August 21-29

This past week has been comprised of some long and somewhat boring days. Being anxious to reach Maine, and watching the miles click by so slowly has been rather frustrating. Now we're also watching the progress of the season's first hurricane.

Last Sunday we completed the Northumberland Straight with a nice sunny ride from Wood Island, PEI to the Canso Straight. There's a lock in the straight which allows boat traffic to overcome very strong currents. We were not looking forward to waiting at another lock so we crossed our fingers all afternoon that the passage would be quick. The area between St George Point and the straight was beautiful. We spotted dozens of pilot whales, a few small dolphins and a seal or two. Their graceful movement through the water is definitely something to watch. The Canso Lock – 10 minutes and we were done! What a great ending to a beautiful day. We arrived in Hawkesbury, NS at 5p and enjoyed a quiet night tied to their docks.

We're sailing more now, giving the motor a much deserved rest. The winds are now WSW as we move along the Atlantic shores of Nova Scotia. So far the seas have been low rolling waters with a few gusts over 15 knots each afternoon. We met a couple in Canso that crossed the Atlantic a few years ago. We enjoyed an evening of intense conversation with them and learn a few things about ocean crossings, too. We've been moving cautiously along the coast as we adjust to ocean waters and the need for constant weather reports. We anchoring along the way in Whitehead-Marshall Cove and then Beaver Harbour. We're using information from a cruising guide along with the data in the chartplotter to scope out each day's travel. So far the information has been great and not steered us wrong.

We reach Halifax on Thursday night. The Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron took us in for the night (for a hefty fee of course) and we stayed long enough to do a little laundry in the morning. This club was established in 1837. As we were wandering the grounds and admiring the main facilities we found a trophy case. There were several large sterling silver racing trophies from the early 1900's. Very cool. We were also asked several times if we were lost or needed something. Maybe our casual attire drew the attention? Oh well. We took another ride along the shores of downtown Halifax before departing the area. We were able to tie up at a public dock and walk up and down the boardwalks there. They offer charters of all kinds, car ferry service, and tour boats as well as an abundance of souvenir shops and salt-water taffy vendors. We managed to get out with only $10 having been spent. :)

Next stop was just outside the Halifax area in Ketch Harbour. Saturday morning presented dense fog so there we sat doing small projects until 10a. The fog lifted and we were off. We had an uneventful motor sail to LaHave River. We're holding up in here until the effects of the hurricane have past. We spent all day Sunday preparing the boat for the heavy winds. We took down the dodger and bimini, the jib sail, and added line around the mainsail to keep it secure. After moving the boat out into the river basin with the others, we were brought back to shore where we stayed for the night. The club house was warm and the couches were comfortable.

Today we can start reassembling our sails and canvas. The worst of the storm threats have passed. We heard strong winds and some rain here, but there appears to be no damage anywhere. The forecast today includes strong winds until this evening. We'll be staying here another day and then head back out on Tuesday.

It's hurricane season - Irene headed this way

To all our readers, we're in a safe place.  The southeast shore of Novia Scotia has not been identifed as part of the direct "track" for Hurricane Irene.  We do expect to see strong winds and rain sometime in the next 24-48 hours.  We are staying in Bridgewater,NS tonight and will be monitoring the storm's progress from there. 

Quebec City to Gaspesie Peninsula

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The Atlantic Ocean is only 5 miles away!

We've recorded 378 miles in this week's log and 1270 miles to date.  To help put that into perspective for the non-boaters, you need to consider that our top speed with the engine running and relatively calm conditions is about 7 knots per hour.  When we're under sail we can see as much as 8-9 knots/hr before we need to start reducing sail area (winds get too strong) Imagine driving your car anywhere at 8 miles an hour.  How long would you last before you resumed normal speed limits? lol  If we motor from 7a to 5p, we might see 70 miles in a day. Unlike the interstate highways, there are no rest stops and there may or may not be a suitable place to stop for the night when you decide you've had enough boating for the day so we have to plan each day according to the locations of marinas and anchorages.  Add to the equation the tides and currents and the effects of wind direction. We've had a 20 mile day and we've had a 92 mile day.  We've also had 3 days so far with no miles recorded due to poor weather.  Our average as of today is 42 miles/day.  We think that's pretty good.

The air and water temps are higher this week than last, and the sun has been more visible.  Warm air and sunshine, just what we're looking for! 

Ports of call this week included:
Grande Vallee to Anse-a-Beaufils on the Gaspe Peninsula in Quebec; Escuminac, Boctouche, and Tormentine in New Brunswick; Wood Island on Prince Edward Island and finally down into the St George Bay to the Canso Strait and for tonight it's Hawkesbury, Novia Scotia.  That's brings the count of Canadian provinces visited to 5, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Novia Scotia. 

We watched dozens of pilot whales, a small pod of dolphins and a few seals this afternoon as we passed through the St George Bay area.  What a sight, and so very exciting.  Closest views were about 25 yards away.

We're having a great time.  We're both enjoying the adventure as well as the rare opportunities to rest and relax with a good book.  If you have a question or want to hear more about a particular aspect of our trip, send us an email! 

Reaching for the Northern Latitudes

79º 16 minutes

August 8–14; After a nice rest in Quebec City we were looking forward to Monday morning and another week of adventure.

We were in the marina's lock at 9 o'clock and headed back out into the river. Everything seemed ok as we left. We should have stayed another day. As we motored out of the protection of the harbour and back into the river everything changed. It was windy, cold and raining. Winds were from the NE, 15-20 knots directly on our bow. The current was against us as well, reducing boat speed to almost zero, and it rained off and on all day. We were already out there and committed, so we made the decision to continue on. Our destination was to be a quiet anchorage @ Ile aux Courdes. 50 miles and 11 hours later we arrived and dropped the anchor. This was the pattern all week and we had to remind one another several times a day of the ultimate goal, south. We've now rotated our wardrobes and donned the foul weather gear. Long pants and multiple sweatshirts is the style of the week. Tuesday we were able to reach a tiny marina in Cap-A-L'aigle only completing 20 miles. We confirmed the presence of salt water and the water temp has dropped from the upper 60's to just 48º F. Jim keeps asking people “does the river freeze over in the winter?” We better not still be here to find out. :)

The currents and the tides are two things we have no experience with. We have books on the subject which we have both read. And there are tide tables embedded in our electronic charts. Now what? After two days of what we would consider failed attempts, we changed our interpretation of the data. If we understand it at all, the tides would suggest that we leave Wednesday morning at 4am to have the greatest advantage of that day. So off we go into the dark to conquer the river. We arrived in Tadoussac no worse for the wear @1p. It rained all afternoon and night. I took a nap. In spite of the cold and the damp, it was a better day. We've spotted our first whale and first dolphins! Tadoussac is located at the mouth of the Saguenay River. It's a beautiful, fascinating place. If it wasn't so cold we might have stayed longer. The area is home to many of the endangered beluga whale.

Next stop, anchored in Baie du-Ha-Ha in the Parc National du BIC. It was not a funny haha after listening to the winds all night and holding on tight to the berth so we didn't roll around. We failed to anchor close enough to shore due to the heavy fog and zero visibility, so we were exposed to the river's torment all night long. Needless to say, we were up very early and left there as soon as we could see the bow of the boat through the continued fog. It was off to Rimouski on Friday where we were able to borrow bicycles and pedal to the mall. What a hoot!

After 6 days of rain and strong NE winds, change was finally here. The sun reappeared, the winds calmed to 3-5 kts out of the west, and the water was calm as it ever gets. Saturday we made 70 miles to a nice anchorage in Les Mechins, and Sunday another 75 miles to Grande Vallee, both on the rim of the Gaspesie Peninsule. Tripmeter now at 900 nautical miles. We've spotted a few more Minke whales, dolphins, and even stared down a Grey seal this morning. We have also now passed the northern most point of this voyage (79 degrees 16 minutes) at 2:38p EST Sunday afternoon!! Tomorrow we will official leave the St Lawrence River and begin navigating the Gulf of St. Lawrence. We're also changing time zones this week as we cross into New Brunswick and Atlantic Daylight. It will be an hour later than EST and 4 hours ahead of AZ. Maybe we'll even get some cell phone coverage again. Sorry if we've missed your calls or failed to answer an email timely. We try every day but some places don't have WiFi. We're going to look into an antenna/receiver of some kind as soon as we're back in the States.

Pictures from Linda

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Week 1 in August

We've now logged 576 miles since leaving Erie, and 304 just this past week.  Our progress should continue to improve now that the St Lawrence River, river locks and fixed bridges are behind us.  Since traversing Lake Ontario last week we've passed through several beautiful areas in the St Lawrence river.  There was even a peninsula named Presqu 'ile at the entrance to the Murray Canal.  Felt like we were home for a minute there.  It was shallow water but a very pretty place to see as we motored along.  The canal took us to the Bay of Quinte and the north channel.  This is where you would find all those islands.  They refer to them as the Thousand Islands, but there are reportedly more than 1800, most with names on the charts, and many more without.  Amazing, that's all I can say.  

This past week has been a long one. The scenery is great but the controlled passageways are frustrating. The river is narrow and often too shallow outside the bouys. We've also had an east wind for the last three days which would not have allowed us to sail anyway. Hour ofter hour of motoring is not what we expected. There were 7 more locks in the St Lawrence River between the Thousand Islands and Montreal. Due to heavy commercial traffic we were left in a waiting que at every single one, sometimes as long as 3 hours, waiting for the locks to clear and permit pleasure craft to enter. It took us 3 days to make it through the 7 locks. In addition there were a few lift bridges and the operators there seem to ignore sail boats, or maybe just American sailboats we're not sure. At one bridge we were overtaken by a freighter, no problem. We moved over and gave him room. We observed all the the proper behaviors. But just as his stern cleared the bridge (with us less than 100' behind) the bridge came down leaving us on the outside looking in. I cannot write the words that came out of my mouth at that moment. In fact I had to leave the helm and go down below until the bridge reopened... 1 ½ hours later. You can imagine what I was thinking, eh?

We're trying to put some big miles in each day right now to catch up for the time lost due to the late departure day. Leaving a month later will make a big difference when we finally reach the east coast. We DO NOT want to see snow or any other form of precipitation associated with that season :) The sooner we start logging course headings closer to 180 degrees the better!  We had an overnght in Kingston ON, then Prescott and Cornwall.  On Thursday we finally made it through the last 2 locks on this river. Yeah!  Now we can move at our own pace and not have to wait for anyone else.

We've found some nice coves to anchor in at night, saving the budget a little.  The boat and all those upgrades we made have been working very well.  The solar panels are providing enough energy to restore the house batteries each day. The refrigeration is adequate.  The dry goods are still dry and the water tanks wet. Just the way we like them.  After three nights in the wilderness we decided it was time for a landing.  We need to refuel and restock so here we are in Quebec City. After the Welland Canal and the St Lawrence River locks (15) we thought we had seen it all and had put that part of the trip behind us. . Well, let me tell you. Here's the OMG part.
The entrance to the Quebec City marina is protected by a lift bridge and a leveling lock due to the high and low tides here.  And then there is the current (5.5 knots) and the prevailing wind ( 0-15 knots) to deal with as you approach.   We radioed into the marina to request entrance and they said "your number is 27, wait to hear your number called on the radio and then proceed into the lock”. The waiting basin was similar in size to the area just outside our yacht club at home (GO PIYC!) Imagine 15-20 boats milling around in a small area with wind and current and bow thrusters, etc. This was a sardine can. There were 13 boats inside the lock when it finally closed and we were rafted together from bow to stern to port to starboard. We got the call to enter and pull in...between boats already tied on each side of the lock. We rafted to port and that left maybe 5 feet to the starboard boat. We were smack dab in the middle of the cluster. It was a very exciting situation. And there were pedestrian spectators all around this lock on the sidewalks watching. Talk about pressure at the helm. When we made it through there and into a slip, we stayed wound up for at least an hour. That was an OMG for sure.
The city is beautiful. There are alot of lights on after dark and we had front row seats to the Aurora Borealis.  This is the name of the 3D adventure played on the side of a building right next to the marina basin.  It plays every night all year round and it was the most incredible thing we ever saw.  The sound and the pictures and the images and the colors were breathtaking.  It is a story of the history of Quebec put to music.  There were images from each of the Wars, the inventions that occured throughout the world, etc.  We didn't see the end as it runs until midnight.   Well, it's off to the market. Talk with you all again soon.  Send us some email too. We still want and need to hear about what's happening in your world, too.