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.