Boating Adventures

I’ve been largely anchored here for the last 8 days.  This is my home town, and it’s great to catch up with old friends and relatives.  I’ve rejoined BBYC as an outport member, and we raced Narwhal Wednesday night.  The club is quite vibrant these days.

I’ve been to downtown Halifax several times as well.  It’s about an hour away by boat.  The waterfront has changed a lot since I lived here in the 1980s.

Tomorrow we head for Chester, about 50 miles away.  Allister is taking Narwhal and I’ll shadow them in Escapade, and we’ll raft up in Back Harbour for the week.  Racing starts Wednesday. 

Some photos from the Halifax waterfront.  There are a lot of foreign yachts in the area.  I like that last boat, but don’t recognize the design.  Big boat is an Oyster 655.  Nice looking boat.  

We came out of Country Harbour yesterday into an easterly swell, and as forecast had NE 10-15 knots of breeze arrive late morning.  Prevailing conditions are usually the opposite direction.  So with great conditions we had a fast run down the coast and arrived in Halifax at dusk.  We’re now anchored in Bedford.

That was a fast and smooth trip.  Just over two weeks from Montreal.  We arrived here without having to clean salt spray off the windshield.  That’s remarkable.  And we did pretty much all of it at slow speed, so the fuel bill was low.  Bill’s food planning and cooking was excellent, and made a big difference for me.  And I saw some new segments and identified a few more critters.  Can’t ask for much more than that.

Bill leaves tomorrow to join his partner on a long-planned camping trip in Newfoundland.  I’m racing Narwhal in Chester in ten days, and have to get both boats down there and ready.  Easy pace for a few days, and a few repairs like my water heater that are quite urgent.  In any case it’s nice to be stopped today.  Sunny and nice weather here.

Here are a few of Bill’s photos from Thursday.

And Friday’s run to Halifax

We’ve been traveling for two full days at slow speed, following the coast line as closely as possible. Tonight we’re anchored here, a long way inland.

The big highlight for the day – the trip maybe – was seeing a sunfish up close.  This is the third time for me, but it’s been a long time.  I saw it as we passed, and circled back to drift close by.

I had the same confusion identifying it as I’ve had in previous sightings.  First I thought it was a sunfish, then a sea turtle, then a dead or dying small whale.  Then when it was about 40 feet away it slowly turned upright and dove away.  Bill may have more pictures.  They’re huge weird fish that bask on their sides on the surface.

It’s empty around here.  The two other pleasure boats we saw today were European sailboats.  Very sparse population.  Lots of anchorages and fishing wharfs.

The weather looks cooperative for the next few days.  We’re due in Halifax Sunday midday for Bill to hop on a bus.

That was a lovely day noodling along the coast, with a stop for lunch out in Guysborough.  Sunny and calm, though we did brush up against a fog bank on the way in here.  

We’re anchored here.  Nice quiet spot in a SW wind.  Arrived around 1700 after a relaxed trip down from Mabou.  It’s been sunny and warm – there is a heat warning here with a high of 27C.  The only time we were bothered was climbing the steep hill in Port Hawkesbury to get provisions.

The only hair raising moment was when my shifter failed – again – this time leaving me stuck in forward as I was getting ready to do a back-and-fill turn at the end of a small marina in Port Hood.  This was a completely separate issue from the failure on the Trent Severn.  I dropped the anchor and the stern went aground, and we were able to fix it and carry on.

We fueled up in Port Hawkesbury.  Another great run, using 457 l of fuel to go 641 miles since last filling up in Rimouski.  We really have had great traveling weather, just covering miles at slow speed.  Since leaving Chicago in May I’ve traveled 2,495 miles and burned 1,786 l of fuel with 366 engine hours.

Speaking of traveling weather, the next few days look great.  Rain and fog maybe, but no significant wind or waves.  We’ve got five days to get to Halifax, which is about 170 miles away.  We’ll be taking the slow scenic route.

It feels good to be here.  Coming out of Port Hawkesbury into the Atlantic breeze felt very familiar.

We’re anchored here in Mabou Harbour.  Nice spot, and a lovely evening.

Today we decided to get across to the mainland while the going was good.  We left North Rustico at 0730 and got in here at 2030.  Smooth sailing.

Weather continues to look good for travelling. Tomorrow we’ll head through the Canso Canal to the Atlantic coast. 

We got underway yesterday from Shippagan through the Gully, and set course for Richibucto.  By noon the wind had dropped, and I was looking at a forecast for moderate to strong SW winds for Sunday and Monday.  So we decided to travel the north shore of PEI rather than go through the Northumberland Strait and altered course by 90° to head for the north cape, then around to stop in Northport last night. 

Today we followed the coast to stop in North Rustico, with a detour in to Stanley Bridge.  We were cruising along in 10-20 ft of water about 1/2 mile from shore most of the day with a warm offshore breeze.  We’re tied up with the fishing boats for the night.

This is all new waters for me.  I’m enjoying it.  Tomorrow we’ll get close to the east end of the island, and the weather looks good for the run down to Port Hawkesbury on Tuesday.

It was smooth sailing today down to Shippagan.  We’re anchored here. 

Tomorrow we’re planning a bit longer hop to Richibucto, about 80 miles.  I haven’t been there by land or sea, but it’s a few miles up a river, which makes it appealing to me.

Weather looks great for the next few days, sunny and warming up a bit.  Temps have been below 20C for a few days.  Warmer is OK. 

Bill has been fishing, but no success yet.  We’re eating well.  All good aboard.

We’ve set a target arrival date in Halifax of Aug 3.  That’s looking entirely feasible.  The long term forecast looks good.  I’m looking forward to going through Canso and exploring the NS eastern shore a bit more. 

Another fishing port with floating docks for guests, this one here.  We’re sharing the dock with a couple from NC doing the DE loop.  They’ve been loving the area, and stopped in Gaspe last night as well. I understand the appeal.  Gaspe was a nice stop.  I’m glad to see places that I missed last time through.

Today Bill was ashore for a bit, and we left at noon for the five hour run down here.  Things were a bit sloppy around the capes, and we were both happy to be tied up.  The highlight was the rock at Perce.

Tomorrow promises to be calm, and we’re headed for Shippagan.  Should be an easy day. 

We’re anchored here in the town of Gaspe.  Long day, underway at 6 am and arriving here at 8 pm.  Flat conditions the entire way.

That’s a screenshot from this morning’s wind forecast.  It doesn’t get much better for cruising down the coast, and I wanted to get off the north side of the Gaspe Peninsula while the going was good.

Here’s a selection of Bill’s photos, whittled down from 163.  The scenery was interesting and at times spectacular.

Limited critter sightings.  No blue whales.  I spotted a pilot whale, and we saw lots of seals. 

We’re on a more relaxed schedule now.  Will get ashore tomorrow and then have a shorter travel day down through Perce and along the Quebec shoreline.