Adventures of the Jubilee

Nova Scotia Southwest Shore to Maine

8/29/2008 - Lunenburg to Lockeport -- 67.9 Miles

Skies were again grey when we cast off our mooring ball a little before 7:00 a.m. at Lunenburg.  It will sure be nice to get out of these wet, foggy, Nova Scotia south shore weather systems.  On the positive side, once we had passed Rose Point, the outermost peninsula marking the Lunenburg entrance, we found 10-15 knot NE winds, allowing us to quarter in the mid-6's to 7 knots through the light fog.  By 10:00 a.m. the fog lifted, but around noon the wind dropped to 8 or 9 true, and over time dropped further, leaving us with only about 3 or 4 knots apparent to try and drive through a large leftover westerly swell.  It was time for the engine boost again.

At our pub dinner in Lunenburg the Jancris, Sweet Time and Jubilee crews all agreed on the need to get down to the states as quickly as prudent.  Notwithstanding the wonderful harbors we'd been visiting and the great people we'd been meeting along the way, these cold, grey, wet weather systems and correspondingly lumpy seas were wearing on all of us.  We were all hopeful we'd still be able to still salvage a little Indian summer in New England.  Nova Scotians have been telling us this has been the worst summer weather in 25 years.  We have no idea if that's true or not, but these last several weeks have been a bit of a drag, weather-wise.

Perhaps someone was listening to our wishes as the skies cleared for a beautiful evening in Lockeport (see photo at right).  Lockeport is a small village built around fishing when fishing was king.  The waterfront is home of a huge Clearwater Seafoods processing plant (Clearwater is the largest seafood processing company in Canada).  The town, only about 3 blocks wide from our mooring to another bay on the opposite side, had three small cafes (you can eat well here), a grocery, bank, post office, hardware store, drug store, at least 5 churches, and the ever-present Provincial liquor store.  That said, Judy's comment pretty well summed things up ... "this town needs some paint".

For convenient entry and exit (only 3 miles in from the ocean) we'd rate Lockeport very high, but as an inviting, scenic place to tie up we'd rate it fairly low.  For us it worked well as a timely stop after a long day on the water, but in the morning we would move on to Shelburne, a much more inviting harbor just a few miles down the way.

8/30/2008 - Lockeport to Shelburne -- 19.3 Miles (plus 8/31-9/2 Shelburne Lay Days)

What Shelburne lacks in convenient entry and exit from the ocean (it's fully 10 miles inland), it makes up in charm and services.  We left Lockeport in grey overcast skies, and just 2 hours (about 12 or 13 miles) later found ourselves mid-way up the Shelburne harbor under blue skies and wispy fair weather cumulous clouds (see photo at right of Bill navigating on our way into Shelburne). 

On the way in we passed three commercial fishing harbors and three aquaculture facilities.  Aquaculture is clearly beginning to supplement the declining fishing industry in this area. 

Having arrived at Shelburne on the Saturday of Canada's Labour Day weekend, the local yacht club was abuzz with preparations for their Saturday sailboat race.  All of the visiting boats were then invited to join the club for a pot luck/steak fry/corn cook that evening after the racing.  It was a great way to meet some of the locals at this very friendly club.

Shelburne was founded by British Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution in the 1700's.  The town still takes pride in those Loyalist roots, with British flags, signs, and statues everywhere.  Its other claim to fame is its historic fishing waterfront and adjoining residential area with well-maintained period homes.  In 1994, Hollywood producers found Shelburne the near-perfect setting for their re-make of The Scarlet Letter, and correspondingly worked with the town on further restorations which remain the centerpiece of Shelburne today.  Along the waterfront are four interpretive museums housed in various historic structures: one on shipbuilding, one on fishing dory construction, one on home life in the 1700's with a small, attached, general store run by the original owners back in the 1700's, and a county museum.  One warehouse even had a steeple added for the movie!  Fascinating.  Truly a step back in time.  Another don't miss stop along this shoreline.

We stayed in Shelburne for 4 days waiting, with 8 or so other boats, for heavy weather with opposing westerly winds in the ocean outside the harbor to subside.  While waiting we did a little bike exploring around the town and to a local park, and got together with other cruisers for a taxi trip to the near-by Sandy Point Community Hall for a lobster dinner fund raiser (only $20.00!).  These Maritimes towns do know how to do fundraisers.

9/3-4 - Shelburne to Seal Bay, Vinylhaven Island, Maine -- 193.2 Miles

Notwithstanding how pleasant Shelburne was, the days of waiting out weather there were starting to wear on everyone.  Wednesday morning dawned grey and overcast, but with those overcast skies also came a weather window for our overnight jump across the Gulf of Maine. However Nova Scotia wasn't quite through with us yet.  Later in the morning we received a good soaking rain.  The province was getting its one last lick at us!

We left to light winds in the harbor, but as we approached the ocean the winds piped up to just under 20 knots NE, exactly as predicted.  In lumpy following seas and 1/2-mile visibility fog we worked our way downwind to round Brazil Rock, Cape Sable, and finally the Seal Islands (a total of almost 60 miles under the keel from Shelbourne) before we would fully round all of Nova Scotia's southwestern hazards and set a direct WNW course for the Penobscot Bay area of Maine. 

The further we went offshore the more comfortable the following, then quartering seas became, dropping down to average about 4-6 feet with the occasional higher swell.  As we approached Cape Sable we started paying for our eagerness to leave an hour or so early when we were set with adverse one to two-knot currents against an opposing wind and short steep chop that always accompanies these situations.  Thankfully that changed about an hour later when the tide turned to give us a nice long lift toward Maine.  Such is the challenge of navigating amidst tides and currents.  We never have to worry about that stuff back home.

Shortly after passing Sable Island we encountered dense fog for the next two or so hours, however that, too, lifted by around 8:00 p.m., as the winds lightened and shifted more to the north and the seas further laid down.  The weather predictions for a good crossing window turned out to be right on the money for a change as we ate underway, made a thermos of coffee for later, and generally settled in for the long night ahead.

Judy's depth perception at night isn't as good as Bill's, so on crossings Bill always takes the long night watch while Judy takes the early evening and morning, starting at the pre-dawn light.  Of course, each of us if off watch and sleeping remains "on call" if anything comes up that requires two crew.  The passage was sprinkled with the normal kinds of crossing events.  In the middle of the night we worked our way around a fleet of draggers, probably fishing scallops.  Later we had to temporarily alter course for a cruise ship on its way to Halifax (the same Carnival Victory we had encountered while we were leaving Halifax a week ago).  We had to pick our way through some fishing nets with a number of fishing tugs off in the distance.  We travelled in and out of two misty-foggy areas, crossed paths with two tankers bound for St. John's New Brunswick, and watched via AIS another cruise ship, the Norwegian Dawn, zigzag & slowly loop around the ocean in front of us to kill time so they would enter Bar Harbor in the morning instead of 3:00 a.m. (we had heard they do that so the passengers can have the thrill of entering each new port in the morning light, but we'd never seen it being done at sea before).  The night had just enough "stuff" happening to keep the watch crew awake and on their toes.

Oh yes ... and we crossed back into US waters at about 7:00 a.m., about 20 hours after our departure.  It was the first time we'd been in US waters since the Eisenhower and Snell Locks on the St. Lawrence River way back on July 10th.  While approaching Penobscot Bay in the afternoon and calling Customs to clear back into the US, we were initially told by a rather confused agent (he apparently hadn't dealt with an I-68 before) that we had to report to a Rockland Harbor dock for inspection and check-in.  Uggh ... that would mean an additional dozen or so miles, but we dutifully started calling Rockland-area marinas for a slip.  About 45 minutes later the US Customs Agent's superior called us back indicating that we had been misinformed, and that we could proceed directly to our planned anchorage.  With our I-68's we were cleared over the phone!   The call came just in time time, right where we had originally planned to turn up toward Vinalhaven's Seal Bay.

Now, with 11 miles to go before the entry to Seal Bay, we started to encounter scores of lobster pots.  Those scores would turn into literally hundreds of pots over the 11 remaining miles to Seal Bay entrance (all those little flecks in the picture are lobster pot buoys).  We sailed through most of the pots, as it's better to have the engine off to eliminate the risk of catching a pot line in the prop.  We had previously heard about the lobster pot situation in Maine, but never imagined anything like this.  They were everywhere ... even in the entry and channels within Seal Bay.  The next day we spoke with other boaters in the anchorage who indicated this is what we should expect to see throughout Maine ... in fact, they told of some places where the pots are literally 3' apart and one just takes a run for it, turns the engine off, and coasts through, letting the boat push the floats aside.  Maine may be beautiful, but navigating doesn't sound like its going to be much fun.

But most certainly Maine is beautiful.  Our very first Maine anchorage, Seal Bay, twisted and turned to the spot where we decided to drop the hook in 20' at near high tide (about 11' at low tide).  We saw only two homes along this large twisting bay within Vinalhaven Island. As close as we were to Camden, anchoring here was like anchoring in northern Lake Superior's Loon Harbor ... incredibly beautiful, incredibly remote-feeling, and incredibly secure.  It was much more beautiful than anything we'd seen in the Maritimes ... the prettiest spot we'd seen since Baie Eternite' up the Saguenay back in July.

9/5/2008 - Lay Day in Seal Bay

We slept soundly and late Friday morning, recovering from our 31-hour passage from Shelburne to Seal Bay.  In mid-afternoon we decided to do a little dingy exploring, so we printed a Seal Bay chartlet off our Fugawi nav software to use along the way.  Before getting too far on our exploration we decided to stop and talk with another couple who had recently come into the anchorage.  They suggested we take the dingy down to the end of the harbor and then cross an area that dries at low tide (it was now approaching high tide), so we could "circumnavigate" Penobscot Island, the island within Vinylhaven that creates Seal Bay to its south and Winter Harbor to its north.  It sounded like fun, so off we went.

Crossing the skinny area to the other side and turning NW up Winter Harbor on the north side of Penobscot Island we encountered fog about half way up the channel.  By our turning point the fog had filled in considerably, so out came the hiking compass we always carry on the dingy.  Between the hiking compass and the chartlet we had printed, we felt our way from point to point around the rest of Penobscot Island until, finally, we saw the hazy outline of our boat emerge from the fog.  We had successfully circumnavigated Penobscot.  Lessons affirmed: always take a chart or chartlet with you when exploring waters further afield by dingy, and don't ever remove that compass from the dingy.  Lessons learned: taking our handheld GPS and VHF on dingy explorations might be a good idea in the future

9/6/2008 - Seal Bay to Stonnington -- 9.2 Miles

After breakfast we moved a short distance in dense fog (less than 1/10th mile visibility) through the lobster pots to Stonington to pick up a secure mooring, get a diesel fill, and use the harbor's internet access to check email and post this latest blog installment.  The aftermath of Hurricane Hanna (projected winds of 20-30 knots peak, no longer close to Hurricane status) is presently projected reach as far north as Maine late tonight (Saturday) and into Sunday morning.  We're presently hanging on a mooring at Billings Marine Services here in Stonington at the southern end of Deer Isle.  There's an island less than 1/4 mile to our south blocking the SE to the SW, the larger Deer Isle to our immediate north, and several islets, fingers and shoals protecting the narrow fairway entrance out to our east.  Predictions are saying south to east to north, so hopefully we're in a good spot to hunker down 'til this passes.  Excitement every minute.  Stay tuned.

Nova Scotia Eastern Shore to Lunenburg

/21/2008 - St. Peter's to Canso Harbor -- 26.1 Miles

With a short run today we took our time in the morning, throwing off the dock lines around 10:30 a.m. after another short trip up town to the Post Office.  We again locked through by ourselves at St. Peter's, finding 15-20 knots WNW on the other side, not a bad direction for our sail today.  After clearing the channel buoys we quartered downwind in parallel with Plover, a Dickerson 44 we had moored with in Maskell's Harbor and who had tied overnight at the western approach to the canal waiting for crew.  At the SE end of Isle Madame the winds dropped to about 10 as we parted ways with Plover and headed up for a gentle close reach to Canso.

Canso's NE entry is a maze of islets, rocks, shoals, and numerous buoys, but fairly easy to negotiate with today's light sea and wind, plus the ever-present help of our chart plotter and navigation software.  Canso itself is not an impressive stop.  Most cruisers we talked to were going to skip it, but it seemed such a good intermediate stop, distance-wise.  Not finding anyone monitoring the harbor radio or telephone, we placed a general call for anyone familiar with the marina.  A 45' sailboat which had left there just an hour before indicated plenty of depth ('tho not much maneuvering space), and suggested the dock they had used.  This harbor is tight, but manageable, and we found ourselves comfortably tied for the night.

(For fellow boaters)  If you use power here (we did), check the circuits before plugging in.  The 30-amp circuits did not work.  One set of 15-amp circuits down the way from our boat tested fine, and we used that power post.  The 15 amp outlet nearest our boat had the neutral and ground reversed, and another 15-amp outlet near our boat had no ground.  If you have any wiring done on your boat or house, don't hire a Canso electrician.  Dockage with electricity, plus reasonable restrooms/showers shared between the marina and very basic basic "RV Park", was $20.00.

We hiked the "town" a bit, but the area around the marina is mostly cottages and homes.  The town is close to a mile down the road, but the mosquitoes were already out in force by late afternoon so we didn't hike all the way there.  A white church sits at the top of the hill above the harbor.  We walked up to take in the view from the adjacent hilltop cemetery, but the mosquitoes were so thck we guessed it must be some kind of hell for the dead interred there.  Unfortunately we didn't have time between mosquito swats to take a picture.

Canso served its purpose for us as an intermediate stopping spot, but if you go there, manage your expectations.

8/22/2008 - Canso to Liscomb -- 64.4 Miles

We were out of the marina at Canso by 7:30, a little later than we had hoped but we forgot to set an alarm.  The harbor itself was almost dead calm, but we found a 10-knot SW wind outside ... almost right on our nose.  It would have been great sailing weather under clear skies, but tacking up the coast would only have gotten us to Isaac's Harbor and we wanted to go further, about 60 miles up the coast today while the opposing winds and seas were down a bit.  Motorsailing near dead upwind became the plan for the day.

While exiting the channel we passed the Canso Chamber of Commerce welcoming committee, a herd/pack/bunch/flock/gaggle/school (whatever the term) of harbor seals in the water and on the rocks at Black Rock, calmly watching our departure.

What we didn't plan on was a .5 to almost 1-knot opposing current most of the day, probably adding about 6 miles (an hour extra) to our transit.   We had understood from the guides that the Labrador current flows down this coast, so we had expected a boost.  We'll have to research that one.

Liscomb is an easy to enter all-weather harbor.  We traveled up the well-buoyed river, noting significantly deeper soundings than our charts showed, even at low tide.  There was no dock or mooring space at the Liscomb Lodge and Marina (where, it turns out, Sweet Time was tied up), so we anchored in a wider spot in the little narrow river on the north side of Rileys Island.  With the hook well set in about 13', we fired up the grill for a steaks on the barbe'.  Life was good.

8/23/2008 - Liscomb to Sally's Cove (a.k.a. Shelter Cove or Molly's Cove) -- 44.8 Miles

Saturday morning we found ourselves enveloped in fog.  By 7:30 we could just start to make out the adjacent shoreline and barely see the red sailboat anchored about 200 yards up-river from us.  Finally, by 8:00 conditions were good enough to raise the hook.  Thanks to our Fugawi track from entering the harbor the prior afternoon, plus our radar, we figured we should be able to find our way out of there even if the fog shut down again.  As it turned out our departure was pretty straightforward, helped by the fog fully lifting in the river as we departed.

Outside the harbor entry the fog returned just long enough to remind us that we were in fact in Nova Scotia ( see photo of Sweet Time emerging from a fog bank).  However, as we worked our way further offshore we again found clear skies and a deep blue ocean with 8-10 knots of wind.  But you guessed it.  Dead on our nose.  Not wanting to tack all day and get in late, we again motorsailed in the light swells.  As Sweet Time passed us we got to thinking that trawlers do make a lot of sense on days like this, but when the wind pipes up from the right direction so one can lay their course in one tack, like we recently did wherever we traveled on the Bras d'Or, sail still trumps power for us.

Sally's Cove turned out to be a very nice, secure, anchorage, albeit not quite as scenic as the books tout.  The anchorage provides about 340-degree protection with less than a mile fetch into the one small opening plus excellent holding in 16-20 feet.  It was a lot like the secure holes along Lake Superior's Canadian north and east shore except that the surrounding shoreline, although dense with trees, was fairly low, not the steep-to hills one typically finds surrounding northern Superior anchorages.  In addition to two other smaller sailboats, Sweet Time had anchored about an hour or so before we arrived.  Nick and Sherri invited us aboard for sundowners after we had Jubilee and ourselves squared away for the day.  Nick and Sherri had been given several live lobsters at an anchorage a couple of nights prior, so the top of the appetizer list was lobster salad served on crackers.  It doesn't get much better than this!  Bon Appetite'.

8/24/2008 - Sally's Cove to Halifax -- 51.4 Miles.

Sunday morning dawned a beautiful morning (see Nick's attached photo of Jubilee shortly after sunrise), clear with a light SW breeze forecast to build to about 10 or so on the nose again today.   We worked our way out of the anchorage by shortly after 7:00 a.m., breakfast done and the mud washed off the chain.  Once outside we were just able to feather the main while motorsailing comfortably upwind in the light ocean swells ... the start of a great day. 

By around 10:00 a.m. the water and air temperatures dropped and we started to see a 1/3rd to 1/2-knot current boost.  We had finally found that favorable Labrador current the guides talk about, working its way south from icy origins far to the north.

Around noon the breeze started shifting a bit more toward the south, eventually allowing for a leisurely sail into Halifax harbor all the way up to the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, where we would spend the next two nights.

The RNSYS, founded in 1837, is the oldest yacht club in North America.  Their secure docks and moorings are located just off their beautifully manicured grounds, comfortable club house, and pool.  Inside the club house their trophy cases were filled with almost 200 years of silver.  In 1860 the Prince of Wales, later to be named King Edward VII, visited Halifax and presented the club with its most treasured trophy, the Prince of Wales Cup. The Prince later added his name to the application to Queen Victoria to use the prefix "Royal" with the club's name.  Thus came the "Royal" in the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron.  Lots of history here. 

After appetizers aboard Jubilee with Nick and Sherri, we ate in the yacht club's informal dining room before retiring for a big day of Halifax touring tomorrow.

8/25/2008 - Halifax Lay Day

We found Halifax to be a wonderful city that seemed much bigger than it's slightly over 300,000 population might suggest.  Nick rented a car which we split between us, and the four of us went off exploring.  First off was a tour of the Citadel, a fort built by the British to ensure control of Halifax harbor, the best natural harbor for hundreds of miles around.  Next was a leisurely lunch at a sidewalk cafe on Argyle Street, a 4-block long stretch of eateries and clubs that must really hop in the evening.  Following lunch we toured the city center, seeing the first Anglican Cathedral (wooden structure) built by the British on this side of the pond.  We wrapped up our walking tour with a stroll on the busy, touristy, waterfront which stretched for several blocks ( see photo of glassblowers at work at a glassware company), and on the drive back to the yacht club a visit to a large grocery to fill the larders on both Jubilee and Sweet Time.

Still full from lunch, we declared appetizers to be dinner after Judy stitched a frayed section on the mainsail leach.  Halifax had been a good stop.  We would definitely return. 

8/26/2008 - Halifax to Lunenburg -- 50.0 Miles

Tuesday dawned overcast & calm at the yacht club, but with good visibility.  Off the dock by 7:00, we were on our way out of the harbor under the watchful gaze of a curious harbor seal, a whale cruising by, and a whale of a cruise ship coming into the harbor ... the Caribbean Princess which we'd seen before in the Virgins.  In the calm of the yacht club Judy decided to wait and make breakfast underway ... a good plan, but good plans don't always turn out as expected.  With a sizable swell running from the prior day's winds she got a chance to test the gimbals out ... both the stove's and her's, while rustling up some breakfast underway.

Rounding Chebucto Head at the outside entrance of the harbor (a full 10 miles from our RNSYS berth this morning), fog caused by the cold ocean outside the harbor shut down visibility.  The prior day's left over swells increased as we hoisted the main, hopeful of a little boost and some help steadying the boat.  A half hour later as we passed the cape the slightly lifting fog gave us the first brief visual on the second cruise ship we had encountered this morning, the Carnival Victory, arriving in Halifax but previously seen only on AIS and radar.  The town would be filled with an extra few thousand tourists today.  Good thing we did our touring yesterday.

As other boaters will know, about the most frustrating condition is the combination of light wind and big left over swells.  Thankfully our turn to the SW at the green entrance buoy resulted in a better angle on both the swells and the wind ... a welcome relief.  Plus, the further out we went the more the fog lifted.  By later in the morning we killed the engine and were under sail on our rhumb line.  Things were looking up.  In fact, we were able to sail most of the rest of the way to Lunenburg Harbor in increasingly smaller seas and a moderate breeze ... a good day on the ocean.

8/27-28/2008 - Lunenburg Lay Days

In a word, we LOVED Lunenburg.  This historic Maritimes fishing port is designated as a UNESCO Heritage Site, and although the town's fishery is no where near as active as it was in the past, its fishing heritage and character remains strong.  Lunenburg is certainly a must-stop for any Nova Scotia eastern shore visitor, whether coming by land or sea. 

The town has also embraced tourism with a vengeance, with numerous restaurants, an excellent fisheries museum, historic fishing boats (including the famed schooner Bluenose), and multiple art galleries and gift shops.  None of these are of the plastic cookie cutter variety one sees in so many tourist spots today.

Like our home port of Bayfield, WI, there wasn't a neon store sign to be seen.  The town's colorful houses are well maintained, the historic fisheries buildings still in use, the churches beautifully kept up, even in the case of the Anglican Church which was originally built in the 1700's and totally re-constructed to the original plans after a devastating fire a few years ago.

On Tuesday night along with Nick and Sherri we had the best restaurant meal of our entire trip.  The Trattoria Della Nonna in Lunenburg prepares and beautifully serves exquisite Italian cuisine that will simply knock your socks off.  Judy judged her tiramisu as 2nd only (and a close 2nd) to the one she had in Rome about 10 years ago! 

Then on Wednesday night with Alfredo, Nicoletta, Nick and Sherri, we had a totally different but very enjoyable meal at the most highly recommended local pub, the Knot Pub.  We knew we were in the right place when we walked in the door about 7:30 to a packed house.  A good time was had by all.

Aboard Sweet Time before heading over to the Knot Pub we watched a beautifully and professionally done video Alfredo had created about cruising in Turkey.  He's thinking about using it to help promote his latest book on the same subject, set to make its American debut at the Annapolis Boat Show.  I personally think he should sell the video ... it was that outstanding.  All six of us were also more than a bit envious of those warm water pictures under the Mediterranean sun in swim suits.  It seems we had all missed summer this year.  While the calendar says it's still August here in Nova Scotia, it's felt more like late September.  Overcast, misty days have far outnumbered sunny ones.

We had initially planned to jump further west on Thursday, but the weather forecast and some financial and other business requiring phone and internet access kept us here another day.  Sweet Time stayed in port also, but Jancris had left before 7:00 a.m.  Turns out the forecast heavy weather didn't fully materialize, so we perhaps should have left, weather-wise.  That said, we did get our other tasks accomplished, plus visited the excellent fisheries museum which we hadn't been able to pack into our day on Wednesday.  Particularly moving was the monument to the scores of Lunenburg fishermen who lost their lives fishing these waters.  The photo at right shows only two of the nine obelisks listing their names.

From Lunenburg we expect to move westward again on Friday morning as we continue down the southwestern shore of Nova Scotia and on back to the states.  Stay tuned.

 

P.E.I. to Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia

8/12/2008 - Charlottetown to Caribou Harbor, Nova Scotia -- 37.8 Miles

Tuesday morning brought yet another overcast sky and a 10-knot southeasterly breeze, accompanied by rain most of the day, as we set a course for Caribou Harbor almost exactly to the SE.  Wherever are those prevailing southwesterlies the books talk about?  These overcast, rainy, dead upwind passage days are starting to get old.  At least the forecast for the next couple of days looked a bit better, as we plowed dead upwind on the engine.  We'll have to see. 

On the positive side, the seas weren't too bad and we had plenty of fuel, having just topped both fuel tanks as well as filled our water tanks and pumped the holding tank before leaving Charlottetown this morning. 

Caribou Harbor marked our entry into Nova Scotia.  We found the harbor entry deep and well buoyed to accommodate the two large ferries that cross between here and Port Wood, P.E.I.  Following Capt. Cheryl's suggestion, we followed the 20-25' channel east of the ferry dock about 1/2 mile to anchor behind Munroes Island and Doctor Island (Doctor was unnamed on our charts).  Unlike Picton just down the way, which has a couple of marinas and a real town, there are few services here at Caribou ... just the ferry docks, reportedly a cafeteria at the docks (we didn't bother to go ashore in the misty-rainy weather), lots of commercial fishing boats, and a fish processing plant. 

Lack of services aside, the holding was excellent, and the easy and relatively short entry from the Northumberland Strait makes Caribou an excellent stop for boats heading toward the Strait of Canso from Charlottetown. 

8/13/2008 - Caribou Harbor to Ballantynes Cove -- 40 Miles

Wednesday morning brought some blue sky to the east but approaching rain from the west.  It would be another grey day.  At least the wind had switched to the north, so sailing or motor-sailing rather than motoring looked more likely.

Our holding in Caribou's mud was so good it took a full 30 minutes to raise and clean the mud off the 125' of chain we had laid out.  We were definitely secure last night.

After an hour or so with a wonderful reaching wind, the breeze dropped down and the motorsailing resumed ... just when our hopes for a great sail had finally been raised.  Much of the day was spent watching for and dodging lobster pots, sometimes in 1/2-mile visibility fog or heavy mist, interspersed with some light showers.  The last of these little squalls passed over Cape George in front of us, finally leaving us with blue sky around the Cape.

Cape George is a beautiful headland topped by the Cape George Light, no doubt visible for miles on a clear night.  Around the cape we were greeted by a seal treading water and watching us go by.  We also saw some porpoises and, closer to the harbor, saw a whale spouting.  What a greeting!

We didn't know what we'd find at Ballantynes Cove.  The Downeast Circle Guide talked of a fishing harbor with the wall space usually occupied by fish boats, but in addition to that we found new floating pleasure craft piers and finger slips.  The slips are made for 20-30' boats, so we were assigned to a header dock in this beautiful, secure little harbor.   There was no water or power on the dock but we didn't really need either.  The $18.00 a night slip fee, plus clean restrooms, showers and laundry facilities, was a real bargain. 

The waters off Cape George are a hot spot for Blue Fin tuna in the fall, and we were just a little ahead of the rush.  Most of the monster tuna caught out of here is immediately iced, driven to Halifax, and flown in insulated "coffins" to Tokyo to be served in Japanese Sushi Bars within a few days of their swimming in the Northumberland Strait.  I'd probably seen tuna from here at the huge fish market near the hotel I usually stayed at during business trips to Tokyo.  Such are the ways of the global economy.

While in Ballantynes cove, Phoenix, a green Baba 35 out of Catawba Island (across the bay from Sandusky, Ohio) tied up at the other header dock.  As an interesting coincidence, the owner had met our Lake Superior friends Claus and Rachael on Kayana last year when they passed through.  Phoenix wintered at Charlottetown, and John, the skipper, was just now resuming his cruise around Nova Scotia and down the eastern seaboard.  We'll likely see more of Phoenix along the way.

8/14/2008 - Ballantynes Cove to Port Hawkesbury (plus 8/15 lay day) -- 28.9 Miles

Finally we awoke to a great sailing wind, placing us close hauled in an 8 to 10 knot breeze as we sailed right down our rhumb line.  Would it hold for a change?   The answer, unfortunately, was no.  At around 11:00 a.m. we had to fire up the kicker and motor sail yet again.

The Strait of Canso, with its less than 1-mile-wide channel, separates Cape Breton Island from the mainland of Nova Scotia.  In 1955 the Island was connected to the mainland with a causeway, a massive engineering project for its time.  To allow vessel traffic to flow through the straits, a leveling lock was constructed at the causeway's easternmost end to accommodate the tidal variances north and south of the causeway.  Our passage through the lock was pretty uneventful, raising us about 4".

Environmental effects of a structure like this weren't generally considered in the 1950's.  Today the causeway would likely not have been built.  Before its construction the strait would become jammed with ice until the middle of May.  Blocking the strait at the causeway eliminated this jam, but also had an unforeseen profound effect, warming the water temperature by up to 5 degrees in harbors on down the southeast coast of Nova Scotia, making them effectively ice-free and sharply reducing the incidence of fog.

Port Hawkesbury's Canso Yacht Club provided secure dockage and showers, but little else.  For WiFi we had to walk about 5 blocks to Shindigs Pub, but were rewarded with good food washed down with a cold brew.  Shindigs also has live entertainment several evenings each week ... quite the happening place!

(Non-boaters may wish to skip the next two paragraphs)  For some reason our shore power would not work in the marina.  The Yacht Club had recently installed GFI breakers on their shore power circuits.  As a result, any boats with modern inverter/chargers would immediately trip the marina's breaker when their inverters did their automated test for the presence of shore power ground (on these units all power flows through the inverter even if the inverter/charger is turned off, and the inverter/charger has its own GFI sensor).  We first encountered this when storing on the hard in Sandusky and not being able to use their GFI yard outlets for ships power, but we've never yet encountered it at a dock.  This spring after studying the manuals and calling the manufacturer of our inverter, Bill finally figured out the problem and learned how to defeat it, but doing so requires disassembling part of our inverter in a very hard to reach spot.  Uggh.  Instead of Hawkesbury's "GFI-protected" shore power, we instead used our genset a coupled of hours each day to keep the holding plates cold in our refrigerator. 

Interestingly, no one in the marina and none of the permanent residents we talked with knew why visitors were popping their circuit breakers all the time.  Clearly this was a well-intentioned upgrade that wasn't very well thought out for today's boats and electrical systems.

Thursday night a well-forecast intense low tracked to the south of Nova Scotia, leaving us pinned and heeled against the dock in the resulting stiff winds, but very well protected.  These winds finally abated around mid-afternoon on Friday, but by that time we decided to delay our trek up the Bras d'Or until Saturday morning.

8/16/2008 - Port Hawkesbury to Marble Mountain, Bras d'Or Lake -- 47.0 Miles

Saturday dawned calm in the Canso Strait, with low clouds that hadn't yet burned off hanging over the entrance to the Lennox Passage.  It was yet another grey day.

The Lenox passage to St. Peter's Canal, and the channel following the canal reminded us of the North Channel of Lake Huron as we wound around shoal areas and islands with the occasional modest cabins and, in some cases, beautiful, expansive, modern homes likely used as vacation retreats by their wealthy owners. 

Midway up the Lenox we called for an opening at the Burnt Island Bascule Bridge.  It was a cool day, so we were in luck.  We had learned in Port Hawkesbury that the bridge can't open on hot days because of some issue with expansion.  We were told that if that should happen to us we should just anchor below the bridge and wait 'til the next morning, as the bridge always seems to work until at least noon most days.  Hmmm ... seems like there has to be a solution of some sort for a problem like that.

A little while later we entered the St. Peter's Canal and its entry lock, initially opened in 1869 to replace the skids previously used to drag boats from the ocean to the Bras d'Or lake.  The canal passage was painless (only a 15" lift), after which we passed through the swing bridge marking the canal's entrance from the lake side.  Dragging Jubilee across with a team of oxen wouldn't have been quite as easy.

After exiting St. Peter's Channel the wind piped up for a wonderful, hull speed, even reach in threatening rain (we beat most of it) to Marble Mountain and the several anchorage choices in that area.  We spent our first night in the Bras d'Or in a secure cove with one other sailboat while a gentle rain fell most of the night and morning. 

8/17/2008 - Marble Mountain to Baddeck -- 26.4 Miles

By late morning the rain stopped as we upped anchor for Baddeck.  With a 7-10 knot westerly breeze we decided to take it easy with a leisurely sail under jib alone, avoiding main preventers, whisker poles, downwind jibes, and the like while we caught up on our reading.  As we approached the Barra Strait Bascule Bridge the clouds cleared for our first sunny day in a while.  Things were looking up on the Bras d'Or!

While entering the Marble Mountain anchorage the previous evening our cell phone rang.  It was our Twin Cities sailing friends Jim Hawkins & Ellie Adams on MetaFog.  They had come in the eastern entrance to the Bras d'Or to Baddeck, having just traveled down the coast of Newfoundland from Labrador!  We were looking forward to seeing them.

We also heard Sweet Time calling the Barra Strait Bridge for an opening.  They were also heading for Baddeck.  Baddeck was going to be like coming home.

After sundowners Sunday night with Jim & Ellie in MetaFog's cockpit, we had dinner with them at Bell Buoy, a great seafood restaurant just a block from the harbor.  Jim & Ellie had been there when they last came through this way about 4 years ago, and it was still excellent.  If you ever stop in Beddeck we'd highly recommend it.

8/18/2008 Baddeck Lay Day

Monday was a day for boat projects, washing clothes, and a little town touring.  We'd been having trouble sorting out a starting system issue with the Yanmar.  Back in Gaspe' the starter intermittently stopped responding to the ignition switch.  As a result, Bill had to resort to jumping the solenoid several times these past three weeks.  The solenoid was good, and the key switch tested good also.  At Baddeck we had a mechanic out to the boat who quickly found the problem ... a weak secondary solenoid (a small solenoid that throws a switch to power to the main solenoid, something that might be needed in the case of long wire runs between the key switch and the starter solenoid).  For us the fix was easy ... bypassing the secondary solenoid which we didn't need in the first place.  Voila!   The engine now starts every time on the key.

We also took the opportunity of a sunny, clear, morning to re-bed two chain-plates, one of which had started leaking with all the rain we'd had these past weeks.  As they say ... cruising is all about fixing your boat in exotic places.

The highlight of our town touring was the Alexander Graham Bell museum.  Bell lived here for 37 years after inventing the telephone, preferring the quiet seclusion of Cape Breton to the hustle bustle of Washington D.C. for his inventive pursuits.  Here in Beddeck he designed a hydrofoil boat (clocked at over 70 MPH, it was by far the world's fasted boat at the time), and he was one of the pioneers of manned flight, building and flying the first human-controlled airplane in the British Empire.  Other pursuits while in Bedeck included an improved gramophone, the world's first "iron lung", voice transmission over light waves, and numerous advances to aid the deaf in communicating (Bell's wife was deaf). 

After dinner back at the boat, with Jim & Ellie we hiked a few blocks up the hill to the St. Michael's Catholic Church Parish Hall for a Ceildeh, an "informal gathering" with authentic Cape Breton style music and dancing.  They do this 7 nights a week in Badeck as well as at innumerable pubs around the island.  However this Ceildeh was slightly different, in that one of their goals was to introduce and explain traditional Cape Breton music to their mostly-tourist audience.  What an evening.  This night featured an outstanding fiddle player with piano accompaniment (the traditional instrument pairing for Cape Breton music).  They also taught some square dances (see photo of Jim & Ellie), and did some step dancing.  For intermission we had traditional tea with oat cakes, a slightly salty tasting, somewhat dry, thin flat cake (more like a cookie) but with no sugar added.  They weren't bad ... but the music was better.

We returned to our boat tired from a full day.  One could get attached to this place.

8/19/2008 - Baddeck to Maskell's Harbor -- 12.1 Miles

We met Jim & Ellie for breakfast at the Deli in Baddeck (excellent egg and bacon bagels by the way, not to mention their pastries).  Jim & Ellie would be staying in Baddeck an additional day to attend to boat chores, but we'll likely be meeting up with them again as they track west toward Mahone Bay near Halifax, where they plan to lay up MetaFog for the winter andresume their cruise next year.

The rhumb line for our course today, while only about 7 miles, was directly up wind.  Notwithstanding the wind direction, we had plenty of breeze (a little over 20 apparent) with beautiful blue skies and warm temperatures, making for two long, fun, tacks with a reef in the main and the jib partially furled.  The tacks, our maneuvers in and out of the two harbors, some poking around to decide where to anchor, added almost 5 miles to our short day, but the sailing was great.

Maskell's, said to be the most photographed harbor in the Bras d'Or, is a very well protected cove with steep hills all around and a lighthouse at its entrance.  A trawler coming in behind us beat us to our preferred anchoring spot, so we anchored between a private mooring buoy and a beautiful blue Hinkley Pilot yawl.  Unfortunately we didn't get a good set, so up came 125 feet of chain and the hook for a 2nd try.  As soon as the hook was up, the Hinkley called us on the radio suggesting we use the remaining open private mooring, as they knew the owners wouldn't be using it tonight.  We took up their suggestion and were set for the night.

We saw another 1st in Maskell's Harbor.  It turns out the Hinkley Pilot had two large and one smaller dog aboard.  Instead of ferrying them ashore with their dingy, they were being taken to shore and back, one at a time, on a sailboard.  These dogs were pretty competent sailboarding K-9's.  They each sat patiently on the board while their owner sailed them over to the sand bar and back. 

One could spend a month in the Bras d'Or area, anchored in a different, beautiful, spot each night, but unfortunately that plan wouldn't get us down the east shore of Nova Scotia.  Maskell's would have to be our last Bras d'Or anchorage, and we celebrated this beautiful spot with steaks on the grill.  Tomorrow we head to the new Lions Club marina in St. Peter's for a night at the dock and a diesel fill before heading out the canal to points west.

8/20/2008 - Maskell's Harbor to St. Peters Lion's Marina -- 27.6 Miles

Out on the lake it was blowing about 15 knots WNW when we left Maskell's Harbor around 9:30 a.m.  Our main was still single reefed from the prior day, but this time we coupled it with the staysail rather than the partially furled jib.  It was a good combination as we laid the Barra Strait Bridge on one tack, running comfortably in the mid-6's without too much heel.

Jim and Ellie Hawkins were on the opposite shore, tacking upwind from Baddeck when we left the harbor.  Unfortunately shortly after they transited the Barra Strait, about 30 minutes behind us, they blew out their yankee (headsail) in the strong winds, and subsequently turned back to Baddeck for sail repairs. 

After negotiating the Barra Strait we were seeing consistent 20-knots true with gusts to 24 or 25 during the roughly 12-mile crossing of the Great Bras d'Or.  However, the angle was right for laying our course all the way across, running in the 6's most of the time but nearer the end periodically hitting the low 8's (our theoretical hull speed is 7.2, and we didn't even have sufficient waves to "surf"!).  Our navigation s/w recorded one burst above 9 knots.  What a ride!

The town of St. Peters lies adjacent to the St. Peters locks, and only about 4 blocks from the Marina.  This new marina was built and is operated by the Lions club, and we found it one the best facility we'd docked at in a long time ... very well run, with a clean new marina building, a lounge area, a computer and TV, WiFi at the docks, several newly built clean rest rooms/showers, and several washer-driers.  Judy ran uptown to the grocery for a few things plus did a load of wash while Bill changed the primary and secondary fuel filters on our Yanmar.  We should now be ready for our jog down Nova Scotia's eastern, Atlantic, shore.

Our P.E.I. to Cape Breton travels brought a number of varied experiences ... our furthest eastern point of our cruise this year (60 degrees 40 minutes west), some beautiful anchorages, some great towns, some wonderful Cape Breton music, some great food, and very good company with long time Minnesota sailing friends.  From here we start heading west back to the states.  Stay tuned as the adventure continues.

Gaspe' to Prince Edward Island

8/3/2008 - Gaspe to Petite Riviere Est (St Therese de Gaspe') - 45.6 Miles

Notwithstanding the weather forecast for today (Sunday), the prospect of hanging on a bouncy mooring at Gaspe for 3 or 4 more wet and even windier days was losing its appeal.  After pulling down and studying the next 5 days of grib files (wind direction and strength predictions), looking at the 500mb weather forecasts for the next 1, 2 and 4 days, looking at the NOAA surface analysis charts for the same periods, listening to Canadian VHF marine weather, and pulling up Environment Canada's marine forecasts, we came to the conclusion that if we were to leave Gaspe it would either be today or we'd have to wait 'til  Wednesday or Thursday.  We conferred with Alfredo from Jancris, and decided to go for it with them, casting off our mooring line at about 7:30 am.

With on and off rain, 6-8' seas, and an east wind forecast to build, we decided to leave the main in the cover and motor-sail with just the jib to minimize the time we'd need to be at the mast raising and then dropping/furling the main.  It was a good plan for our wet, rolling, ride.  Luckily we were able to con most of the trip from inside the pilothouse.

In our only mishap for the day we took a particularly large roller on the beam, causing Judy to slide off the helm seat and land against the navigation table across the passageway from the helm.  She sustained a big bruise on her right forearm, which took the brunt of the blow, but she also hit her right side pretty hard, taking her breath away.  Along with that nasty arm bruise, she'll be sore for a while from that episode.

Shortly after rounding Cap d'Espoir a whale breached ahead of us three times in a 5-minute period.  Each time the massive creature jumped vertically, totally out of the water, tail and all, before crashing back into the ocean.  Judy also caught a glimpse (tail only) of a whale characteristically surfacing for a dive.  Breathtaking!  You sure don't see stuff like this back on Lake Superior.

Petite Riviere Est, home to sizable fleet of fishing tugs, is about as snug and secure a harbor as we could imagine.  There are two small basins inside the breakwall.  All the wall and dock space was occupied, so we and Jancris tied to fishing tugs.  Poisson Lune, the crabber we tied to, had just finished the crabbing season and would be staying put for a couple more months waiting for the turbot season to open.  Hopefully we won't be waiting that long for the weather to turn, so we shouldn't have to move for him.

6/4-5/2008 - Layover in Petite Riviere Est

We stayed in Petite Riviere Est two full days (three nights) waiting out this weather system, but we couldn't have been more secure ... certainly much more secure than Gaspe'.  No more trying to sleep with the constant up and down from the wave action in Gaspe'.  And the price was right ... $9.00 a night, including power and a very nice, clean, restroom/shower!

On Monday we walked a rainy mile into town to check things out, but there wasn't really any town there ... just a grocery and a couple of cafe-style restaurants along the way.  Just across the harbor, was a fish processing plant.  In addition to processing and shipping fresh seafood, the plant had a large area of salt cod drying racks out back.  We first thought lutefisk, but we think lutefisk is only dried, not salt-cured, and we didn't hear anyone talking about reconstituting the salt cod in lye water!  We subsequently learned that sun-dried salt cod is one of the specialties of this area, apparently shipped all over the world.  No drying was going on in today's rain, however.

After our walk-around we stopped at the Poissonnere (fish market) adjacent to the fish processing plant, picking up some pre-cooked crab legs for an appetizer, and some mussels and scallops for dinner.  Mmmm.

Tuesday the rain let up, the wind switched to the NE and laid down a bit, and the seas started to moderate.   Although a peak of 20-25 knots was still forecast for mid-day Wednesday, the winds were supposed to moderate later in the day and stay a bit lighter through Thursday.  After a little strategizing over espresso aboard Alfredo and Nicoletta's Mako 56, Jancris, we jointly decided on an early Wednesday morning departure for a 90-mile jump to an anchorage in Miramichi Bay, New Brunswick.  It will be a long day tomorrow.

6/6/2008 - Petite Riviere Est to Miramichi Bay, New Brunswick -- 86.8 Miles

It was 5:30 a.m. by the time we had everything in order and the dock lines cast off our host fishing tug.  We found some long period swells (around 4-6 feet) from the past days of strong easterlies, but other than getting bounced around a bit they posed no problem.  Given the distance we had to go today we tried to keep our speed through the water up around 6.5 knots with the engine assisting at low revs while quartering, actually almost dead down wind, to a 10-15-knot NE breeze.  The sun finally showed itself in the morning, bringing blue skies with a few fair weather cumulous clouds to the west.  There were a few banks of rain clouds off to the east, but they politely stayed in their places throughout the day.

Around mid-morning we passed Miscou and Lameque islands, marking another milestone as we left Quebec and entered New Brunswick waters.  We're now on Atlantic time, "losing" another hour.

Hearing and reading about marginal depths in the Escuminac harbor and its entrance just down the way, we decided instead to anchor in Maramichi Bay. Entering Miramichi Bay involved a 4-mile treck around a couple of shoal areas and through a slightly deeper cut over the entrance bar. The bay itself is quite shallow, but we found a spot behind Portage Island where we anchored in a little over 30'.  Unfortunately the more desirable anchorage areas behind Portage that were shallower than 25' and deeper than 8 to 10' were taken up by lobster pots.  Lobster for dinner was tempting, but we left the traps for the fisherman in the morning.  If the wind is right, as it was for us, Maramichi Bay's Portage Island provides an excellent anchorage option between the Gaspe' and P.E.I., however one would probably have to go further into the bay to find reasonable shelter for some wind directions because of the size of the bay.

6/7/2008 - Miramichi Bay to Summerside, Prince Edward Island -- 83.7 Miles

With the anchor up by 6:30 a.m. Atlantic time (5:30 Eastern, where our bio-clocks were still set), we started winding our way out of Maramichi, dodging the lobster pots in the bay and for the 6 or 8 miles westward toward Point Escuminac.  Spotting the pots while heading directly into the rising sun was a bit difficult, but we were able to steer clear.  At Pt. Escuminac we finally were able to turn the corner and sail in near-perfect winds and seas rather than motor-sail.  Ahhh ... finally to be moving in the direction we want to go without the engine droning away.

A little rain cell at PEI's West Point took the wind's breath away, although a little later we were again able to get a wind boost from the breeze while motorsailng the rest of the way in.

Our real welcome to P.E.I came with the lighthouse at Cape Egmont, about 15 miles out of Summerside.  It was just like a Lake Superior Apostles Islands lighthouse, built on a sand cliff with sandstone caves below. 

Just prior to the cape was Red Head, an aptly named headland of steep red sand banks.  Judy had been reading Anne of Green Gables, looking forward to the celebration of the 100 year anniversary of its publication.  Green Gables was written and set here on P.E.I.  The book's descriptions of P.E.I.'s red sand shorelines, and of course that adorable little red haired Anne, seemed to come alive as we rounded the head and cape.

At Summerside we took a slip in the Yacht Club, and Jancris anchored just outside the marina.

6/8/2008 - Lay Day in Summerside

The Silver Fox Yachting and Curling Club (how's that for a combination) was a very nice facility with a very active bar, deck, restaurant (bar food), and nice washrooms, laundry facilities, and guest lounge.  The complex is adjacent to a small shopping center with a warehouse-style grocery store, and is next to Spinnakers' Landing, a waterfront boardwalk complex with shops, a restaurant/pub, an arts center and theater, and the visitor's bureau.  Further along the waterfront were a number of local restraunts plus the usual fast food outlets. 

Beyond the lively marina and wharf area the town was pretty quiet.  We followed the tourist map walking tour which took us by numerous well-kept late 1800's early 1900's homes, but most of the businesses seemed to have moved to the outskirts, beyond our walking reach.

It was clear that boats had finally started moving again.  Among them, Nick and Sherri on Sweet Time arrived in the afternoon from Escuminac.  They had tried to leave L'Anse a' Beaufils the day we traveled from Gaspe' to Ste Therese de Gaspe', but turned back to sit out the weather at Chandler, a few miles west of Ste. Therese where we were sitting out the blow.  Friday night we walked down the wharf with them for dinner at the Lobster House for, you guessed it, lobster.  Yummm.

6/9/2008 - Summerside to Charlottetown -- 48.2 Miles

The day started out a bit hazy as we motored, and then motor-sailed, and then, finally, sailed a bit on our way from Summerside to Charlottetown.  For our departure, Summerside's Bedique Bay treated us to yet another picturesque lighthouse and red cliff view at Seacow head, as we worked our way out of the bay toward the Confederation Bridge just around the corner.

Only 11 years old, the Confederation Bridge provides a 9-mile-long land link between the island-Province of P.E.I. and New Brunswick on the mainland.  Its completion no doubt brought a huge boost to commerce and tourism.  The scale of the bridge tricks your senses, making the spans appear quite low.  Just the opposite is true.  Its slightly curving, 9-mile length and 130'-high arches (almost 200' at the highest arch), provided an abundance of clearance for our 62' mast.  It reminded us of a long, graceful, Roman aqueduct. 

Entering the harbor at Charlottetown was an equally special treat.  We were first greeted by the Blockhouse Pt. Lighthouse as we approached the narrows to enter Charlottetown's beautiful natural harbor.  With a population of roughly 65,000 this city is in fact the largest city on P.E.I., and serves as the capitol of this small island-Province.  But size doesn't always matter.  We found Charlottetown to be an alive, vibrant, harbor.  We stayed three nights and loved every minute.

Saturday night at Charlottetown we met up with Vern & Alice Voth, who stayed with us in Charlottetown during their Maritimes driving vacation.  Bill and Vern started work at Univac together in the summer of 1967 and the four of us have been friends ever since. 

Before we started this sailing odyssey in 2007, a group of local Twin Cities sailing friends had given us a bottle of champagne and two beautiful stainless champagne flutes for a special celebration once we were in salt water.  A beautiful P.E.I. evening along with Vern & Alice's arrival, plus the fact that it was Alice's birthday that day, provided the perfect occasion to pop that cork and celebrate.  Thank you, everyone in the "Local Cruising Group", for your thoughtful send-off.  From time to time we still have to pinch ourselves to realize that we're really here ... in salt water ... in the Maritimes, but that champagne also reminded us of the many warm friendships we have back home in the Twin Cities.  We are two very lucky people. 

For Alice's birthday on Saturday night, Vern took Alice and us to dinner at the Lobster on the Wharf restaurant just across the park from our boat.  It was the first of three consecutive wonderful seafood dinners we would have in Charlottetown.

6/10-11/2008 -- Lay Days in Charlottetown, P.E.I.

Sunday brought a driving trip with Vern and Alice and their rental car to Green Gables, the site that inspired Lucy Maud Montgomery's world-famous book, Anne of Green Gables and the several sequels that were to follow.  This year marked the 100'th anniversary of the novel's publication, making the trip to Green Gables even more special.  The drive there took us through the beautiful rolling, lush P.E.I countryside, reminding Vern & Alice of their years in New Zealand.  We can see why P.E.I. is such a popular tourist destination.

Sunday night we ate at another highly recommended restaurant less than a block from our boat ... Flex Mussels, a cleverly named hot spot for mussels on the island.  Mmmm.

Monday morning we visited the Founder's Hall exhibit just across the park from the marina.  In 1864 P.E.I. hosted  the Charlottetown Conference, attended by representatives from what is now Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and of course P.E.I.  It was at this conference that the initial agreements for Canadian Confederation were established, to be fleshed out one month later in Quebec City.  After the formal signing shortly after, in London, England, Canada was born.  The exhibit starts with the 1864 Confederation and traces Canada's history to the present.  It was very well done.  Well worth a visit.

After Founder's Hall we did a little more land exploring with Vern and Alice before driving across the island to go to a church supper at St. Anne's Catholic Church.  Vern and Alice had initially heard about the St. Anne's suppers from a friend who had attended one of their dinners back in 1984, but once we were on P.E.I. we started hearing about St. Anne's from numerous other sources too.  The Church has been providing these suppers from June to September six nights a week for some 44 years, but other than being held in a church basement, this was a church supper unlike anything in Lake Wobegon-land.  We enjoyed five courses, accompanied by wine, starting with a delicious seafood chowder, followed by a generous serving of mussels, and then a nice salad.  Next came a whole lobster with vegetables, and finally a choice of dessert and coffee.  Wow!

We wondered if the Lutherans down the way were serving Lutefisk, as there were no cars in their lot.  St. Anne's parking lot and church basement were full on this Monday evening, with a line of people patiently waiting for tables to free up!

Are you thinking we couldn't top that?  Well we did!  Back in Charlottetown we enjoyed a performance of "Anne of Green Gables - the Musical" at the Confederation Performing Arts Center.  This musical, now also in its 44th year, offered an extremely professional, very well cast and enjoyable musical rendition of the Green Gables story, performed in a beautiful, modern, theatre.  If you come through this way make sure to get tickets.  You won't regret it.

Reluctantly we parted ways with Vern and Alice after the play, they to be on their way by car to Nova Scotia tomorrow, and we to resume our cruise crossing the Northumberland Strait to the mainland.  Stay tuned as we work our way further south and east to explore the north shore of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island.