Nova Scotia
Lunenburg, NS
Our crossing from Bermuda took 6 days. There was more motoring than we would have liked (a cruisers dirty little secret), but the long term forecast would have had us trapped in Bermuda for another two weeks. We crossed the gulf stream in flat water, which was just fine for us, then a sporty sail in the last 24 hours, trying to reach safe harbor ahead of a gale. We were intending to make landfall in Halifax, the capital. The winds associated with the developing gale forced us to turn west instead and make for Shelburne, the next official port of entry. About 2 days out we were informed that Nova Scotia’s largest ever wildfire was currently raging just west of Shelburne. The fire fighting planes were using the bay to scoop up water to fight the fire. We had seen some evidence of the smoke filled skies in the hazy sunrise as we approached land. The bay was closed to marine traffic so as not to impede the firefighting efforts. Then we found out Shelburne itself was evacuated; we were not going to be able to arrive there for customs clearance. Unable to head to Halifax, and unwilling to travel even further west to Yarmouth, the next port of entry, we tucked into Lockeport, a fishing village just east of Shelburne, south of Liverpool, and phoned the Canadian customs. It took 10 minutes and we were cleared in, totally reasonable and understanding of our plight. What a relief.
Lockeport was a fishing village, the public wharf was full of lobster boats that were evacuated from Shelburne. We rafted up to one in the pouring rain, hoping our new neighbor was okay with that. In the afternoon we met Eddie and arranged to help him pump his bilges in the evening, saving him from having to drive out to the boat from his home. The gale arrived and for two days we were trapped on Helacious, literally. When we tried to disembark between rain showers, we found the boats were blown off the dock in the wind and we could not jump the gap, nor pull the boats in toward the dock.
We were not bored, there was a flock of Eider ducks in the harbor. The females were caring for a large number of brand new ducklings. We watched in dismay over the next few days as a number of ducklings were picked off by the seagulls, 24 to 18 to 14….. nature can be very cruel.
Lockeport is not large. Despite that it had a historic district with Victorian houses, well maintained and colorfully painted. The General Store was stocked with bare essentials, and the beach was clean and ready for the summer crowds, if only the sun would come out.
We were looking for lobster and were directed to the warehouses of Cotters distribution. The proprietor, Michael Cotter, was a friendly fellow who gave us a guided tour of his business. The many tanks of bubbling sea water were each packed with crates of live lobster. Over 200,000lb of live lobster were in this single warehouse. The plastic bins contained lobster that had been graded, weighed and deemed suitable for top dollar sale (2 claws present). They were kept in the bins in refrigerated sea water, in stasis so to speak, dormant and ready for shipping all over the world. These days, he told us, the main customer was China, they pay well and promptly. There was another tank with the less than perfect lobster, their destination was the processing plant. We were surprised and very grateful when he loaded a bag with 4 lobster, gave us instructions on their cooking and refused payment.
Carter Beach, an anchorage on the way to Lunenburg.
We left Lockeport and made our way up the coast toward Lunenburg, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is famous for its architecture, much of the downtown has the original 18th and 19th century buildings making the waterfront quite colorful. We enjoyed wandering around the town and the museum. Celebrated an anniversary at a seafood restaurant and met a number of OCC members, discovering the benefit of membership with the loan of a mooring for the night and making new friends.
Helacious in Lunenburg
After a couple of days we moved on up to Halifax. Once again we used our OCC membership contacts and were very grateful when the Halifax port officer offered to take us on a provisioning run to Costco, a state run liquor store and to get some oil. We filled Johns car to the brim. Thank you.
Jake was visiting at the same time for a meeting and we enjoyed having him and some friends onboard to visit. After his meeting was finished we went for a sail, swinging along the waterfront of downtown Halifax before heading to a cove on McNabs island in the inlet to Halifax. There was a great hike from the anchorage, down the spine of the island in a deeply mossy pine forest.
The subject of the last photo.
We spent a day in Halifax, enjoying the art gallery and maritime museum. On the final day of Jakes visit, it was gloomy and grey, threatening to rain. We were rescued by Eric, from the Armdale Yacht club, who invited us to join him on a couple of the Blue Nose dinghies in the club regatta. It was such fun.
Armdale Yacht club, very active and a great stop.
Jake left and we finished up some boat projects. The inverter, a very expensive box of electronics that we use to convert battery DC power to appliance friendly AC power decided to quit. It could not have happened at a more fortuitous place. The well stocked and unbeatable prices of The Binnacle yacht chandlery was just a 10 minute walk from the yacht club. We bought and installed a replacement. We also put in an order for new batteries which we will pick up and instal on our return journey south. Before we could spend any more money we pulled up the anchor and set sail.