Nova Scotia 2008
This trip really began with a charming dinner at the Red Bird in Northeast Harbor that Dick and Deb Truitt graciously
hosted. One of the best meals ever. They left us after about 10 days on Surprise the next day, July 30.
Friday 8/1
9AM
Well, we left North East Harbor at 5:30 AM as planned. It is cold, about 60 F, with wind from the east- north east at
about 10 kts. Golden Mean and Surprise exited the Mt. Desert region through the Western Passage and steered 140
M towards our first way point south of Sable Island. The first hour was characterized by dodging pots. This was made
more difficult by the presence of dense fog. Basically fog, intermittent rain and NE and SE winds are the weather for
the next 24 hours. Both Golden Mean and Surprise motor sailed to keep up an average speed of about 5.5 to 6 kts.
This is not exactly like sailing the Drake Channel, but we are hoping that the sun might make an appearance.
Surprise is using radar about every 15 minutes to be reassured of our solitude on these waters. So far, so good. I
am personally ready for a nap.
8/1 noon
The wind is on the nose now and is expected to stay there, southeast, for the next 36 hours. There is a moderate
chop slowing us down as well. We have discovered a new noise from the top of the mast when the forestay moves
under pressure after hitting a wave. It’s sort of a creaking noise as if two metal parts are rubbing together under
pressure. We will have to go up the mast when in Shelburne to investigate this and be assured of the integrity of the
mast head.
Ken decided that he would not have enough fuel to do the trip safely so Golden Mean reluctantly turned back. We will
miss the company of Ken and Sue and truly feel for them after all the planning they both have done to make this trip a
reality as well as the anticipation of this adventure they have had. We decided to keep going with a fairly good
course, about 20 degrees off the rhum line, and lee bow current due to the ebb from Bay of Fundy.
8/1 Noon
It’s a little clearer now with visability about 1 mile. The seas have flattened out some and the sailing is really fairly
comfortable. Wind is from SSE at 14 kts.
8/1 4pm
We just tacked so as not to get too far into the Bay of Fundy with its difficult currents.
This is our current navigation plot.
This trip really began with a charming dinner at the Red Bird in Northeast Harbor that Dick and Deb Truitt graciously
hosted. One of the best meals ever. They left us after about 10 days on Surprise the next day, July 30.
Friday 8/1
9AM
Well, we left North East Harbor at 5:30 AM as planned. It is cold, about 60 F, with wind from the east- north east at
about 10 kts. Golden Mean and Surprise exited the Mt. Desert region through the Western Passage and steered 140
M towards our first way point south of Sable Island. The first hour was characterized by dodging pots. This was made
more difficult by the presence of dense fog. Basically fog, intermittent rain and NE and SE winds are the weather for
the next 24 hours. Both Golden Mean and Surprise motor sailed to keep up an average speed of about 5.5 to 6 kts.
This is not exactly like sailing the Drake Channel, but we are hoping that the sun might make an appearance.
Surprise is using radar about every 15 minutes to be reassured of our solitude on these waters. So far, so good. I
am personally ready for a nap.
8/1 noon
The wind is on the nose now and is expected to stay there, southeast, for the next 36 hours. There is a moderate
chop slowing us down as well. We have discovered a new noise from the top of the mast when the forestay moves
under pressure after hitting a wave. It’s sort of a creaking noise as if two metal parts are rubbing together under
pressure. We will have to go up the mast when in Shelburne to investigate this and be assured of the integrity of the
mast head.
Ken decided that he would not have enough fuel to do the trip safely so Golden Mean reluctantly turned back. We will
miss the company of Ken and Sue and truly feel for them after all the planning they both have done to make this trip a
reality as well as the anticipation of this adventure they have had. We decided to keep going with a fairly good
course, about 20 degrees off the rhum line, and lee bow current due to the ebb from Bay of Fundy.
8/1 Noon
It’s a little clearer now with visability about 1 mile. The seas have flattened out some and the sailing is really fairly
comfortable. Wind is from SSE at 14 kts.
8/1 4pm
We just tacked so as not to get too far into the Bay of Fundy with its difficult currents.
This is our current navigation plot.
5pm
No change
We are getting a good push from the Fundy ebb current.
The boat is very loud below and we will likely tack to the favored tack in the next hour or so.
The only wild life we have seen, since Ken headed back, was a single fin coursing near us. I have no idea what it was.
The famous Jaws of Fundy comes to mind.
8/1 midnight
We are motoring in dense fog. Basically using radar fulltime with half-hourly chart plotter checks for position and to be
sure our cross track error is not too bad.
8/2 8 AM
We had a good sail up to about 40 miles west of Yarmouth- then the wind died to 5-8 kts. So at 8 pm we went diesel
and had a fast trip to the tip of Nova Scotia with 3 knots of favorable current. However we now have 2 knots of
obliquely unfavorable current as we are heading toward Brazil Rock. We need to sail at about 100 degrees to keep a
COG of 83. A great place for the tracking option of Auto Bob, nee Ray Marine.
The night was sort of interesting. It was not dark and stormy- no it wasn’t.
It was dark and foggy- and wet and cold. Cathy did ask why we are doing this. I replied because it’s fun. We split
watches every two hours. This is about as long as either of us was comfortable watching the radar with the visability at
about 100 feet, besides the need to warm ourselves. This got me thinking about how one might make a dark and
foggy drink. I have decided to offer a prize for the best recipe. The prize will be a genuine picture, suitable for framing,
signed by yours truly, of Nova Scotia fog.
My baseline recipe is this:
2 Oz Canadian club whiskey
4 Oz Molsons- or Labatt’s if you like hockey
Garnish with a small piece of salmon.
Here is our 8 AM plot.
No change
We are getting a good push from the Fundy ebb current.
The boat is very loud below and we will likely tack to the favored tack in the next hour or so.
The only wild life we have seen, since Ken headed back, was a single fin coursing near us. I have no idea what it was.
The famous Jaws of Fundy comes to mind.
8/1 midnight
We are motoring in dense fog. Basically using radar fulltime with half-hourly chart plotter checks for position and to be
sure our cross track error is not too bad.
8/2 8 AM
We had a good sail up to about 40 miles west of Yarmouth- then the wind died to 5-8 kts. So at 8 pm we went diesel
and had a fast trip to the tip of Nova Scotia with 3 knots of favorable current. However we now have 2 knots of
obliquely unfavorable current as we are heading toward Brazil Rock. We need to sail at about 100 degrees to keep a
COG of 83. A great place for the tracking option of Auto Bob, nee Ray Marine.
The night was sort of interesting. It was not dark and stormy- no it wasn’t.
It was dark and foggy- and wet and cold. Cathy did ask why we are doing this. I replied because it’s fun. We split
watches every two hours. This is about as long as either of us was comfortable watching the radar with the visability at
about 100 feet, besides the need to warm ourselves. This got me thinking about how one might make a dark and
foggy drink. I have decided to offer a prize for the best recipe. The prize will be a genuine picture, suitable for framing,
signed by yours truly, of Nova Scotia fog.
My baseline recipe is this:
2 Oz Canadian club whiskey
4 Oz Molsons- or Labatt’s if you like hockey
Garnish with a small piece of salmon.
Here is our 8 AM plot.
The morning arrived with you guessed it…fog. Cathy asks “Do you ever think we’ll see Nova Scotia?” I replied,
“You may have to buy a postcard!” The one good thing so far, they’re no lobster pots!! By 11am the fog slowly
lifted and, just like that, life was good!! We were surrounded with sealife…multiples of whales, small ones, big ones
and mammoth ones; tons of seals and porpoise and of course sea birds. It became apparent that evanescent
returns on the radar that had been mysterious during the night were really whales and porpoise surfacing and then
diving. As the sun warmed us we started to peel some of the layers of clothing from the previous night. At 11:
50am we passed Brazil Rock in a warming and drying sun.
HERE WE ARE AT SHELBURNE!!!!!!!!!!!!
We rounded McNutt Island and headed for Shelburne in dense fog. Our fist land view of Nova Scotia is here.
We motored the five miles up to Shelburne and called the yacht club on channel 16. They had us dock and helped
us directly to the phone for Canadian Customs. They cleared us by phone. They, of course, asked about alcohol
and we told them that we had 5-6 bottles of wine and some hard liquor as well. They asked if we were going to
leave it here in Canada. We said, “No, we’re going to drink it here”. No problem and no duty. We were checked in
by phone in less than 5 minutes and were then off to the mooring. We met the couple in the next boat, a brand
new Stevens-Perry custom designed 53 foot boat (condo) that was on the cover of Cruising World recently.
Amazing comfort and appointments were apparent below, though, Al, the owner noted that upwind performance
was not the best. They were warm and comfy during their trip from Maine last night. I’ll try to get a picture of that
boat to add as soon as the rain and thunder stops. Did I mention that the weather is less than desirable right now?
8/3 Dennis and Sue arrived about noon- we forgot that there was a time zone change.
Between rain showers, we reprovisioned the boat with the enormous amount of food that they kindly brought. We
then toured the local village which had been recreated for the filming of The Scarlet Letter in 1994. Most
impressive was Melridge ? who was still making Shelburne Dories by hand and demonstrated to us some of the
techniques which have made these some of the most valued wooden boats of their kind. This was followed by a
great dinner of steak and potatoes, a bridge lesson and then general collapse. The night was punctuated by fierce
lightning and rain storms.
8/4
Well, today was to be a trip to Mouton but first a few chores. These included refueling, small shopping, washing
ourselves and going up the mast to inspect the source of unusual noise. Dennis did a fabulous job of getting up
the mast only to discover that the forestay, rather that being attached to the mast in the middle of the mast, was
attached to one of the laterally placed brackets meant for a spinnaker halyard block. The noise that was of
concern was no doubt the shackle connecting the stay to the bracket slipping under load. A great amount of effort
and persistence by Dennis resulted in correcting this situation.
Dennis up the mast: Sue looking concerned (Editor' note)
Anyhow after many hours of Dennis’s hard work, this was done and we took off for Mouton. We skirted several
large thunder storms and are basically motoring there. We should be anchoring about dusk. On the way out of
Shelburne, we passed the schooner races. Seven of these lovely wooden icons were going at with vigor in a
freshening breeze.
We had a relatively brief sail and then the wind died and we motored about 8 hours to Mouton. This is named for
the lost sheep. One must use one’s imagination to figure out why a lost sheep should be memorialized with naming
a huge area of Nova Scotia waters. There were a lot of fishing pens that obstructed the original planned area of
anchoring behind Spectacle Island. By the next morning we could tell that the anchorage next to Carter’s Island
was NOT BAHHHHHD!
Anyhow, we arrived at about 9:30 pm in the dark. At least it was foggy as we entered the Western Passage to get
behind Spectacle Island.
A few navigation notes. The quick flasher at the shoal in Western Passage is on the North side of the shoal, not
the south as indicated in the charts. Also, the anchorages behind spectacle are now cluttered with fish farm pens
so we anchored, after several tries off the Beach at Carter’s Island. We are maybe 200 feet from the beach in
about 40 feet of water but holding well. This beach, unnamed was Christened Surprise Beach.
To get a sense of the terrain here, I have listed some of the local place names:
Lost Hope Island, Lesser Hope Island, Devastation Reef, Massacre Island, Spectacle Island, Coffin Island etc.
Here’s a picture of Lost Hope Island:
8/6
We explored the beach next to Carter’s Island. Absolutely beautiful soft white sand. Close to deserted but for the
couples on “Sweet Dreams”. We have multiple pictures of the beach. Here is an example.
After this, we left out of Eastern Passage, sailed past Medway Ledge to the entrance of La Have River. Note
Green Bay just west of La Have entrance. This would be a fabulous stop in a Northerly wind if there are no swells
from the south. The sail was basically up wind in a NNW 16-20 Kts. We eventually reefed and had several tacks.
The trip was long for 32 miles since we were hard on the wind and took 8+ hours. Dark and Stormies when we
anchored. We anchored south of the hill on Mosher Island and had a beautiful place to ourselves with a
spectacular sunset. The beach in front of us has been christened “Bolero Beach”. A great and humorous meal of
Chicken Picante.
Here we are at Bolero Beach south of Mosher Island at the entrance to the LaHave River.
Sunset south of Mosher Island:
Words cannot describe the isolation and beauty of this anchorage. This was capped by a few fly by's by bald
eagles.
8/6
Today we are headed for the La Have River Yacht club having had several long and fairly tough days of sailing.
A very relaxing day. We stopped at the LaHave Bakery. This is an old boat construction yard which is now a co-
op. The upper floor is a gnarly skate board shop. There are showers, washing and toilet facilities on the second
floor. They are very basic, if you get my meaning. On the first floor there is a wonderful bakery with lunches
featuring homemade bread and soups as well as a nice variety of bakery items. Also on the first floor is a charming
craft store where I bought a mushroom hat. Very attractive if I do say so myself. Lastly there is a woodworking,
large scale shop protected by a barking but friendly black mutt.
After lunch we motored three miles further up the river to find the LaHave Yacht Club. We picked up a mooring
here. The attendants were very helpful and friendly. It was $10 for the night. There is very little else here, but the
local boaters are incredibly friendly.
8/7/08
We are off to Lunenberg today after a load of pancakes
We had a nice downwind sail after motoring down the LaHave river. We went between Enrage point with its off-
lying Hell’s Reef. We passed King’s Bay and Rose Bay to get into Lunenberg. Several mishaps. We learned how
to pole out the jib for wing and wing, but discovered that the up control line for the pole was too short and it came
out of its block necessitating a brief trip up the mast to redo it. Cathy identified a small hole in the jib at the level of
the spreader. We noted that there are no spreader patches. Anyhow, we brought the jib to the Yacht Shop and
Marina. They are connected with North Sails and agreed to pick it up, fix it and return by 4PM today. Another
example of the extreme friendliness of the people of NS. We did anchor- it took us (me) only three tries to get the
anchor to stick in the soft mud. We then headed for shore, toured the fabulous Bluenose and had a very nice
dinner at Magnolias.
8/8
This is the week of the Folk Festival here and we plan to hear some bluegrass after doing our laundry chores.
Note the bilge pump has gone off twice in the past 24 hours. We will examine the bilge, engine etc. for a possible
leak. This might be related to washing down the chain yesterday during the anchoring fest.
More notes on Lunenburg
We did the laundry, got some booze, found some replacement light bulbs for the boat, picked up the jib after a
repair for $65 and had a waterside breakfast this morning. The weather is variable with occaisional showers. We
do really love this town. We stopped at the local foundry and obtained a Lunenburg brass seal for mounting in our
cabin to indicate that this is the emotional home of Surprise.
This is the weekend of the Lunenburg folk festival. Lots of acts all over town. We managed to miss essentially all
of them. We stopped to eat at a fun place- The Knot Pub. Perfect pub food and lots of activity. Then we went to
hear a man named Jeff Coats play and sing blues. He was pretty good, though I thought he was going to aspirate
and die sucking on his harmonica. The issue was the place this happened, a diner called the Simple Moment
Café. Not so simple. Picture this. We walk in and seat ourselves. A very nice waitress comes over for our dinner
order. Problem: we just had dinner at the Knot Pub.
Me: “I’d like a glass of chardonnay please”.
She: “ If you don’t have dinner, there will be a cover charge of $5 apiece”.
Me: “ No problem”.
She: “You can’t have anything to drink unless you have something to eat”.
Me: “I’ll have a piece of creamsicle pie and four spoons”.
She: “Everyone will have to have their own food order”.
Me: “We’ll think about it”.
After waiting another 20 minutes for someone to come by, another waitress came by and took our order for two
cappuccinos, one diet coke and a glass of chardonnay from Cathy.
She came back to inform Cathy that she would have to have something to eat as well so Cathy substituted water
for her drink. All very bizarre.
Some other strange things in Lunenburg. First, amazingly for a sailing destination, there is no fuel or water in the
harbor for yachts. Second, the only liquor store is about a mile walk out of town. This happens to be next to the
only laundramat. Third, while there are some scattered bathroom facilities around town, there are no showers for
boaters. We were told this was because of government involvement. OHH CANADA!
The people here are incredibly nice and friendly. The Yacht Shop and Marina which is connected with a North
Sails Loft was spectacular in repairing a small hole in our jib.
8/9
Dennis is off today to find an emergency Doc to take a look at his poison ivy rash which has become very
impressive around the ankles. When he gets back, we’ll be off to Mahone harbor in Mahone bay. This is where
the Lunenburg Yacht Club is and is said to have excellent fuel and water facilities. Such facilities are also available
at Chester and several other places in Mahone Bay. The CCA cruising guide is really quite out of date regarding
these kinds of details.
Dennis had a successful trip to the ED and we had been at least partially right in our treatment. Anyhow, he is on
his way to recovery. We took off in a gentle SE wind and entered Mahone Bay after passing between East Point
Island and Cross Island and then inside of Little Duck Island. We then decided to put up the chute. This worked
well until we jibed- on purpose. The sheet became jammed in the turning block and we had a bit of a Chinese fire
drill getting it down. By now we were screaming along at 7.8 knots.
Navigating in this bay is a bit confusing because of the multitude of beautiful islands. We got to Princes Inlet where
the Lunenburg Yacht Club is located. They were full because they were hosting a J29 regatta. It looked to be a
very nice club with fuel, water, showers and a restaurant.
So we left there and were rewarded with a beautiful anchorage, completely alone on the south side of Covey
Island. The cove we were in is apparently unnamed and hence was christened Churchill Cove in honor of one of
my true heroes. A nice meal, look bad feel good jokes and an outstanding game of scrabble with Bach in the
background and single malt in the foreground topped off the evening.
8/10
Today started with a quest for fuel and water. Basically the CCA guide is not helpful and often wrong about the
locations of these necessities. Further it provides often no numbers to call or VHF channels of use. Most marinas
here monitor VHF11 and 68 or at times 67. So we left covey cove and headed for Mahone Harbor. The only diesel
available was from a local gas station. Otherwise this looked to be a small attractive town. We then headed for
Oak Island Marina. You guessed it. No diesel. Then we hit gold. We went to South Shore Marina at Hawkers
Point in Mahone Bay. Full service with an easy floating dock. There was an associated restaurant, The Red Fire
which looks delightful and should be considered for future gatherings. From here we got great local information
from Steve and Shirley Parker aboard Sea Ciel hailing from St. Margaret’s bay. From here we did a delightful sail
under crystal clear skies through the islands, around Snake Island and then to Chester. Chester is a town very
reminiscent of Edgartown.
There was a very busy harbor with active racing in a variety of classes. There was no available mooring obvious,
though the Yacht Club did not respond to any hails. We meandered to the Back Harbor and tried to anchor in soft
mud but just slipped through. Then a friendly waterfront dweller, John Fiske called to us from his dock and
provided us with a mooring. We placed a stern anchor for protection.
His grandkids came aboard Surprise for wine. He was typical of the helpful attitude of the local inhabitants. The
area is obviously filled with very successful people with unbelievably beautiful houses and boats. We proceeded to
dinner at Nicky’s and had the chance to meet her. I was struck by the art work there, particularly by Paul Kelly and
in particular by his work titled “Biscuits”. This is a sensual piece that is fabulous. The dinner was terrific and was
their Sunday “Carvery”.
Overall, Chester is a beautiful place though I really prefer the more remote, less upscale sites.
End of Part 1 - Cruise Log Part 2 continues here
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“You may have to buy a postcard!” The one good thing so far, they’re no lobster pots!! By 11am the fog slowly
lifted and, just like that, life was good!! We were surrounded with sealife…multiples of whales, small ones, big ones
and mammoth ones; tons of seals and porpoise and of course sea birds. It became apparent that evanescent
returns on the radar that had been mysterious during the night were really whales and porpoise surfacing and then
diving. As the sun warmed us we started to peel some of the layers of clothing from the previous night. At 11:
50am we passed Brazil Rock in a warming and drying sun.
HERE WE ARE AT SHELBURNE!!!!!!!!!!!!
We rounded McNutt Island and headed for Shelburne in dense fog. Our fist land view of Nova Scotia is here.
We motored the five miles up to Shelburne and called the yacht club on channel 16. They had us dock and helped
us directly to the phone for Canadian Customs. They cleared us by phone. They, of course, asked about alcohol
and we told them that we had 5-6 bottles of wine and some hard liquor as well. They asked if we were going to
leave it here in Canada. We said, “No, we’re going to drink it here”. No problem and no duty. We were checked in
by phone in less than 5 minutes and were then off to the mooring. We met the couple in the next boat, a brand
new Stevens-Perry custom designed 53 foot boat (condo) that was on the cover of Cruising World recently.
Amazing comfort and appointments were apparent below, though, Al, the owner noted that upwind performance
was not the best. They were warm and comfy during their trip from Maine last night. I’ll try to get a picture of that
boat to add as soon as the rain and thunder stops. Did I mention that the weather is less than desirable right now?
8/3 Dennis and Sue arrived about noon- we forgot that there was a time zone change.
Between rain showers, we reprovisioned the boat with the enormous amount of food that they kindly brought. We
then toured the local village which had been recreated for the filming of The Scarlet Letter in 1994. Most
impressive was Melridge ? who was still making Shelburne Dories by hand and demonstrated to us some of the
techniques which have made these some of the most valued wooden boats of their kind. This was followed by a
great dinner of steak and potatoes, a bridge lesson and then general collapse. The night was punctuated by fierce
lightning and rain storms.
8/4
Well, today was to be a trip to Mouton but first a few chores. These included refueling, small shopping, washing
ourselves and going up the mast to inspect the source of unusual noise. Dennis did a fabulous job of getting up
the mast only to discover that the forestay, rather that being attached to the mast in the middle of the mast, was
attached to one of the laterally placed brackets meant for a spinnaker halyard block. The noise that was of
concern was no doubt the shackle connecting the stay to the bracket slipping under load. A great amount of effort
and persistence by Dennis resulted in correcting this situation.
Dennis up the mast: Sue looking concerned (Editor' note)
Anyhow after many hours of Dennis’s hard work, this was done and we took off for Mouton. We skirted several
large thunder storms and are basically motoring there. We should be anchoring about dusk. On the way out of
Shelburne, we passed the schooner races. Seven of these lovely wooden icons were going at with vigor in a
freshening breeze.
We had a relatively brief sail and then the wind died and we motored about 8 hours to Mouton. This is named for
the lost sheep. One must use one’s imagination to figure out why a lost sheep should be memorialized with naming
a huge area of Nova Scotia waters. There were a lot of fishing pens that obstructed the original planned area of
anchoring behind Spectacle Island. By the next morning we could tell that the anchorage next to Carter’s Island
was NOT BAHHHHHD!
Anyhow, we arrived at about 9:30 pm in the dark. At least it was foggy as we entered the Western Passage to get
behind Spectacle Island.
A few navigation notes. The quick flasher at the shoal in Western Passage is on the North side of the shoal, not
the south as indicated in the charts. Also, the anchorages behind spectacle are now cluttered with fish farm pens
so we anchored, after several tries off the Beach at Carter’s Island. We are maybe 200 feet from the beach in
about 40 feet of water but holding well. This beach, unnamed was Christened Surprise Beach.
To get a sense of the terrain here, I have listed some of the local place names:
Lost Hope Island, Lesser Hope Island, Devastation Reef, Massacre Island, Spectacle Island, Coffin Island etc.
Here’s a picture of Lost Hope Island:
8/6
We explored the beach next to Carter’s Island. Absolutely beautiful soft white sand. Close to deserted but for the
couples on “Sweet Dreams”. We have multiple pictures of the beach. Here is an example.
After this, we left out of Eastern Passage, sailed past Medway Ledge to the entrance of La Have River. Note
Green Bay just west of La Have entrance. This would be a fabulous stop in a Northerly wind if there are no swells
from the south. The sail was basically up wind in a NNW 16-20 Kts. We eventually reefed and had several tacks.
The trip was long for 32 miles since we were hard on the wind and took 8+ hours. Dark and Stormies when we
anchored. We anchored south of the hill on Mosher Island and had a beautiful place to ourselves with a
spectacular sunset. The beach in front of us has been christened “Bolero Beach”. A great and humorous meal of
Chicken Picante.
Here we are at Bolero Beach south of Mosher Island at the entrance to the LaHave River.
Sunset south of Mosher Island:
Words cannot describe the isolation and beauty of this anchorage. This was capped by a few fly by's by bald
eagles.
8/6
Today we are headed for the La Have River Yacht club having had several long and fairly tough days of sailing.
A very relaxing day. We stopped at the LaHave Bakery. This is an old boat construction yard which is now a co-
op. The upper floor is a gnarly skate board shop. There are showers, washing and toilet facilities on the second
floor. They are very basic, if you get my meaning. On the first floor there is a wonderful bakery with lunches
featuring homemade bread and soups as well as a nice variety of bakery items. Also on the first floor is a charming
craft store where I bought a mushroom hat. Very attractive if I do say so myself. Lastly there is a woodworking,
large scale shop protected by a barking but friendly black mutt.
After lunch we motored three miles further up the river to find the LaHave Yacht Club. We picked up a mooring
here. The attendants were very helpful and friendly. It was $10 for the night. There is very little else here, but the
local boaters are incredibly friendly.
8/7/08
We are off to Lunenberg today after a load of pancakes
We had a nice downwind sail after motoring down the LaHave river. We went between Enrage point with its off-
lying Hell’s Reef. We passed King’s Bay and Rose Bay to get into Lunenberg. Several mishaps. We learned how
to pole out the jib for wing and wing, but discovered that the up control line for the pole was too short and it came
out of its block necessitating a brief trip up the mast to redo it. Cathy identified a small hole in the jib at the level of
the spreader. We noted that there are no spreader patches. Anyhow, we brought the jib to the Yacht Shop and
Marina. They are connected with North Sails and agreed to pick it up, fix it and return by 4PM today. Another
example of the extreme friendliness of the people of NS. We did anchor- it took us (me) only three tries to get the
anchor to stick in the soft mud. We then headed for shore, toured the fabulous Bluenose and had a very nice
dinner at Magnolias.
8/8
This is the week of the Folk Festival here and we plan to hear some bluegrass after doing our laundry chores.
Note the bilge pump has gone off twice in the past 24 hours. We will examine the bilge, engine etc. for a possible
leak. This might be related to washing down the chain yesterday during the anchoring fest.
More notes on Lunenburg
We did the laundry, got some booze, found some replacement light bulbs for the boat, picked up the jib after a
repair for $65 and had a waterside breakfast this morning. The weather is variable with occaisional showers. We
do really love this town. We stopped at the local foundry and obtained a Lunenburg brass seal for mounting in our
cabin to indicate that this is the emotional home of Surprise.
This is the weekend of the Lunenburg folk festival. Lots of acts all over town. We managed to miss essentially all
of them. We stopped to eat at a fun place- The Knot Pub. Perfect pub food and lots of activity. Then we went to
hear a man named Jeff Coats play and sing blues. He was pretty good, though I thought he was going to aspirate
and die sucking on his harmonica. The issue was the place this happened, a diner called the Simple Moment
Café. Not so simple. Picture this. We walk in and seat ourselves. A very nice waitress comes over for our dinner
order. Problem: we just had dinner at the Knot Pub.
Me: “I’d like a glass of chardonnay please”.
She: “ If you don’t have dinner, there will be a cover charge of $5 apiece”.
Me: “ No problem”.
She: “You can’t have anything to drink unless you have something to eat”.
Me: “I’ll have a piece of creamsicle pie and four spoons”.
She: “Everyone will have to have their own food order”.
Me: “We’ll think about it”.
After waiting another 20 minutes for someone to come by, another waitress came by and took our order for two
cappuccinos, one diet coke and a glass of chardonnay from Cathy.
She came back to inform Cathy that she would have to have something to eat as well so Cathy substituted water
for her drink. All very bizarre.
Some other strange things in Lunenburg. First, amazingly for a sailing destination, there is no fuel or water in the
harbor for yachts. Second, the only liquor store is about a mile walk out of town. This happens to be next to the
only laundramat. Third, while there are some scattered bathroom facilities around town, there are no showers for
boaters. We were told this was because of government involvement. OHH CANADA!
The people here are incredibly nice and friendly. The Yacht Shop and Marina which is connected with a North
Sails Loft was spectacular in repairing a small hole in our jib.
8/9
Dennis is off today to find an emergency Doc to take a look at his poison ivy rash which has become very
impressive around the ankles. When he gets back, we’ll be off to Mahone harbor in Mahone bay. This is where
the Lunenburg Yacht Club is and is said to have excellent fuel and water facilities. Such facilities are also available
at Chester and several other places in Mahone Bay. The CCA cruising guide is really quite out of date regarding
these kinds of details.
Dennis had a successful trip to the ED and we had been at least partially right in our treatment. Anyhow, he is on
his way to recovery. We took off in a gentle SE wind and entered Mahone Bay after passing between East Point
Island and Cross Island and then inside of Little Duck Island. We then decided to put up the chute. This worked
well until we jibed- on purpose. The sheet became jammed in the turning block and we had a bit of a Chinese fire
drill getting it down. By now we were screaming along at 7.8 knots.
Navigating in this bay is a bit confusing because of the multitude of beautiful islands. We got to Princes Inlet where
the Lunenburg Yacht Club is located. They were full because they were hosting a J29 regatta. It looked to be a
very nice club with fuel, water, showers and a restaurant.
So we left there and were rewarded with a beautiful anchorage, completely alone on the south side of Covey
Island. The cove we were in is apparently unnamed and hence was christened Churchill Cove in honor of one of
my true heroes. A nice meal, look bad feel good jokes and an outstanding game of scrabble with Bach in the
background and single malt in the foreground topped off the evening.
8/10
Today started with a quest for fuel and water. Basically the CCA guide is not helpful and often wrong about the
locations of these necessities. Further it provides often no numbers to call or VHF channels of use. Most marinas
here monitor VHF11 and 68 or at times 67. So we left covey cove and headed for Mahone Harbor. The only diesel
available was from a local gas station. Otherwise this looked to be a small attractive town. We then headed for
Oak Island Marina. You guessed it. No diesel. Then we hit gold. We went to South Shore Marina at Hawkers
Point in Mahone Bay. Full service with an easy floating dock. There was an associated restaurant, The Red Fire
which looks delightful and should be considered for future gatherings. From here we got great local information
from Steve and Shirley Parker aboard Sea Ciel hailing from St. Margaret’s bay. From here we did a delightful sail
under crystal clear skies through the islands, around Snake Island and then to Chester. Chester is a town very
reminiscent of Edgartown.
There was a very busy harbor with active racing in a variety of classes. There was no available mooring obvious,
though the Yacht Club did not respond to any hails. We meandered to the Back Harbor and tried to anchor in soft
mud but just slipped through. Then a friendly waterfront dweller, John Fiske called to us from his dock and
provided us with a mooring. We placed a stern anchor for protection.
His grandkids came aboard Surprise for wine. He was typical of the helpful attitude of the local inhabitants. The
area is obviously filled with very successful people with unbelievably beautiful houses and boats. We proceeded to
dinner at Nicky’s and had the chance to meet her. I was struck by the art work there, particularly by Paul Kelly and
in particular by his work titled “Biscuits”. This is a sensual piece that is fabulous. The dinner was terrific and was
their Sunday “Carvery”.
Overall, Chester is a beautiful place though I really prefer the more remote, less upscale sites.
End of Part 1 - Cruise Log Part 2 continues here
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Cruising Log
Nova Scotia
2008
log by Charlie & Cathy Hodge
Nova Scotia
2008
log by Charlie & Cathy Hodge
Part 1 of 2