Hello from...land. After 237 days (just over 9 months), 6117 Nm, 1100 hours underway (a whopping 85% with the engine on), and 8400 photos we are back home. I am writing this final blog sitting at my kitchen table in New Glasgow. I woke up this morning at 5 a.m. with nowhere to go. I wonder how long it will take me to break the habit of waking that early? We covered the last 300 miles from Liverpool in four days and arrived in Pictou yesterday at 3:30 p.m. to find a small reception committee waiting to greet us. Last night we slept at the house and we both found it really quiet and really dark compared to the boat.
This last push reminded us that the trip is not over until it is over and we have to stay vigilant no matter where we are sailing. With a forecast for NE winds late in the week we were really trying to get around the eastern tip of Nova Scotia at Canso as quickly as we could, because we didn't want to have to stop too long anywhere to wait for weather when we were this close to home. That meant long days to make as many miles as we could, so Tuesday morning we left the dock at Liverpool just after 5 a.m. and set off for Ship Harbour. It was a very calm day as we chugged along the South Shore past LaHave, Mahone Bay, Sambro, Halifax Harbour and then started along the Eastern Shore.
We had sun until we got just past Halifax Harbour and then the sky got black and threatening and we had some rain, but not for long. As we got closer to Ship Harbour it was obvious that we were going to be getting in well after dark, so Dave looked for an alternate destination and selected Owl's Head Harbour, just to the west of it and shaved about an hour off our trip. We watched the sun go down as we got closer to the harbour and Dave had just commented that they should be fishing lobster here when I saw a trap. A couple of minutes later we heard the 'thump, thump, thump' sound something hitting the hull and we looked behind us and saw we had hit a trap. Luckily we didn't wrap the line or anything, but... it was pretty well dark and now we had to contend with traps?
Although it was almost a full moon it was so overcast that we weren't getting much light from that if any. I went up to the bow, dressed in my rain gear, boots, toque and gloves and stood up there watching for traps and any un-lit, un-charted buoys for 45 minutes as the rain drizzled down. Luckily it wasn't too cold. We made it in to our selected anchorage without hitting anything else and dropped the hook just after 10 p.m. tired out but happy that we had knocked off 101 Nm in just under 17 hours.
The next morning we got up and trundled out just before sunrise again, this time heading for Canso - another long day. The forecast was for 15-20 knots N wind, so we were really hoping we would be able to sail quickly and get there before dark this time. We put up the main with one reef in it and Dave went down below to get some more sleep. It was a beautiful day - clear and sunny and for my first watch I motor sailed pretty much the entire time because there wasn't enough wind to sail more than about 3.5 knots (believe me, I tried). At 9 a.m. Dave took watch and I went below to try to get some sleep in the V. As the hours ticked by the wind picked up and Dave kept reefing the jib in. We kept heeling more. I could hear the odd wave crashing over the deck but I was nice and cozy in the bunk and it was pretty comfortable.
When I got up to take my watch at noon I was surprised at how big the waves were. Dave made lunch and then went back to the aft cabin to try to get a rest but about fifteen minutes later I went down to ask him what he thought we should do as the wind was coming around on our nose and we were really slowed down. He came up and adjusted sails and our course a bit but it was obvious we weren't going to get to Canso at this rate, so we had to figure out Plan B. I suggested Liscombe, but we were almost past it and he didn't want to go 'back' plus it is a long way in. He decided we should go into Fisherman's Harbour, just east of Port Bickerton.
By this time I was pretty well freaking out as the waves continued to crash over the bow and the wind blew stronger - gusting close to 30 knots. We were not making good progress and even though we only had to go about 12 miles to get in, a good part of it was into the wind. I went below and simply endured it while Dave stayed in the cockpit, ducking the waves that blew in there, adjusting the jib and our course to try to keep us moving and eventually starting the engine and furling the jib when we couldn't sail anymore. Meanwhile, chaos down below. Water from the continuous onslaught of waves was dripping from two separate leaks I had never seen before, so I had to move cushions away from the drips to keep the saltwater off them, the door of one of the lockers in the aft head flew open and stuff flew out of the locker, resulting in a hand mirror busting into shards on the floor of our cabin and I could hear things bouncing around in the cupboards. It was one of the roughest days (both literally and figuratively) of the entire trip.
We finally got within a couple of miles of shore and the waves calmed down a bit, but we were heading straight into the wind and they were still crashing over the deck right up until we were only about a half mile out. Once we were in the lee and it was calm enough we took the main down and then got anchored just before 6 p.m. We were both extremely relieved to be out of the seas and safely anchored and as soon as we got the glass cleaned up we celebrated with a drink - it was a very happy happy hour indeed. When Dave looked at the weather forecast later that evening he commented "Oh, now they tell me it's going to be 25 knots". The bottom line is that Romana really doesn't beat well and the wind was a bit too much on the nose for where we wanted to go. Unfortunately our 'plan B' destination was even more into the wind, which is why it took us so long to get there.
While we were having our drink we spotted another sailboat anchoring and once they were settled Dave called them on the radio. He found out that they were the same boat we spotted earlier in the day coming out of Ship Harbour when we left Owl's Head Bay. They were from BC and had been through the Panama and were heading up to Newfoundland to cross to Scotland via Greenland and Iceland. They had planned to do an overnight to St. Peter's but given the conditions they decided to pack it in and anchor, which made us feel like maybe we weren't such wimps after all. Despite the rough day we still managed to make 66 miles, so Canso was now within easy reach.
Thursday we got up early again and set off. We hadn't decided if we were going to stop in Canso or keep going, but we thought we would wait and see what the weather brought. It was only 3 deg C in the cockpit when we got up and the cabin was only 11 deg C. I think Romana is coming into equilibrium with the surrounding water which was 9.4 deg C! Although it was cold, it was sunny and the winds were light, so we motored along the coast heading for Canso. As much as I love the sun sparkling off the water in the mornings it makes it tough to see the lobster traps when you are heading straight into it, so I was glad when it was finally higher in the sky. One thing about looking for traps is that you see lots of other stuff - some garbage and debris, but also lots of interesting birds and inquisitive seals.
We went in through the St. Andrews Passage, which runs between a bunch of small rocky islands just south of Canso. It is a lovely passage but it was chock a block full of lobster traps with 50 to 100 feet of FLOATING line on them. Needless to say it was a tense hour navigating through there and into Canso. We approached Canso just before 1 p.m. and decided to keep going so we set off across Chedabucto Bay to the Straits of Canso. The wind came up, but it was behind us, giving us a nice push over when we unfurled the jib and motor sailed. Shortly after 5 p.m. we were through the Canso lock and into the Northumberland Strait - our home waters! We anchored for the night in Havre Boucher a few miles northwest of the lock, calling it a day after a paltry 73 mile day (but it seemed long enough).
From there it was about 60 miles to Pictou. When I went to bed I could hardly sleep - it was almost like Christmas Eve, anticipating getting home the next day. When we got up on Friday morning the sky was an amazing orange red colour - a beautiful sunrise for the last day of our trip. We chugged out of the harbour and headed for Cape George, about 20 miles away. The forecast was for SE winds so we thought we were going to have a great sail home. After an hour the wind came up just enough to unfurl the jib to give us a push but soon it died and we had to furl it again. As we came around Cape George and headed for Pictou the current was against us and the wind came up in our face, but luckily it was light enough that we could still make decent headway and the waves were small. We never did get to sail.
We took turns on watch and packing some things up to take home with us and as we travelled towards Pictou it felt good to be back in familiar waters. It's pretty amazing how familiar a coast can feel but as we got closer and closer it felt more and more like home. We spotted Pictou Island from a distance and we saw the ferry coming to Caribou from PEI. We got to the fairway buoy around 3 p.m. and by 3:30 we had spotted the stick on our mooring. Dave got in the dinghy and rowed over to rig up a pickup line and buoy and soon Romana was securely moored. Our friends Al and Alta and Cathy and Annie were waiting on the wharf for us, so we loaded up the dinghy and headed into shore.
And that was the end of our adventure. When we got home and got ready to go out for supper I went to the closet to look for something to wear and it was like I had a whole new wardrobe to choose from. There were my favourite boots, and tons of big dangly earrings and my leather jacket. These things that you don't consciously miss, but nevertheless you are delighted to see again. I went to get myself a glass of water and for a moment I had to think hard about which cupboard to open. The house looks in great shape and our house sitter Lisa seems happy with her stay here so that worked out well. It's good to be home.
We had a great trip and we have come home with all kinds of ideas for future cruises but for now we are going to enjoy being home for the summer, fall and winter. We don't plan to travel far on the boat this summer, although our first big cruise of the season will be back to Canso for Stanfest the first weekend of July. We might also just go out for a sail every once in a while - no destination, no deadline, just a sail. I think we are going to enjoy not having the constraints of work to force us into only sailing on weekends and going when the weather is good instead, but we have lots to do around the house and we will be enjoying visits from all the kids and grandkids so Romana may get lonely at times without us.
Thanks for coming along for the ride. I hope you have enjoyed the trip.
This last push reminded us that the trip is not over until it is over and we have to stay vigilant no matter where we are sailing. With a forecast for NE winds late in the week we were really trying to get around the eastern tip of Nova Scotia at Canso as quickly as we could, because we didn't want to have to stop too long anywhere to wait for weather when we were this close to home. That meant long days to make as many miles as we could, so Tuesday morning we left the dock at Liverpool just after 5 a.m. and set off for Ship Harbour. It was a very calm day as we chugged along the South Shore past LaHave, Mahone Bay, Sambro, Halifax Harbour and then started along the Eastern Shore.
We had sun until we got just past Halifax Harbour and then the sky got black and threatening and we had some rain, but not for long. As we got closer to Ship Harbour it was obvious that we were going to be getting in well after dark, so Dave looked for an alternate destination and selected Owl's Head Harbour, just to the west of it and shaved about an hour off our trip. We watched the sun go down as we got closer to the harbour and Dave had just commented that they should be fishing lobster here when I saw a trap. A couple of minutes later we heard the 'thump, thump, thump' sound something hitting the hull and we looked behind us and saw we had hit a trap. Luckily we didn't wrap the line or anything, but... it was pretty well dark and now we had to contend with traps?
Although it was almost a full moon it was so overcast that we weren't getting much light from that if any. I went up to the bow, dressed in my rain gear, boots, toque and gloves and stood up there watching for traps and any un-lit, un-charted buoys for 45 minutes as the rain drizzled down. Luckily it wasn't too cold. We made it in to our selected anchorage without hitting anything else and dropped the hook just after 10 p.m. tired out but happy that we had knocked off 101 Nm in just under 17 hours.
The next morning we got up and trundled out just before sunrise again, this time heading for Canso - another long day. The forecast was for 15-20 knots N wind, so we were really hoping we would be able to sail quickly and get there before dark this time. We put up the main with one reef in it and Dave went down below to get some more sleep. It was a beautiful day - clear and sunny and for my first watch I motor sailed pretty much the entire time because there wasn't enough wind to sail more than about 3.5 knots (believe me, I tried). At 9 a.m. Dave took watch and I went below to try to get some sleep in the V. As the hours ticked by the wind picked up and Dave kept reefing the jib in. We kept heeling more. I could hear the odd wave crashing over the deck but I was nice and cozy in the bunk and it was pretty comfortable.
When I got up to take my watch at noon I was surprised at how big the waves were. Dave made lunch and then went back to the aft cabin to try to get a rest but about fifteen minutes later I went down to ask him what he thought we should do as the wind was coming around on our nose and we were really slowed down. He came up and adjusted sails and our course a bit but it was obvious we weren't going to get to Canso at this rate, so we had to figure out Plan B. I suggested Liscombe, but we were almost past it and he didn't want to go 'back' plus it is a long way in. He decided we should go into Fisherman's Harbour, just east of Port Bickerton.
By this time I was pretty well freaking out as the waves continued to crash over the bow and the wind blew stronger - gusting close to 30 knots. We were not making good progress and even though we only had to go about 12 miles to get in, a good part of it was into the wind. I went below and simply endured it while Dave stayed in the cockpit, ducking the waves that blew in there, adjusting the jib and our course to try to keep us moving and eventually starting the engine and furling the jib when we couldn't sail anymore. Meanwhile, chaos down below. Water from the continuous onslaught of waves was dripping from two separate leaks I had never seen before, so I had to move cushions away from the drips to keep the saltwater off them, the door of one of the lockers in the aft head flew open and stuff flew out of the locker, resulting in a hand mirror busting into shards on the floor of our cabin and I could hear things bouncing around in the cupboards. It was one of the roughest days (both literally and figuratively) of the entire trip.
We finally got within a couple of miles of shore and the waves calmed down a bit, but we were heading straight into the wind and they were still crashing over the deck right up until we were only about a half mile out. Once we were in the lee and it was calm enough we took the main down and then got anchored just before 6 p.m. We were both extremely relieved to be out of the seas and safely anchored and as soon as we got the glass cleaned up we celebrated with a drink - it was a very happy happy hour indeed. When Dave looked at the weather forecast later that evening he commented "Oh, now they tell me it's going to be 25 knots". The bottom line is that Romana really doesn't beat well and the wind was a bit too much on the nose for where we wanted to go. Unfortunately our 'plan B' destination was even more into the wind, which is why it took us so long to get there.
While we were having our drink we spotted another sailboat anchoring and once they were settled Dave called them on the radio. He found out that they were the same boat we spotted earlier in the day coming out of Ship Harbour when we left Owl's Head Bay. They were from BC and had been through the Panama and were heading up to Newfoundland to cross to Scotland via Greenland and Iceland. They had planned to do an overnight to St. Peter's but given the conditions they decided to pack it in and anchor, which made us feel like maybe we weren't such wimps after all. Despite the rough day we still managed to make 66 miles, so Canso was now within easy reach.
Thursday we got up early again and set off. We hadn't decided if we were going to stop in Canso or keep going, but we thought we would wait and see what the weather brought. It was only 3 deg C in the cockpit when we got up and the cabin was only 11 deg C. I think Romana is coming into equilibrium with the surrounding water which was 9.4 deg C! Although it was cold, it was sunny and the winds were light, so we motored along the coast heading for Canso. As much as I love the sun sparkling off the water in the mornings it makes it tough to see the lobster traps when you are heading straight into it, so I was glad when it was finally higher in the sky. One thing about looking for traps is that you see lots of other stuff - some garbage and debris, but also lots of interesting birds and inquisitive seals.
We went in through the St. Andrews Passage, which runs between a bunch of small rocky islands just south of Canso. It is a lovely passage but it was chock a block full of lobster traps with 50 to 100 feet of FLOATING line on them. Needless to say it was a tense hour navigating through there and into Canso. We approached Canso just before 1 p.m. and decided to keep going so we set off across Chedabucto Bay to the Straits of Canso. The wind came up, but it was behind us, giving us a nice push over when we unfurled the jib and motor sailed. Shortly after 5 p.m. we were through the Canso lock and into the Northumberland Strait - our home waters! We anchored for the night in Havre Boucher a few miles northwest of the lock, calling it a day after a paltry 73 mile day (but it seemed long enough).
From there it was about 60 miles to Pictou. When I went to bed I could hardly sleep - it was almost like Christmas Eve, anticipating getting home the next day. When we got up on Friday morning the sky was an amazing orange red colour - a beautiful sunrise for the last day of our trip. We chugged out of the harbour and headed for Cape George, about 20 miles away. The forecast was for SE winds so we thought we were going to have a great sail home. After an hour the wind came up just enough to unfurl the jib to give us a push but soon it died and we had to furl it again. As we came around Cape George and headed for Pictou the current was against us and the wind came up in our face, but luckily it was light enough that we could still make decent headway and the waves were small. We never did get to sail.
We took turns on watch and packing some things up to take home with us and as we travelled towards Pictou it felt good to be back in familiar waters. It's pretty amazing how familiar a coast can feel but as we got closer and closer it felt more and more like home. We spotted Pictou Island from a distance and we saw the ferry coming to Caribou from PEI. We got to the fairway buoy around 3 p.m. and by 3:30 we had spotted the stick on our mooring. Dave got in the dinghy and rowed over to rig up a pickup line and buoy and soon Romana was securely moored. Our friends Al and Alta and Cathy and Annie were waiting on the wharf for us, so we loaded up the dinghy and headed into shore.
And that was the end of our adventure. When we got home and got ready to go out for supper I went to the closet to look for something to wear and it was like I had a whole new wardrobe to choose from. There were my favourite boots, and tons of big dangly earrings and my leather jacket. These things that you don't consciously miss, but nevertheless you are delighted to see again. I went to get myself a glass of water and for a moment I had to think hard about which cupboard to open. The house looks in great shape and our house sitter Lisa seems happy with her stay here so that worked out well. It's good to be home.
We had a great trip and we have come home with all kinds of ideas for future cruises but for now we are going to enjoy being home for the summer, fall and winter. We don't plan to travel far on the boat this summer, although our first big cruise of the season will be back to Canso for Stanfest the first weekend of July. We might also just go out for a sail every once in a while - no destination, no deadline, just a sail. I think we are going to enjoy not having the constraints of work to force us into only sailing on weekends and going when the weather is good instead, but we have lots to do around the house and we will be enjoying visits from all the kids and grandkids so Romana may get lonely at times without us.
Thanks for coming along for the ride. I hope you have enjoyed the trip.