no mammals... they must have been some otter place. Ruth took the dinghy to Otter Island for some beaching, coming up with only a few pieces of driftwood. She did report finding a colony of mussels to Bradd & Maeve which prompted them to go hunting and Ruth to flee. I think she's had it with mussels. Bradd worked on their heater installation, wrapping heater ducts and exhaust lines and reinstalling the autopilot. I read, finishing a great historic mystery. The weather forecast for the next few days has the wind from the North, time for us to head west for St Peters though we've only touched the Bras d'Or Lakes. 8/20/19 - A touch of fog joined us just after dawn. It quickly burned off as we motored the roughly 40 miles to St Peters. Time to bid the Bras d'Or Lakes goodbye and head for the States. We definitely are going to miss the friendly water and folks. Under soaring eagles we motored into the Lion's Club Marina at St Peters where we took on 141 liters of diesel for $165C. After anchoring we headed up to Foodland for some provisions. The checkout clerk noted we were sailors and told us they had a free shuttle back to the marina, would we like it? You bet! Back on the boat Ruth stocked the cupboards while I did the e-mails and updated the website. WiFi courtesy of the Lion's. 8/21/10 - Gray day, high overcast. We'll be out of range of WiFi for a few days as we work our way back to Halifax. We have a small weather window before east winds are forecast to rile the ocean up. We passed thru the narrow St Peters Canal, exiting the Bras d'Or Lakes. The floating timber fenders provided protection if we were to be blown against the rock sides of the canal. Once out of the protection of the canal we realized the wind was on the nose again and we'd have a 4 hour slog into building waves to get to Canso. The weather forecast had changed for the third time in 24 hours. We decided to sail into the Lennox Passage, anchoring behind Indian Island, a snug little cove surrounded by evergreens. Ruth promptly lowered the dinghy and went beaching while I settled in to read Che. We'd traveled only about 10 miles, however approaching rain made the cove inviting. Ruth beached thru a couple of bouts of mist returning with a collection of sticks just as the real rain started - great timing. 8/22/10 - Woke to a sunny morning. We departed our anchorage at 8am to get an early start and make some miles. A 15 to 20 knot NW wind drove us around the eastern end of Nova Scotia and west along the shore at 7 - 8 knots. The seas were relatively flat as the wind was offshore. The swells were from the east, behind us most of the trip. We selected Little Liscomb bay as our anchorage for the night. It's our second time here though the area we're anchored in we haven't seen before. There are a couple of small villages, population maybe 100-200 each and an inn. We sailed 75nm today. Great sailing and a beautiful day! 8/23/10 - We've been in Nova Scotia for a month and a day! Up early as we're trying to make it to a safe harbor for forecasted nasty weather. Speaking of weather, they are very thorough... tell you everything twice simultaneously on two channels - if you understand French and English. Daunting when you tune in early in the French forecast and have to wait for it to complete before the English version. Wonder why they don't devote one channel to each language? The other thing you need to know is where you are in their terms, Eastern Shore, Eastern Slope, Sable, etc. We had an early anchorage today, hook down by 1:30p after a 40 nm run. The chart shows 0' of water here while we're comfortably sitting in 20' of water in a nice secure little cove under gray skies with about 20 knot winds. Halifax is about 35 miles away, an easy day in the right wind. Bradd radioed to announce he had fired up their diesel heater for the first time - said it sounds like a jet aircraft (told him he'd need an intake muffler). We had a celebration dinner on AA for them. From our experience we know they'll enjoy the comfort of dry heat during the raw days of spring and fall. 8/24/10 - Woke at 7am and watched the sun rise as the rigging sang in 14-16 knot winds. If they are this strong in our secure little bowl I can imaging why there are gale warnings on the ocean. After a short discussion with Bradd we decided to stay here today and do some exploring by dinghy. Ruth wanted to stay aboard and read so I went ashore with Bradd & Maeve to find the fabled fish smokehouse. We did after a two mile walk. I bought some smoked trout. Later we all went beaching. Ruth found some neat glass and I found a Canadian ten - paid for the trout. Good trout, Ruth's feeding it to me as I write. Bradd went mussel hunting, Ruth said no! We'd have smoked trout, thank you! 8/25/10 - The forecast rain never came. We left under sail at 7:30am for Halifax. With 6' following seas push us along we sailed, motor-sailed and sailed the 45 nm to Halifax, anchoring a 3pm. We motor-sailed during the wind shifts to beat the weather, a gale forecasted to arrive early evening (a gale is defined as sustained winds of 30 knots or more). We're anchored in sight of the downtown waterfront, at the north end of McNabs Island. Eight WiFi signals are present but the ones that are strong enough to connect to are secured. The free waterfront system one has one bar, not enough for a connection even with our outside antenna hoisted. 8/26/10 - The wind sang in the rigging last night, though definitely not a gale inspired tune - 10 to 15 knots maximum in our little cove. Predawn we could hear ships sounding their throaty horns into a foggy muffler. Dawn revealed a dense blanket of fog; we could hardly see Sampatecho anchored next to us. Light showers did little to dissipate the fog. We could hear the rumble of ships passing our cove, seeing none of them. The fog lifted at noon so we crossed over to the day slips along the waterfront, gaining access to shops and WiFi. Info from Summersault indicates they had a great time sailing with Ariel in Maine through the 21st. They split then with Summersault heading home and Ariel remaining in Maine to explore further. Miles noted: Currently we are in the North end of Penobscott visiting Belfast and Castine. We will hang around here until labor day then head South to arrive in Annapolis the last week in Sept for a bottom job. Good to hear from them again! Ruth hit the beach glassing mother lode today. She found a site un-glassed before and came back with bags of well tumbled glass. Pretty soon only our toe rails will be above water. 8/27/10 - A beautiful sunny morning greeted us as we headed to Sampatecho for a wild blueberry pancake breakfast. Delicious. Bradd, Maeve and Ruth headed back to the beaching mother lode while I stayed on AA reading Che and keeping Buddy company. A little after noon a power boat came alongside, we were on their mooring and they wanted to use it for the weekend. As I was preparing to move and anchor the glassing gang came back so we cast off and went sailing. The wind was good at 15 knots so we left Halifax and sailed around the point to Ketch Harbor, anchoring about 5pm. The harbor is surrounded by a community of about 300. We were in the center of town... no WiFi. 8/28/10 - Another beautiful day. We sailed, motor sailed, sailed and motored to Mahone Bay so Sampatecho could pick up a bike that had shipped there and so we all could get e-mail. Enroute I made radio contact with Running Free, Bill Rohde's friend. We had a short talk, learning we we headed opposite directions again. At Mahone Bay we anchored just off the mooring field, near where we'd anchored with Ariel weeks ago... time do fly. It's a very busy area with a wide variety of boats passing, deer in the fields (no moose) and a wedding party having a photo session. 8/29/10 - We went into town in the morning, number one on our list was a new can opener. I've been chewing the lids off since our last one died. Couldn't find one. We picked up a few groceries and went sailing around the bay for the day. We ended up near Chester, meeting with Tony & Judy of Sanity Check. Sampatecho had us all aboard for dinner and a chance to catch up. Sanity Check will be right behind us as we head west. 8/30/10 - We headed down to Round Island to meet with Intuit... thanking them for the loan of their cruising guide for the past month. Then we started out for Lunenburg deciding enroute to motor sail past Brooklyn and West Berlin to Liverpool (quite the trip, eh? Okay, they're all Nova Scotia towns on the same peninsula). At Liverpool we took a slip at the Brooklyn Yacht Club. We saw a few trees starting to color, can it be that time already? We've started our hurricane watch for Earl, Currently she's forecast to hit our area around 2am Saturday morning as a category 1 storm (75-95 knots). We plan to be battened down in Shelburne as their harbor is about 8 miles inland and the yacht club has a hurricane plan. Payback for all the good weather? 8/31/10 - We left at 7am, headed west for our hurricane hole. While the storm is slowing and is now forecast for Saturday noon the seas will proceed it by a couple of days (we're still dealing with 6' swells from the last one). We sailed, did a little motor sailing, and sailed to Shelburne, picking up a free mooring a McNutt's Island. It was another beautiful day on the water with 15-20 knots apparent, on the nose, so we tacked a lot. |
Google searches Use the custom Google search at the top of the page to look for boating, sailing and cruising information. At the bottom of the page is a custom search box that looks specifically at our site for reference to the subject you enter.
Ruth shot this Bald Eagle leaving its nest (tasted a lot like spotted owl)
This couple had to wait for wind to leave as they have no engine in their boat
Bell planned on a small log cabin by the stream... plans change
Looks like a waterfalls cascading between the trees, it's really a marble outcropping
The narrow St Peters canal has floating fenders to protect the boats from the rocks
Sampatecho rounds the last bend before the locks
Ruth's collection of sticks from beaching at Indian Island
Ruth caught us at the Highland Village school - kids will be kids
Maeve snapped this photo of AA anchored in a rocky Nova Scotia cove (are there any other kind?)
As the fog lifted we saw a ship crossing behind us, one of 6 that had arrived in the fog The Canadian Coast Guard - what a difference It's really refreshing to deal with the Canadian Coast Guard; takes me back to my youth when the Coast Guard's mission was assist and rescue. Halifax Radio, the voice of the Coast Guard along the eastern shore of Nova Scotia takes assisting boaters to heart/ First, you can call them for a radio check and you get an enthusiastic reply, often accompanied with a have a great sail or a good day. When boats are having problems linking up by radio they will often break in and offer to relay the message. When a boat is having difficulties they are reassuring and helpful. Important here because assistance may be half a day away. What a contrast to the military auctioneer chatter of the USCG. Part of the difference is there's considerably less radio traffic up here... part of it is mission and part is attitude. However they project themselves it's great to know they are there when the chips are down.
Ruthie is cornering the market on beach treasures - urchins and starfish from the beach at McNabs Island here
It's a family affair
Cliff top home along Mahone Bay
Ruth found this way of unloading chips at Bowater Abitibi mill in Liverpool interesting
The Brooklyn Yacht Club
Dawn rising in the little Brooklyn / Liverpool basin; oh. by the way, ocean-going ships come in here too to serve the papermill. We're still not lost Our updates will continue to be sporadic as we're dependant on WiFi hot spots in Nova Scotia (though we've found many more hot spots than we expected). Our SkyMate position reports will be posted daily as always.
A sailing submarine? Nope, Sampatecho behind a 6' swell.
Some go down... some go up; but that's a whole 'nother story - the lobster boat on Little Hope Island.
During our walk along the trail we encountered this cell phone booth. It's strictly BYOP (bring your own phone)
A little further along we came across the WWII gun placement that protected Shelburne, a navy outpost at the time
Bradd adds a little scale to the gun's size, or is that two "big guns"
Finally, we find a moose in Nova Scotia (never did see a panda) |
Use this Google Custom Search for finding subjects on our site:
View our prior 2010 Logs