Kath and now Gail were helping Craig work out our 32 hour passage 260 nautical miles from Negro Island to Gloucester USA.  

We had been told we could check in at Gloucester and it was a direct sail between the two.  As always we are running from the cold it would have been amazing to take our time and cruise up the Bay of Fundy and stick closer to the USA coastline but its a huge expanse of very wild seas and we needed to keep moving.

The best time for us to leave was 1pm so we spent the morning getting ourselves organised, most things are secure anyway but we had to ensure everything was packed away or tied down and double check everything again.  Craig prepped the engine, topped up the oil etc.  I prepared a couple of wraps, had snacks and water ready and we had prepared a stew with cauliflower cheese for dinner. 

So with great trepidation we headed off out into the huge grey seas our passage started off great with a nice 10-12 knot wind keeping us speeding along between 6-8 knots and we were thanking Kath and Gail and revelling in our good forecasting.  The seas were huge but not too close together, about what we expected,  I might add still scary shit.  

But once we passed the shelter of land and we were passing the Bay of Fundy all hell broke loose. 

The seas became enormous, there is an undersea shelf that makes the seas shallow to 60mt and that produces short sharp waves, we pulled in the headsail and put out the staysail a tiny sail with the main sail trimmed to 3 reefs and we were still flying.  

Adriana is a big boat and we have had the occasional wave crash right over her but now she was constantly being drenched, luckily for us she is a very dry boat under the dodger so we were dry at least.

it was so wild we couldn't go downstairs without being thrown around I'm very lucky I don't get seasick but it was too scary to go downstairs, I would wait until I had to pee then I would take that opportunity to get food and make hot water bottles for us.  I think its lucky we haven't bought an outdoor  thermometer yet.  

It was like being on the scariest roller coaster and it went on for hours.  

At one point we were huddled together to keep warm and Craig said " Well, you didnt want to stay home and watch TV everynight -  bet you didnt expect this"   It was good it was dark so we could not see the size of the waves only feel Adrianna go up up up then down down down as she flew on through that swell.  

When dawn did eventually break we could see the huge waves and we virtually just sat there taking it in turns to have naps we could not do anything else but hold on...

There were no cups of tea or midnight popcorn on this trip.  We sailed through the daybreak and into the next day, lunchtime passed then tea time and then the sun went down again, by now we could see the lighthouses and glow of the cities.  Boston is the next big city down the coast from Gloucester.  We had only seen a couple of fishing vessels on AIS through the night but there were lots more craft as we neared land.   It still took us until 3am before we reached Gloucester Outer Harbour, it had taken us 36 hours.

We had been warned about the lobster traps in Gloucester Harbour, but this was ridiculous they were everywhere a minefield of bobbing floats.

They indicate there is a lobster pot below, and if you go on=ver them the rope can get wrapped around your prop and if its badly wrapped around you need to swim under the prop to cut it free, but luckily we have a cutter on our propeller and lucky the one we snagged
was instantly cut free.

We had to use a huge hand held spotlight to help us guide our way into the anchorage it was a busy anchorage with heaps of mooring balls.  We dropped the anchor and pulled it up again as we had miscalculated our distance from another boat and even on the second drop we felt we were still petty close to the other boats but we dropped the it, set the anchor alarm and collapsed into bed.  

The boat was like a bomb had gone off, the door to the cupboard where I keep my shoes had flown open, shoes everywhere, my bedside drawer had flown across the room, stuff everywhere. the mattress had even moved off the bed, clothes off the shelves books and magazines were on the floor in the main room and the pot drawer was on the floor but no damage just carnage.

That was a really wild ride I don't want to do that again, Craig has promised me only day sailing from now on. 

Wednesday 2nd October 2019

We picked our way through the lobster traps into the inner harbour about 11am the next morning and dropped the anchor just in front of the field of mooring balls, we were pretty close to the channel that the fishing boats were using but most of them waved to say hello as they passed and Craig later spoke to the Harbour Master and he was fine with our position.  Our top priority was to check into the USA.  Craig went to shore in the dingy but I had to stay onboard until we were cleared into the country. The harbourmaster was a great help letting Craig phone Border Protection, as our next task was to get a USA Sim card.  The Border Protection officer was coming to see us around midday so Craig went back over to pick him up - he said he had forgotten his laptop and would we mind coming to his office tomorrow, there was no need for him to come aboard, and he gave us permission for me to go ashore YAY.  

Its getting very Autumnal 

There are pumpkins everywhere for Halloween 

Gloucester 

Craig came back to pick me up and we headed the 2km to the closest AT&T store for a sim card.  We quickly organised this  US$50 per month unlimited data pretty good deal, we then stopped at the supermarket and on the way home we treated ourselves to a pub meal, I needed a good feed. 

The next day we were up early and heading to Beverley to the Customs Office then on to Salem for a look around.  The trains were the best option to go the 15 miles to Beverley.

Our customs officer was brilliant and easy and Craig is now the proud owner of a USA Cruising Permit.  We do have to call customs as we leave a port and give them our destination and call them when we arrive. And we were able to hoist our American Flag !!

Salem home of the 1862 witch-hunts, we walked from the train station following a red line that flows through the town all the tourist attractions are on this line.  We decided to go into the first one we came to it looked new and not too tacky.
It was an interactive tour with a guide, we had to walk downstairs into the cellars, there was the story of the workmen working on the site that had disappeared and the previous owner of the building having stored cursed ancient artifacts down there.  It was kinda fun not really scary, I could see if there had ben more people on the tour it might have had more atmosphere.  The second part of the experience was a narrative of the witch-hunts and the local history that was interesting.

When we came out it was raining and had turned cold we tried to look in a few shops but it was miserable and getting dark already so we decided to just catch the train home. Taking public transport in foreign countries is the best way to see how people live.

So many witchcraft shops selling spells and voodoo dolls 

Friday 4th September 2019

We had a call from Elin a friend of Kath and Gail's inviting us for a tour of Gloucester and dinner with her and her partner Mike, so we jumped at the chance to meet new friends and to be shown around.  Elin picked us up around 10am, we had a huge day, we had coffee then stopped at the 2 marine shops in Gloucester there was a good hour of sightseeing, then on to lunch, a quick visit to the supermarket and the bottle shop then back to their house for dinner, we met  2 of the kids, their gorgeous rescue dog from Honduras, had a walk through their huge garden, a few drinks steak for dinner met the neighbours walked away with an Australian flag, we have lost ours ??? don't know how. 

Anyway there was one waiting there for us Kath has asked Elin to order it on Amazon, how good is that
I was gifted jars of pickles, homemade Italian sauce and Jackie the next door neighbour gave us a tin of Milo and a tube of Vegemite.  Craig has been having Vegemite cravings he says its a real thing, he doesn't even eat vegemite normally but has been obsessed.

The hardest part about having us over for dinner is someone has to drive us home and Mike very graciously did that, even when he was in pain from a bad back.  Thanks guys it was great to meet you xx

Saturday 5th October 2019

Time to move on, our destination Provincetown, Cape Cod commonly known as P'Town.  

Back out into that big Atlantic Ocean once we had picked our way through the lobster pots, recreational fishermen are allowed 10 pots per family and I guess its easier for them to drop them in the harbour than way out in the ocean. There were plenty of pots out in the ocean too, its a full time job keeping a watch out for them,

Although we cruised about 15 miles offshore there were not too many and as we approached Cape Cod we entered the Marine Park and there are no lobster pots allowed.  We knew this was a marine park and to watch out for humpbacks, we watched 3 whale spotting boats come from the Cape Cod direction- speed out and around past us and they actually stopped about 8 miles behind us but close to our track ,we must have passed some and not seen them.

But then we did have a whale swim right past us as we had turned the corner into Cape Cod, its tail came out of the water right next to us I grabbed the camera but didn't get the perfect shot.  We did see another one and stopped for a while but it did not reappear. What we did see were a number of sunfish, they are strangest looking things, there were also a couple of seals swimming around.

Provincetown is a LGBT community there are lots of art galleries, beautiful restaurants and gift shops, they have cabaret and drag shows and all sorts of unusual shops, we walked down the main nightclub street I can imagine there would be plenty of action there after dark. 

I don't know I think we expected something a bit classier but it is really touristy with junky souvenir shops and take outs.  We came ashore on the Friday as soon as we landed and had a quick scout around then again on Saturday but that was enough Craig is not interested in browsing the shops and we are not going to buy anything so its a bit of a waste of time. 

Sunday 6th October 2019

We had another walk around P'town its good to walk when we can the weather is due to turn windy tomorrow so we made the most of our time on land, the ride to shore was a long one and on the way back the wind had started to pick up and the ride was a bit wet and bouncy and getting back onboard was a challenge.  We upped the anchor and moved a couple of miles into the hook of land.  

We had a bit of trouble setting the anchor so we just picked up a mooring ball,  we figured it was off season and the chances of someone wanting to use it were pretty small,  I am so glad we took the mooring ball we rocked and rolled and swung all night

Originally we  had anchored just past the harbour looking out to the beach but as the wind was going to increase and change direction we moved over into the hook of land, this left us too far away to go back ashore as it was now really windy and choppy
We had a lovely day on the Monday  just relaxing onboard the temp was nice and mild and we did a few chores . 

Our unlimited data didn't last long, we binge watched a show (Fleabag on Prime) and poof our data was slowed down heaps, so much for unlimited data !!!  we can still check weather and social media but no more shows until next month.

We have lost our Australian flag and today we noticed our USA flag had disappeared.  oops lucky we have 2 USA ones.
We spent Sunday afternoon, night and all day Monday onboard.

Tuesday 8th October

Back out into the North Atlantic the wind had dropped after the blustery conditions on Sunday and Monday so much so that Craig was very disappointed he could not sail, we had to motor for the first hour or so, eventually the wind did pick up as we headed towards the Cape Cod Canal.  We had departed P'Town at 7.30 am as we had to reach the canal by 11am to be able to run with the tide. I kept my eyes on the water around us as we are still in the Marine Park but with no whales showing themselves today.  It takes an hour and  a half to get through the canal its quite wide and an easy run through, our destination  is  a little inlet behind Naushon Island which is part of the Elizabeth Islands, a little harbour called Inner Harbour. next to Woods Point. Where we will shelter while another front goes through.  

Lunenburg as the sun was setting 

Lunenburg is so pretty especially sitting anchored in her harbour looking back towards the town.  They have filmed lots of movies here including the last remake of Moby Dick. 

Pierrette had shown us a coffee table book detailing the architecture of the buildings they date back to the 1700's they were traditionally all painted white with black trim like the protestant church,  the use of colour is a relatively new artistic feature.  The older traditional houses feature a widows watch and some have what's called a widows walk. This was where the fishermen's wives would stand and look out to sea waiting for their loved ones to return home. There is a dedication at the Warf listing the names of lost seafarers from the town its terribly sad as  some mothers lost their whole families.  Cod Herring, Crab, Scallops and Lobster are the fisherman's catch.  There were some amazing buildings this protestant church is the second oldest in Canada. 

2nd oldest Protestant Church in Canada

There were so many timber boats in the harbour including some of these little Dory's.

a timber Dory, Kath's boat and Adriana

We secured a mooring ball $30.00 pn and as we were settling in a local stopped on his way past and introduced himself as Sandy he welcomed us and let us know where all the amenities, supermarket, marine shops were etc and just to let him know if we needed anything, he also invited us to the street party after the wooden schooner race on Saturday.
We cooked a stir fry and had an early night keen to explore the town in the morning.

In the morning as we were getting ourselves ready to go ashore we watched the cutest little timber boat have a couple of people delivered to her, hoist the sails and sail out of the harbour the manoeuvrability of the boat was fascinating.

it was a pleasure to watch Kath and her timber boat  

When we returned from our day onshore Kath from the little timber boat stopped to say "hello" and "where were we from" Craig came up from below when he heard her Australian accent.  Kath has lived  in Lunenburg for 8 years with her partner Gail she is originally from Newcastle NSW then Hobart Tassie and now Lunenburg  I asked if she took people out for sails as a paid thing and she laughed and said "well actually that was Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline"  "I know one of the guys working on the movie they are filming  here and the stars needed a quick sailing lesson as they have a scene on a similar type of boat". so wow Craig had taken a few shots of Kath manoeuvring back to her mooring ball if only we had know and taken photos on her way out.  We had a bit of a chat to Kath and she mentioned she was racing her ;little boat on Saturday and she would let Craig know if she needed crew.  Craig was very taken and really hoped he would get the chance to sail on the gorgeous little boat.

We had walked and walked checking out the town, lots of seafood restaurants and gorgeous little, tasteful souvenir shops, we stuck our head in a couple. It would be so easy to fill Adriana with beautiful things but we have to restrain ourselves.

We found the churches and the graveyards, the supermarket and the marine stores.
The Bluenose 2 was in port so we were very lucky to have a walk onboard now I know a little bit more about boats I have a better appreciation of other vessels and this one
is a magnificent gaff rig schooner, the original was built in 1921 and became a Canadian Icon its image is on the Canadian dime.  This replica was built in 1963 and travels the world as a part of the Tall Fleet  and has circumnavigated the world.

We were lucky Bluenose 2 was in town 

looking up the huge mast

Saturday 21st September 2019

On the Saturday Craig went off with Kath and Julie, Julie is Kath's mum visiting from Bega, Kath's partner Gail is actually the First Mate (so second in charge) on the Bluenose 2 and  had just sailed off to Halifax that morning.

Julie Craig and Kath 

There was only a light wind forecast so the race course had been shortened. They had to sail out to an island at the entrance to the bay, there was lots of frivolity and banter at the start line, the sun was shining making the water sparkle and the timber sloops looked magnificent with all their sails up.
I occupied my self doing all our washing, not so much fun you might think but it was great to get it done and I was right in the middle of all the activities at the start line.
The local council have built showers and a laundry at the Warf that we were using to tie up the dingy for our visits to shore and they charge $5 to use the facilities - unlimited washing and drying for $5 so I made the most of it.

It was a picture perfect day 

Craig had a wonderful time out on the water and Kath  she even presented him with the event t-shirt he was stoked.

later that night we headed down to the street party, what a hoot for $20 there was BBQ Ribs, Roast Beef, Fish cooked on the BBQ, Mussels, corn potato's and salads plus as much as you wanted f the local keg beer what a feast.  Everyone was really friendly, they had a disco set up in the Dory building shop, normally they have a band and everyone dances all night but the dancing didn't start until after we left.

The Dory Shop where the street party was held

A highlight was watching the Dory races.  So these little timber boats used to be taken onboard the big old fishing boats.  They were stacked on deck.  The fishermen would be lowered into the water with nets to catch the fish, once they were full they were then loaded  onto the mother ships, that's how they fished.

We watched the Dory race from the dock along side of the race course.  There was a lot of sabotaging going on, tying granny knots on the ropes that would have to have a quick release at the start of the race, using hand pumps that normally pump water out of dingy to pump water into the Dory's with lots of yelling from shore.  The rowers had to slug a nip of rum, run down jump in and row off around a larger timber boat that was letting off fireworks all while holding on to a lighted torch ( think survivor) what could go wrong !!
This would never be allowed in Australia oh and they only enforced the wearing of lifejackets in the last year or two.
We walked back to listen to the presentations and were lucky enough to be passed  the huge bottle of Newfoundland Screetch Rum that was passed around for everyone to have a nip.

Fun and games 

Sunday 22nd September 2019

Sunday was a rest day, not that we had a late night, Kath called and invited us to her house for a BBQ and was happy to pick us up a bit early to take us to bottle shop that was a bit of a hike away, the supermarket and drive us around the countryside for a look around.

the view from Gail and Kath's house 

Sitting chatting in her lovely cosy home looking at the great views to the harbour we listened to Kath's sailing adventures, her mum should be so proud of all her achievements Kath started her love of the ocean doing a stint on the Young Endeavour.
She teaches rowing, is a physio and Gail and her own a Lobster fishing boat.  Its Autumn and the season is just about to start - tough girls !!

I always wanted to see onboard one of these fishing boats 

Monday 23rd September 2019

We needed to refill our propane tank and had read there might be a place about 2km away, as we were lading we chatted to a father and son having coffee by the water.   They were still there on the way back and could see we had no luck getting propane.  Turns out he helps out at the town dock and said he would ask around for propane and leave a note for us on the office window in the morning.
On Monday we went to shore to see about the propane, we had had a quiet morning on Adriana and it was late morning by the time we made a move, we found the note on the office window and it said to call Peter, we did and here was Peter and his wife Jo
and their son heading off for a day out and would we like to join them.  We had no other plans so we jumped in their car and headed over to the next town, Mahone Bay to see the Scarecrow Festival.
Its fall and the shops and houses all put out scarecrows or dummies dressed with different themes, such as fairytale figures, the royal family, some are fishermen, local identities or  local businesses, the whole town gets involved.  It was fun to walk around.  we stopped for coffee and met  Peter and Jo friends who then took our propane bottle and dropped it back full the next day  - how nice was that.
Peter took us for a look around Mahone Bay and the surrounding countryside. Mahone Bay had been one of our anchorage options and if we had more time, I mean months more time this area would be a great place to explore.
We stopped at a local micro brewery where Peter sings and plays, we met the owner who presented us with a can of Scottish Ale straight off the production line. It was nice to see the surrounding countryside.
We knew our  allowed visa time in Canada was running out and when we checked, it had officially expired on 19/11/2019 oops... We have been in Canad over 6 months !!  We called Border Security to see what we had to do and as it so happened a British boat was checking in and Border Patrol were coming from Halifax to Lunenburg and they would see us today.  We grabbed all our paperwork and passports and headed in to shore.  We watched them go to the other boat and once that was done we approached the 4 officers.  They were so nice, the fact that we had contacted them and we were concerned was enough reason for them to allow us a few extra days, they gave us a contact number incase we had any problems and sent us on our way.
They acknowledged that we had been held up by a hurricane and were happy we had a departure plan.
It was a bit of a rainy day so we headed back to Adriana to prepare for our passage to Shelbourne.

Wednesday 25th September 

 
Up early again , 4.30am this time !! its cold damp and foggy as we motor out of pretty Lunenburg.  We are heading out into the North Atlantic Ocean but only a short 75 nautical Miles.  There was no stunning sunrise this morning just a gradual lightening of the gloom.  Its a bit scary motoring along in the fog we have the facility to turn on radar on the chart plotter so we can have half the screen showing radar the other half the normal maps plus we have Navionics on the iPad.
Once it was light around 7.30am we had rounded the cape and were out in the open sea.  There was a bit of a swell but the waves were far apart and Adriana cut through them with minimum movement on board.  Once out there was 18knots apparent breeze just forward of the beam so we hoisted the foresail, the main sail was already out - the mainsail is usually up when we motor as this gives the boat more stability, if the wind is too strong we trim the mainsail (pull it in a bit) but generally it is all out.

Lighthouse at the entrance to Shelburne 

Its a pretty rugged coastline Nova Scotia on the North Atlantic 

As usual the wind died off and we motored down the long channel into Shelburne.  We passed 2 huge fish farms, talking to locals later I was right in guessing at least one of them was Atlantic Salmon. Shelburne Harbour is known as one of the safest harbours in the world.

you cant really see the buildings only the church spire

looking to the provincial park

Using Navionics we dropped the anchor slightly beyond the Yacht Club in a very pretty natural basin looking at a Provincial Park on one side and the pretty historic town on the other.
The next morning we called into the yacht club to say hello and see about topping up with diesel.
We arranged with Lorraine, who runs the office, that we would tie up at the fuel dock at 2.30pm.  So we had a quick walk around town, stopping in at the information centre we had a good chat with Hazel who gave us the run down on the local history, we could have listened to her for hours its a very interesting story full of wars - fighting over land rights, free slaves being given land, colourful colonial settlers and native Indian history.

When we tied up at the fuel dock, Lorraine suggested we stay on the dock while we explore the town and on Thursday night the club has races and maybe we might like to join them for BBQ and drinks after.  Lorraine also offered us the use of her car if we needed to go to grocery store !! how nice is that.
We walked all over town and of course ended up at the local micro brewery.  While we were enjoying a delicious stout for Craig and a nice IPA for me  we were chatting to the barman and Pat who was sitting next to me, turns out Pat plays the bagpipes and so we were treated to a thorough explanation of how to play them.  Pat was a member of the Black Watch, a very famous highland regiment and he has met the Queen Mother.  His father was also a member of the Black Watch and he had so many interesting stories. Pat said he would have played for us but he was going away in the morning.
Pat and his wife Celia were so interesting to chat to, but we suddenly realised that it was getting late and we had promised to go to the BBQ at the YC so we said our goodbyes and literally ran, we arrived back at the YC just in time for the last 2 hamburgers on the grill and sat down with the locals.  Craig was looking for info for our passage to US and he wanted to pick the brains of the locals, one gentleman at the table had been on the rescue boat that went out in the storm that was depicted in the movie starring George Clooney "Perfect Storm" so not quite the information Craig was looking for.  The group at the table were great fun and we were shouted a round of drinks, lucky we were still tied to the fuel dock and didn't have to jump in the dingy to get home.

Celia Pat and Craig, such a funny evening 

Friday 27th September 2019

Up early we moved Adrianna back out on anchor then just as we were having breakfast we hear the bagpipes start up, rushing up to the deck we could see who could only be Pat standing on the shore opposite Adrianna belting out Scotland the Brave - Goosebumps  then he played Waltzing Matilda,  we were beside ourselves yelling and cheering  -Thank You ...
We went to grab our new camera to film but we had left it at the YC so no close up photos.  After his 2 songs Pat jumped in the car and took off he was on his way to the airport - How good was that !!

Later that day we stopped in to "the Cooper" where we had organised for Pat to leave us one of his CDs,  George the Cooper had taken footage of Pat playing for us so we do have footage of that amazing morning.  George the cooper is an interesting fellow he still makes barrels for wine, beer, bourbon etc the old traditional way  he was a carpenter in Ontario and had moved to Shelburne to retire and bought the business as a hobby he uses all the original tools, I had always wondered how they made the rounded sides and George showed us how he cuts them from the timber.

Shelburne street with Adriana in the background 

Craig lives in his Aussie cap

We could hear the coyotes howl at night from the boat 

Saturday 28th September 2019

Time to move on - the overnight low for Shelbourne was dropping to 2c by Thursday night  !!

Craig had been chatting to Kath in Lunenburg and working out the best day to leave, apart from the wind we have to take into consideration the huge tides running in and out of the Gulf of Maine including the bay of Fundy.  Kath told us about a safe little anchorage behind Negro Island that would bring us a little bit closer to the tip of Nova Scotia for our big crossing.

Damage from Hurricane Dorian, there were a number of uprooted trees still evident

Lorraine from the Yacht Club, such great people 

So after we said goodbye to Lorraine then had some lunch we lifted the anchor and headed back out towards the Atlantic.
It was only a 3 hour sail, but this got us out of the long entrance that led into Shelburne and placed us close to the ocean. We had to put in a couple of tacks but we managed to sail 90% of the way again happy to motor for the last part so we have hot water when we arrive.

Anchored off Negro Island 

It was a nice little spot for an overnighter our last night in Canadian waters.  It has taken us 7 months and we have sailed 3000 nautical miles.  we have had an absolute blast, met so many wonderful generous people and seen so many amazing sights. Thank You Canada.

Sunday 8th September 2019

This made me laugh

We are the green dot, direct hit from Hurricane Dorian 

We were really hesitant approaching Adriana scared for what we might see - but there she was just as we had left her. She does have some battle scars where the engine attached to the  fibreglass dingy had gouged into the hull and a few surface scratches. But that is nothing we were incredibly lucky.  The dingy had lost a seat and an oar but we will easily be able to replace them.

The fibreglass dingy that caused the damage 

Just a few surface scratches 

The oar must have got caught in the dock

  

We climbed aboard everything outside was covered in sea water and she was really cold and felt damp but nothing had moved around or caused any damage inside.  We hung around a while but it was still really windy and wet, and the seas were still rollie, so we scurried back to Pierrettes and decided to stay a second night in her lovely warm secure home :) 

Pierrettes huge cat Mr Benz has 7 toes on each paw 

Pierrette treating us to a beautiful dinner This was once we knew Adriana was OK 

Monday 9th September 2019

The next morning we were up early the sun was shining and the waters were calm, we borrowed Pierrettes car and took our suitcase and bags back to the boat then we started putting Adriana back together.  On went the solar panels, dodger flags etc It took us all day not even stopping for lunch. 

and back on went the solar panels 

The solar panels took the longest, the blocks holding the solar panels on, that we had cut off were salvageable but the bolts needed to be replaced.  I asked one of the young fishermen who was moving his boat back onto the harbour wall if he happened to have a spare bolt on his boat, he said he would check - well next minute he was driving to the hardware and returned with exactly what we needed.

I offered to pay but he wouldn't take anything so we left a couple of beers on his boat for him I hope he knew they were from us.

Craig who always has his eyes on the weather and is constantly planning ahead announced "We are leaving tonight" tomorrow there is another wild weather front coming through. Tonight has the best conditions for heading south from the Magdalene Islands. 

We literally ran back to Pierrettes and borrowed her car again, went to the bank and the supermarket I tried to buy Craig a hot roast chicken but they had sold out for the day so he had to settle for some ham and a baguette.  We paid Chislain for our last few day in Etand De Norg, said our goodbyes and more thank yous to Pierrette, as expected she would not take any money from us so I left her with one of  my favourite red silk scarves as a memento, and we purchased Mr Fox, we were sad to leave our new friends but also happy to be on the move again.

Renaud our new crew member 

We motored out of Etan De Nord around 6pm there was a stunning sunset and favourable winds we had 16-18 knots pushing us along, we sailed all through the night once we rounded that dreaded cape the conditions were not too bumpy or uncomfortable it just got cold.  

Another stunning sunset

We reheated spag bolognaise from the freezer and I even managed to get a couple of hours

sleep downstairs.  Craig gets his sleep upstairs so that if I need him he is very close by.

  

We sailed past Cape Breton Island in fact during the night we had the lights from Cape Breton Island on one side and Prince Edward Island on the other horizon.  

The blue dot is us

We were treated to another stunning sunrise as we entered into St Georges Bay our plan was to stop at Havre Boucher (another one of those names that sticks in your head sort of rolls of the tongue) - but it was still early afternoon and we had enough time before sunset to go through the Canso lock, Canso Canal and down the Canso Straight to our chosen  anchorage.  We had been sailing up until we reached the entrance to the lock so we were happy with the conditions we had had.

The lock was easy to manage, we are old hands at these locks now.  This one had only just reopened after 48 hours without power,  the Hurricane had wiped out power to most of Halifax too. Once through we kept the motor on for another 4nm  as we made our way through a couple of marked channels into a sheltered bay, behind Jankevin Island we dropped the anchor, literally had something to eat and fell into bed still recovering from our hurricane experience.

Nothing looks nice in the rain

There was some damage from the hurricane evident on land 

The winds were forecast to increase overnight so we kept the anchor alarm on just incase. It rained all the next day and we were happy to stay inside resting catching up on our lost
nights sleep.
The scenery was back to forest all spruce trees very rugged and remote.
One job we did was pull out all our maps for Halifax to New York, and put away our Ontario to Québec and the St Lawrence River ones - that was quite exciting we have traveled 1600 nautical miles.

Sorting out our charts now we are through the lakes and on our way to NYC

We had a very rocky second night and Adriana swung around with all the wind changes and we were glad to move on the next day its probably stunning in Summer but there was not much to see in the rain.

On we went through the day and the next night as well, this time we got really cold !! We had all our wet weather gear on our thermals plus 3 layers, our beanies blankets from below, so coId I even had to go and makeup 2 hot water bottles during the night.  We sat huddled together wrapped in blankets with so many clothes on we could hardly move.  But we were excited to be out in the North Atlantic heading towards Halifax.

Night sailing 

Our first view of Port of Halifax

 

9.31 am  13th September 2019

We pulled down our sails as we approached the Port of Halifax our destination for a few days was the West Arm we had heard that we could anchor there, it was close to the Binnacle store, a Yacht Club and public transport.

Halifax Friday 13th September 

We had fun for a few days catching buses to enjoy some shopping we treated ourselves to a new camera - iPhones are a bit limited so we are excited to have a good camera we just wish we had access to a camera shop months ago. We treated ourselves to a new TV
Adriana's TV had been locked on "headphone mode" and was useless. I dragged Craig to one of the biggest thrift shops I have ever seen and he managed to find a brand new pair of Levis that fitted him perfectly and a couple of pairs of track pants, me I found nothing. We did a couple of trips to the supermarket as we could only buy what we could carry plus we had to catch the local bus and walk down a hill to the YC.

The shop Binnacle was great we replaced a couple of lines (ropes) that were old and stiff the new ones just fly through the winches. I made Craig buy a pair of really good warm waterproof gloves as he is the one who has to stand at the wheel out in the wind, I can shelter under the dodger.  And we had our first junk food for months I'm not going to admit what it was but as usual it tastes ok while your eating it but you really don't enjoy it that much it is that ingrained image of how its going to make you feel good that gets you every time.

The Yacht Club and surrounds 

View from Adriana to YC 

Halifax is a great city we had a day walking  down to and then around the harbour/waterfront checking out the history and people watching.  Nova Scotians have a very different accent, its got a European/Scottish twang to it and sometimes its quite hard to decipher.  Its very true to its name and there is a lot of Scottish history with so many suburbs having names originating from Scotland and Ireland. A couple  of evenings we could hear the sound of bagpipes coming from the park opposite where we were anchored it must have been a local piper practicing.   There were a couple of other cruising boats anchored beside us and we got  to say hello, the most interesting one had just arrived back from spending the Summer in Greenland - Terry is British born but has been cruising for 30 years, he had even been to Antarctica twice !!

We had so many questions and we managed to spend an hour or so chatting in the Armdale YC one evening.  We met Paul and Catherine on their twin Hull, the three of us went back to the huge thrift store, it took 2 buses to get there and 2 buses to get back it literally took all day. 

I spent a day sitting in the YC, we made the local paper at home, with our hurricane adventure, so the pressure was on to update the blog.  I sat from 11 - 4 we felt obliged

to stay for a beer and buy dinner, no one said anything about me plugging into their electricity and using the Wi-Fi but I felt uncomfortable.  The meal was delicious and it was nice to eat out for a change.

Wednesday 18th September 2019

Our anchor windlass had still been playing up there is a part of the mechanism that has broken it  is a round plastic piece that helps feed the chain into the locker and prevents it from bunching up on itself.  We had checked the wind forecast and there was a window for today we were all ready to go and Craig was pulling up the anchor and I was in my place at the wheel with the engine in neutral ready to go forward over the anchor on Craig's command and then steer out once the anchor is pulled upl.  Craig stopped halfway and came back to the cockpit, he explained what was wrong and immediatly rang Binnacle to source the part.  We were told "its going to take at least 2 weeks for the part to arrive here in Halifax"
We were enjoying our spot at the Armdale YC but didn't want to spend another week there. 

Craig went out and tried the winch again and was able to lift the anchor, as long as he takes it up slow and hand feeds the chain.  Once we knew we could lift the anchor we decided to just go, we paid for the part over the phone and Binnacle will send it on to us once they receive it.

We motored out of Halifax passing some huge ships including this luxury cruise ship - we googled it is deemed to have a 7 star rating, it is  $10,000 a week, and that was the "special price"

Luxury Cruise ship 7 nights $10,000 pp

The fog can get really thick around this part of the Atlantic with the warm water and cold air, we passed these huge buoys they have bellows inside that makes the most haunting noise, that can be heard for miles.  

We managed to sail most of the way but the wind dropped late in the afternoon so on went the engine, its good to run the motor as this heats the hot water perfect timing as we are coming into a port we can then take a hot shower and do the dishes from the passage. The wind did pick up so we were able to put the sails back up and sailed  from Mahone Bay into Lunenburg.

                                            Lunenburg is postcard pretty.