Crew Log for June 15th – 20th, 2023
Trip Summary:
• Tangier to Port Hawkesbury
• Trip Distance of 125.5 NM, Total Distance To-Date of 5,624.9 NM
June 15th, marks the beginning of our 11th month since this “self-inflicted adventure” started on August 14th, 2022. Despite the amazing experiences we’ve had and the lasting memories we’ve created, our thoughts are on family and home.
We woke to thick, dense fog and overcast conditions with forecasted 10 knot winds out of the south. Our “plan” was to try and reach Port Hawkesbury over the next 3 days, stopping in Spanish Ship Bay and Yankee Cove, then on to the Strait of Canso.
We blindly made our way out of Tangier Harbour, weaving our way through the islands, between Tangier Island and Ironbound. Seeing the lobster pots in the dense fog was a challenge, so we set a course away from shore, out into the shipping lane. There is a line of red buoys off Nova Scotia’s eastern shore guiding commercial traffic up and down the coast. In addition to avoiding lobster pots, following this route also keeps us well off the rocky shoals and islands that dominate the eastern shore landscape. The disadvantage of routing that far offshore is that it makes for a long trip back into protected waters to anchor.
As we made our way offshore, the fog lifted, and conditions improved. We immediately starting to weigh the options of staying out here or sticking to our original plan of anchoring at night. I’ll confess, I’ve gotten weary of battling the weather and dodging lobster pots. It seemed the closer we inched our way towards home, the more impatient I became. Luckily, there is a voice of reason on Elizabeth M that respectfully challenges changes to the plan.
We had a reasonably good weather window for the next few days, but the forecast started to look ugly by the weekend. After a long discussion, we agreed to do one more overnight and head straight to Port Hawkesbury. This meant we’d have a small weather window to transit George’s Bay and get down the Northumberland Strait before the weather turned.
As we made our way down the coast, Judy spotted a group of Shearwaters, circling the boat, just above the water. Shearwaters are a medium sized, long winged seabirds. They fly with stiff wings and use a "shearing" flight technique (flying very close to the water and seemingly cutting or "shearing" the tips of waves) to move across wave fronts with the minimum of active flight. Hence the name, Shearwater.
Shearwaters do a migration from South America and follow a “great circle” route back to North Atlantic waters. Just like the loopers, minus the trawler! In addition to the Shearwaters, we also spotted a lively group of porpoises jumping out of the water.
Despite the calm conditions at the start of this leg, we were struggling against a headwind and waves, making for frustratingly slow progress. To add to the anxiety, we got a note from our nephew Matthew, warning us of possible thunderstorms. We had the radar on and could see the various storm fronts moving around us and they fortunately all missed us. We did get a lot of rain and squall like conditions that were manageable.
Our auto pilot had been giving us issues since it first stopped working on the Gulf of Maine crossing. I’d replaced the belt in Clarke’s Harbour and thought we’d fixed it. It does tend to work better on a close haul or beam reach where the boat maintains a smoother line. In a following sea, we tend to surf down the waves, which we suspect taxes the autopilot.
Hindsight is 20-20. I had the voice of the late Dana Hunter, from the boatyard back home, in the back of my head saying, “…is it working…”, “yes”, “…then leave it alone…”. I ignored the voice and set about trying to “fix” the autopilot. It turned out there were loose wires on the motor. I got the soldering iron out and set about trying to repair it, all the while rolling back and forth and forward and back. What I didn’t count on was the soldering iron crapping out. So much for repairs. We were back to hand steering for the remaining 16 hours to Port Hawkesbury. Luckily, before we lost cell service, we ordered replacement parts and had them express shipped to Port Hawkesbury.
We maintained a 3 hour shift schedule throughout the night, which seems to work best for us. Just before our 0100 hour shift change, Judy yelled down to me to come up. Something was wrong! Just as I poked my head up out of the cockpit, I could see the urgency. There were blaring lights coming towards us through the dark and fog. Fortunately, the lights moved behind us, just a few boat lengths away. We’re guessing it was a scallop dragger given it seemed to follow a grid pattern. Or, it might have been a UFO.
As we rounded Canso and made our way into calm waters of Chedabucto Bay, we got a text from Matthew who asked if the trip was “uneventful”. I laughed as Judy reflected, “…other than the torrential rain, the broken auto pilot, the dense fog and the fishing boat that almost hit us in the middle of the night…yah, it was pretty uneventful…”. I am glad we can still laugh.
We have been in some very beautiful places in our travels. However, I am not sure if it’s the familiarity of this area or some other reason, but I was immediately struck with the beauty of lush green forests and fields coming down to the water edge. I was reminded that Nova Scotia is truly a special place. Our plan was to stay at the Strait of Canso Yacht Club in Port Hawkesbury, a regular stop for us on our trips to and from the Bras d’Or Lake from Barrachois, our home port.
The Strait of Canso Yacht Club was established in 1964 and is operated by club volunteers. A full service facility with flosting docks, with power and water, a beautiful clubhouse and shower and laundry facilities, right next to a boardwalk that runs along the waterfront. The Club is within walking distance to banks, grocery stores, shops, restaurants, and liquor store. But prepare yourself for that climb up the hill!
We tied up at the dock, just as Gary, one of the Club volunteers, came down the walkway with our replacement parts for our autopilot. They arrived the same time we did!
Doing 24 hour runs means it is easy to lose track of the days, although we generally have an issue remembering what day of the week it is most of the time. However, today was a special day. It was our grand daughter Sloan’s 4th birthday. It was fun video chatting with her and her Mom, our daughter Allison, and seeing Sloan’s excitement as she showed us her birthday gifts. She wanted to make sure we saw everything. We had, had a tough passage, but immediately forgot about it, watching Sloan on her birthday.
Happy Birthday Sloan!
We have been fortunate to have made a number of new friends on this trip, who we’ve talked about in these Crew Logs. We are committed to ensuring they have an on-going presence in our lives, despite the fact that many live thousands of miles away. We impulsively decided to video chat with Corky and Alex, who were at their summer home in North Carolina. It was great to see them again and catch up on the news.
The following day was forecasted to be, what Judy likes to refer to as benign weather, for the George’s Bay crossing. It was a short trip to Ballantyne's Cove, but the waters here can be challenging. A former colleague of mine explained that 3 separate weather fronts (the Northumberland Strait, the Atlantic Ocean and the Labrador Current) all converge at Cape George. We have had fantastic passages across here following pilot whales and, some of worst passages we’ve ever experienced, battling 10 – 12 foot waves.
We follow a fairly disciplined routine before each passage, regardless if we are going 5 miles or 125 miles. My daily checks include a thorough inspection of the “engine bay”. For some inexplicable reason, I almost didn’t bother doing my engine check in the morning. Luckily I came to my senses and opened the engine compartment and immediately noticed something was wrong.
The serpentine belt on the engine had started to fray and the v-belt for the raw water pump was damaged. We still aren’t sure what caused them to deteriorate, but they did both have over 1,500 hours on them. Our mechanic suggested it was likely time, and they, like us, were tired. Luckily I had both replacement belts and swapped them out, but we lost our weather window to get across George’s Bay, which turned out to be OK, since the weather turned absolutely ugly later in the day. And, we got to meet Sue and Tom, from sv Dargon III.
Sue and Tom are both mechanical engineers, living in Riverview, NB. They moved there from Kingston, Ontario. They originally kept their boat in Buctouche, NB, but moved to Port Hawkesbury last year. They make the 3.5 hour, one way commute on the weekends and spend several weeks in the summer on the boat. Dragon III is a Hughes 35, built in Ontario. They had just gotten the boat in the water, so we hosted them on Elizabeth M for a great evening of conversation.
The forecast called for gusty conditions for the next several days and lots of rain, so we accepted the fact that we’d likely be here for a couple of more days. Determined to make the best of it, Judy asked "KC", a local lobster fisherman who operates out the marina, if he had any lobsters. He agreed to bring us some for Father’s Day, so I went to work making homemade rolls to go with them. Judy did note that 4 pounds of lobster in Nova Scotia, costs exactly the same as one lobster roll and a pepsi in Maine.
The rest of day was pretty quiet as we sheltered from the cold rain and strong winds. It was really nice to chat with the kids.
The engine mechanic showed up on Monday and reassured us that everything looked fine. Elizabeth M has a fairly complicated electrical system however, so he was hesitant to dive into some intermitted issues we were having with the tachometer. Not willing to give up, I concluded that It appears to be a minor issue, related to dirty connections or faulty grounds. Everything is working in any case.
Later in the day, Judy noticed the Bluenose II coming up the Strait towards the Canso Lock. When we were in Lunenburg earlier in the month, the crew told us they were headed to Pictou later in the week for their annual haulout. I wasn’t quick enough to get a good photo, but watched them on AIS as they made their way through the lock.
The last check we wanted to make before we leave, is an inspection of our prop. We contacted a diver, but the wind has been relentless which would complicate any work we need to do. When I called the diver, he promised to come down and at least have a look but had to stay close to home. His wife worked at the local school and was locked down with a group of kids in the school’s kitchen. The reports were that someone was running around with a knife or a gun. “But I promise I’ll get down to the boat”. To which I responded, “Oh my land, don’t worry about us. Your family’s safety is the priority”.
As promised, Lenny and his crew showed up the next day and dove on Elizabeth M and checked the prop and shaft. They are a commercial dive unit, with cameras on the dive helmets so we could see everything real time. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, so we had some reassurance that nothing serious was wrong.
More importantly, Lenny’s wife was OK, but the day before was a difficult day for her to say the least. Not something anyone should have to go through and definitely not something you’d expect happen in rural Cape Breton.
Just before Lenny and crew showed up, our Surveyor, Bill knocked on the side of the boat. He had come up to do a survey on another boat in the marina and dropped by to say hello. Given our description, he also reassured us that things were likely OK, and more than likely we just needed a good bottom scrub. We’ll know more once we haul the boat in Barrachois, but for now our plans are to head for home once the winds settle. It feels more like late fall, not the eve of the first day of summer!
A friend of ours joked that we stayed in Port Hawkesbury longer than we have stayed anywhere. It’s not exactly true, but it was time to move on. Our plan was simple, transit through the Canso Lock into the Northumberland Strait and head for home. But not before we stop at a couple of our favorite places.
But more about that, next time.
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