It's been a crazy four weeks since we got back from our trip to Alberta. The weekend after we got home, despite the fact that we had a ton of things to do, it was such a beautiful weekend that we decided to take off on the boat to Pictou Island. Amazingly enough this was the first time we were there this year. It has not escaped us that this has been a great summer to be out sailing but we have spent most of it not sailing... so that we can get ready to go sailing.
After we got back from Pictou Island I did not go back to the boat for three weeks. Dave had so many things ripped apart for his projects that there was no point. I just stayed home and got things there packed up, organized and cleaned up, and fed Dave whenever he showed up. He worked long days very hard, but in the end we had a newly insulated fridge (we'll know how that worked once we get south to warmer climes), complete with new custom made baskets and dividers (which are wonderful - even though we lost a couple of inches of height because of the insulation, I am able to store more in the fridge now), a forward head holding tank, an electric windlass, a new solar panel and countless other things which will make our trip safer, easier and more comfortable.
We halted progress on boat prep for a few days while we took care of our grandson Sebastian, which was a great opportunity for us to spend time with him while his parents were away working. After all we won't see him for 10 months so we had to cram as much as we could into a couple of weeks.
When I finally got to the boat, only five days before we planned to leave, I found everything covered in a layer of dust from Dave's projects, including inside of a lot of the cupboards! So along with stocking and stowing, I found myself cleaning the worst of it as I went. There is still a layer of fine dust in some parts that I haven't got to yet, but we'll survive. At one point, when Dave and I were both on the boat working and I needed access to where he was, I asked him how long he would be and he said "about a minute", but what I heard was "a boat minute". It got me thinking that there could be a new time scale called boat time, where everything is about ten times the 'normal' duration. I will likely use the term "a boat minute" again.
Because the forecast was for strong winds over the last weekend before we left, we decided to bring Romana in from her mooring to the Hector Quay Marina and tie up for a few nights to make loading easier. This turned out to be a really good decision, which was evident when as we dinghied out to Romana to bring her into the marina we managed to take a wave over the bow and I got soaked from head to toe. Lugging gear and provisions on and off the boat for three days was much easier at the dock.
Getting the boat provisioned and the house sorted out so that our house sitter Lisa could be comfortable was an interesting experience. There were moments when I thought "what did we keep that for?" as I tossed something in the garbage, "I wonder why we store that there" as I gave Lisa the tour of the house, breathing in the heady aroma of spices as I filled up the jars to take to the boat, and when I got really tired, dumping pistachio shells into a bag to take to the boat instead of pistachios. A couple of nights before we left I was up at 10:30 at night varnishing and staining bits and pieces of woodwork that Dave had just managed to get finished before we took off.
Although we originally planned to leave Monday morning, by Friday we had revised that to Tuesday morning and in the end we left late Tuesday afternoon. We wouldn't have made it then if not for help from friends. Al helped Dave with projects all summer long, and especially in the last couple of weeks, and Cathy came down to the wharf a few hours before we left and lugged provisions, helped me stow and even went and got lunch for Dave and I so that we could keep working away to get ready. After a last trip back to the house to do one more sweep (in both senses of the word), Al picked us up and drove us back to the marina and cast us off at 4:25 p.m. September 10th.
We planned to go to Ballantyne's Cove for the night, arriving around 10:30 p.m. Although we were tired out, we were also pretty pumped to be on our way, and it was quite a nice night so we decided to push on to Havre Boucher where we arrived around 1:30 a.m. and anchored. I am not a big fan of sailing at night but if the conditions are right it can be pretty neat. Being familiar with the waters made me a lot more confident and secure so it was a good time to do it. We used the AIS on our new radio for the first time, to identify what looked like a cruise ship, called the Maarsdam. The new radio is going to be great when we are in shipping lanes.
On Wednesday morning we slept in a bit after a late night and hauled up the anchor around 8:30 heading for Canso. Hauling up the anchor is quite a different experience now because of the electric windlass and the half pipe that Dave installed in the anchor locker to guide the chain. It was amazing how effortless it was! Chalk up another successful improvement.
We went through Canso lock around 10 a.m. and after a bouncy motor sail across Chedabucto Bay we were in Canso just after 2 p.m. so we decided to push on a bit and see if we could get to Yankee Cove, an anchorage in Whitehead Harbour that we had heard about from friends. We navigated through the St. Andrews Passage and then we were on the Eastern Shore subject to the full force of the Atlantic Ocean! In fact it wasn't as bad as going across Chedabucto Bay. The waves were further apart and although we just motor sailed with the staysail and it was pretty bouncy and not really fast it was okay. As we got into Yankee Cove the fog started to roll in and soon we could hardly see the islands around us which were only a few hundred feet away. Welcome to the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia.
Thursday morning we got up early to get some distance before the winds picked up as the forecast was for 20 knots on the nose. The fog was thick, but with the help of our instruments we managed to make it to Port Bickerton, where after half an hour in a downpour we tied up to the wharf on the second attempt (I didn't manage to get off the boat on the first try). So here we are... waiting for Gabrielle to come. The forecast yesterday turned out to be wrong and there was hardly any wind all day, but even though we could have made more miles I think it was the right call to stop when and where we did. Dave is exhausted from all the work he has been doing and needs a bit of time to rejuvinate.
We're getting back into life on the boat, having conversations like "did you brush your teeth today? I don't think I did yet" just after noon when we arrived after a rolly morning at sea, sorting out how all of our new gear works and getting back into route planning and reading old logs to see where we stopped on other trips along this coast. All summer people have been asking me if I was excited about the trip and I was so busy getting ready I couldn't say that I was, but now I can say I am!
Note: We didn't have to try the tether after all. This was posted via free WiFi. Shout out to Whitney's Corner Store in Port Bickerton.