June 7-9

Now, that’s what I’m talking about!!! The best sailing yet!

June 7^th and time to move along. We’re four days behind schedule but everything is looking good now that we aare back in home waters and  the engine looks to be O.K.. To be frank, I was stressing that the engine would require a major (i.e. expensive and time consuming) repair. I can’t say how happy I was when it turned out to be relatively minor and that the part required to repair it was already on the boat.

As you know, Gary has been the pilot and navigator on this trip. He has always said that charts are good but the best source of information is local knowledge. That paid off in spades today. The most excellent marina manager at Killam’s came by to see us and suggested we might want to use the “Schooner Passage” instead of going out around the islands but not to go on the rising tide. Based on that we delayed our start until after 12:30 p.m. so as to reach the passage around high tide. With the current running in our favor we blew through the channel among some beautiful islands at speeds up to 9.1 knots.

See 9.1 knots. NO LIE!

Our original plan was to go to Clarke’s Harbour on Cape Sable Island but things were going so well we decided to go on to Port la Tour. Seas were a little high but I went below and cooked a chicken stew for dinner and strapped the pot to the galley top to keep it in place until we were ready to eat.

Keeping your dinner down!

 After we turned the corner the wind was coming off the land and sailing was more comfortable.  It was so comfortable in fact that with full bellies and feeling alright we decided to sail on through the night to make up time. We sailed all through a beautiful  night and through the next day arriving at the Sambro light outside Halifax at 3:30. 

Entering Halifax

The wind had shifted in the morning and was blowing off the water again making for bigger seas. I don’t know if I mentioned it before but they scare the hell out of me. Gary is exceedingly patient with me and we got around the light and into the approaches to Halifax Harbour. Instead of going in we took a turn to port and motored up into Armdale where we took a berth at the Armdale Yacht Club at around 6:30 p.m.. This is an absolutely fantastic place. The marina surrounds what used to be an island. The core of the clubhouse was built in 1808 as part of a prison facility. The original building on top of the island is almost unrecognizable but you can’t mistake the stone cellblock building below that was used to hold prisoners of war during the Napoleonic War and the war of 1812-14. This building is much as it was except that the prison cells are now used to store yachting equipment. The weather for the 9^th doesn’t look good so we decided to stay on in Halifax an extra day. We had dinner at the club and afterwards I went back there for a beer and to catch up on some e-mail and other stuff. The bar closed and I slept like a log knowing we did not have to move tomorrow.

June 9^th.

Today started with rain and no wind. Gary and I had a breakfast of bacon and french toast (have I mentioned how much I like the pressurized alcohol stove?) and then I went for a shower. After that I took a cab to the Halifax  Shopping Centre for some gear, groceries and grog. Seriously, you can’t get Lamb’s Navy Rum in the States. On the way back I stopped at the Binnacle and got some extra alcohol for the stove. On my return we fueled up and rigged a canopy for the cockpit. I had tried to reach a couple of friends in Halifax with no luck but Gary got his sister Valerie and her husband Frank. They came by later. Valerie brought along a care package of a couple of loaves of home made bread and some delicious cookies. We were both tickled when they accepted our invitation to dinner. Crab claws with fresh fruit and tortilla chips with salsa were the appetizers. That was followed by barbecued steaks with baked potatoes, corn on the cob and green beans; a nice Chianti helped it down. I think dinner for four on Galefilero was a great success. It was quite comfortable and the company was excellent.

Our first dinner guests!

We’ve filled the water tank and plan to head on tomorrow. The goal tomorrow is Liscombe Harbour then on to St. Peter’s on the 11^th.

Gary

I have to revise my previous post about night sailing.  The overnight from Yarmouth was star-filled with a moon a few days past full.  We could actually steer by the stars.  As an amateur astronomer, it was difficult to concentrate on steering with all that sky to look at.

When morning came on, we were coming up to Mahone Bay.  We had earlier considered a run into the town of Mahone Bay, but upon reviewing the chart we found it was 20nm in, and of course the same out… a day’s sailing right there.  So it was on to Halifax.  Total time traveling was 30 hours and we covered 170 nm!

When you enter a large harbour, where do go?  I was familiar with the Armdale Yacht Club by land so we decided to come in here.  I believe it was a great choice… approaching to determine how we might dock or moor, we saw a sign posted on an outside dock: “Guest Dock”… a proper invitation to spend the night.