Nova Scotia

Little fishing village near Shelburne

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The rivers are all "tea" coloured from all the trees

Another fishing village

Dalene has a great B and B beside the river in Shelburne

Enjoying the Burger, Beer and Racing night at Shelburne Yacht Club with Darlene and Sherry (Commodore)

Pollen floats thick on the water and put a yellow covering on the boat

The colourful town of Lunenburg

These boats are being built in the traditional way by steaming the plank to bend them into shape.

The wild Lupins make a colourful show

Lunenburg harbour

The Picton Castle returning from 14 month circumnavigation

Beautiful architecture in Lunenburg

Lunenburg

Mahone Harbour

The town of Mahone - lots of craft and gift shops

Halifax

Town clock at Halifax with the Citadel above on top of the hill

Is it a windmill? Is it a boat? No it's a wind propelled boat!!!!

The fog rolls in at Port Howe

Saliander's sister ship "Blue Water" at Port Howe

Saliander at Port Howe, it was a beautiful day but the fog was always looming in the back ground

Lots of nasty looking jelly fish everywhere, with long tentacles

The local fishermen were collection their lobster pots on the last day of lobster season

Sailing in fog

Entering St Peters Canal

Sitting in the lock at St Peters Canal waiting for the lock gates to open

Swivel bridge in St Peters Canal

Trying to sail in Bras d'or Lakes while "Maine Lady" motors by

Fresh Mackerel and buns for lunch

View of Bras d'or Lakes from Marble Mountain

Lupins

Lifting bridge that connects the 2 Bras d'or Lakes

Saliander and a few of the rally fleet in Baddeck

Neils Harbour, on the Cabot Trail

The fishermen heading out of Neils harbour for a days work

Crab season is over and the pots are stacked on the dock

Cape Bretton

What's this, a party?

Why yes it's a party for scarecrows so we thought we would join in....

Joanie and Bob on our tour of the Cabot Trail

View out over Baddeck

Alexander Graham Bell's summer house

Nova Scotia

After the beautiful sunny day that welcomed us when we arrived at Shelburne on 10th June, the weather turned and we had several days of light rain with temperatures down around 11degs C. We dug out our bikes to explore the picturesque town with its' historical colonial houses. The town was originally settled by United Empire Loyalists who fled Boston immediately after the American War of Independence in 1783. At one time it had a population of 10,000, however these days its' dwindled to 2,000. The town has also been the scene of several historical movies including "Scarlet Letter" staring Demi More. We made good use of the Shelburne Yacht Club facilities catching up on emails and laundry. The local yachties were very hospitable and sociable, so of course we had to join them at the bar from time to time - well it would be rude not to wouldn't it? Darlene, the Assistant Manager at the yacht club, took us on a great Tiki Tour" of the district. The scenery was stunning, despite the rain, with lovely white sandy beaches and quaint little fishing villages. The lobster season has just ended which is fortunate for us as we don't have the worry of navigating around all the buoys that mark the lobster pots. The country side is littered with granite rock, consequently farming is not an option in these parts, fishing seems to be the main industry. The land is covered in green trees and while they look very beautiful, they cause havoc for allergy sufferers (like me)at this time of year because the air is just thick with pollen dust. The boat is covered in fine yellow powder and you can also see clouds of it floating on the surface of the water. There's an abundance of rivers here and Pete's itching to get out fly fishing, but may have to wait until we get to New Foundland. Unfortunately you can't fish for Atlantic Salmon as they are currently on the endangered species list, however there are plenty of other fish to be had, including Trout. The Salmon is readily available in the supermarkets though and at $10 per kilo we just had to try some, we weren't disappointed and we've also got a supply in the freezer for smoking.

We are joining a 3 week rally in New Foundland that starts in Baddeck on the Bras d'or Lakes (Cape Bretton northern Nova Scotia) on 7th July. Very few cruising boats generally come this far north from USA and even fewer go to New Foundland. There are around 25 boats coming on the rally so as you can image the logistics of organising dockage and facilities for all the participants would be quite challenging, especially as a lot of the anchorages are not big enough to accommodate 25 boats all at once. But Doug and Dale, the rally organisers, having sailed to New Foundland a number of times and up dated the cruising pilot book, are well acquainted with the area. On Thursday 16th June Doug and Dale arrived in Shelburne on their boat "Blue Water" so we had the chance to meet them. An English couple, Tony and Christine, also arrived in the marina. They are taking time out from participating and organising Blue Water Cruises, a 2 year circumnavigation rally, which they have been involved in for the past 16 years. An Australian, Trevor, on his 38ft gaff rigger "Iron Bark", also arrived in the anchorage. He had sailed solo from New Zealand via Cape Horn, and had many tales to tell about his numerous and varied life adventures, including working on oil rigs in Angola, living in Nova Scotia, solo sailing to the Antarctic for a winter season. Up until now there had only been a couple of other cruising boats in the harbour and we didn't get to see a lot of their crews, so it was great to have some more cruisers arriving in port. We all met at the yacht club for Thursday night yacht racing, hamburgers, beers and yarn spinning with the locals - the perfect recipe for a great night.

Friday 17th June the winds are favourable for heading north so alas it's time to tear ourselves away from Shelburne, but we'll always remember the wonderful hospitality we received here and with any luck we'll call in on our way south in 6 weeks time. We set course for our next port , Lunenburg. The winds were light and fickle so we made slow progress even with the spinnaker up. We had our first taste of fog which came down and surrounded us like a blanket for an hour or so. We've had no luck dragging the fishing lines (the locals did warn us.....), but Pete spotted a whale water spout in the distance.

We arrived in Lunenburg at 9.30pm which was just before dark, the days are very long here in summer, but conversely very short in winter. The next day was a big occasion for the town as the tall ship Picton Castle was arriving home from a 14 month circumnavigation. We joined the the family and friends of the crew down on the wharf to welcome them in port, it was quite emotional. Lunenburg is another town with a lot of history and was once a centre for ship building and fishing which are now carried out on a much reduced scale, with tourism taking over as the major income earner. The town has retained it's historical buildings and has a great maritime museum. We had a couple of days with brilliant sunshine to explore the town before moving a little further north to Mahone Bay. This is a large open bay, but shelter is never too far away with the many islands and sheltered inlets spread around the bay. We spent the first night in Mahone Harbour and the next morning went ashore to check out the shops which were mainly craft and gift shops, no marine or hardware stores for Pete at this town. Summer officially started today, 21st June, however spring has been exceptionally wet with 2 months of rain and cold, so when the sun comes out the brilliant green of the grass and trees make a stunning back drop for the vibrant hues of the houses and spring flowers. The sun continued to shine and we had a great sail around some of the islands and bays before we eventually dropped anchor in Deep Cove, beside Doug & Dale on Blue Water for the night.

22nd June we had a great sail up to Halifax and anchored next to Brian and Sandy, on Moonshadow Star, who are also coming on the rally to New Foundland. We enjoyed a great day in the sunshine riding our bikes around the city. Beth and Jim, cruisers who were in Cuba the same time as we were, invited us to their home in Halifax where we enjoyed a lovely meal, wonderful hospitality and had a great time talking about our cruising experiences etc. Alas the fine weather came to an end and the rain arrived, but it was a good opportunity to catch up on chores and visit our usual haunts - supermarket and hardware stores.

26th June we left the anchorage at first light, 5.30am, and headed out in the company of Moonshadow Star. The fog was thick with only 100m visibility and we had to venture across the main channel to head north. As we were crossing we could hear a loud fog horn which seemed to be getting louder, just as we reached the other side a big ship loomed out of the fog to cross behind us going 13knts. It looked a lot closer than what it actually was, but it certainly got the adrenalin going.... The fog stayed with us until 5pm, the sea was rolly, and unfortunately the wind didn't arrive so we ended up motoring the 70nmls up to Goose Island where we anchored with Moonshadow Star. It was a beautiful calm evening with lots of seals swimming around the bay getting their final feed before dark.

The following day was another early start, the winds were once again light and fickle and the fog rolled in when we got out of the anchorage. We were hoping to get to St Peters, the entrance to the Bras d'or Lakes, but decided to stop off at Port Howe to save some of our precious, and expensive, fossil fuel.... We came across a lobster boat setting their pots in the fog, it was a bit of a surprise as it didn't come up on our radar, and we weren't too happy about having to dodge the buoys attached to the lobster pots. Just as we were entering the channel we were relieved to see the fog lift, especially in view of all the rocks around the entrance and the lobster buoys that were spread across the channel. However our relief was short lived as a long floating line attached to a lobster buoy got caught up on our keel - oh no!!! With the water temperature at 14degs C it was not looking good as we thought Pete would have to go for a swim, but thankfully the line floated free after a few stressful minutes. The sun made an appearance when we arrived in the picture perfect and secluded anchorage at 2pm. Pete wasted no time in getting out in the dinghy to do some fishing and returned an hour or so later with a dozen Mackerel. In the meantime Doug and Dale arrived in the anchorage on Blue Water, which is a sistership to Saliander. so we got the opportunity to look over Blue Water over sundowners. It's always interesting to see inside other boats, Blue Water's layout is very nice and quite different to Saliander. We spent another day enjoying the sunny weather in Port Howe while Blue Water carried on the St Peters. Pete smoked some of the Mackerel which were delicious and we brought some lobster from the local fishermen - life is good....

We left for St Peters on 29th June and as we were going out through the channel from Port Howe the fog surrounded us once again. We could see a boat on the radar that was heading our way so we gave the fog horn a good workout to make sure they were aware of our presence. It turned out to be another sail boat entering the anchorage which passed only meters on our starboard side (I can see it will take my nerves a bit of getting used to travelling in this fog). We started out motoring again but thankfully the breeze came up, not much of a breeze but enough to fill the spinnaker and get us moving along at 4-5knts. We arrived at St Peters Canal at 5.30pm and entered the lock which has a 2ft rise and fall. The staff were very friendly and helpful, and once the lock gate had been opened to allow us to proceed through, they raced off in their vehicle to open the one lane swivel bridge that crosses the water further up the canal. We anchored at St Peters for a couple of nights with several other cruising boats on their way up to Baddeck for the rally.

1st July we topped up the diesel tanks before heading up the Bras d'or Lakes. There was very little wind so we just mooched our way up to Little Harbour, it took 6 hours to travel less than 20nmls but it was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the superb scenery with small groups of houses dotted occasionally in amongst the forest. The following day was also very light winds so we made our way around to Marble Mountain to investigate the old Marble Quarry and the town which now consists of around 20 houses and 2 churches. There was only one other boat anchored at Marble Mountain which had an English flag. They turned out to be Kiwi's, Dick & Leslie on their boat Tirua, originally from Bucklands Beach but have been living in UK for most of their working life. The wind picked up in the late afternoon so we decided to carry on to Baddeck. This was to be the meeting place for the start of the rally starting 7th July and 3 or 4 boats had arrived already. The weather was hot and sunny, maybe summer had arrived at last, so we made the most of it to get some more maintenance and polishing done. Our Kiwi friends Bob and Joanie had been trying to catch up to us in their boat Nemir, but they got caught in Maine waiting for a weather window to get over to Nova Scotia. They decided to leave Nemir in Halifax and drive up to Baddeck to spend a couple of nights with us, so we had a great time catching up. They took us for a day trip driving up to the top of Cape Bretton around the Cabot Trail which is mostly National Park, along with a few fishing villages dotted around the coast. We had a fabulous day and it was a nice change to see the country side from the land instead of the water.

Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, spent a lot of time in Baddeck at his summer house. We visited the Alexander Graham Bell Museum which gives a fascinating account of his life and his many inventions. By 6th July most of the boats in the rally had arrived in Baddeck and a local couple hosted a cocktail party for all the crews. They also arrange a visit for the group to Alexander Graham Bell's house which is still owned by the family. This was a very special privilege as most of the people who live in Baddeck have not had the opportunity to view the house. We met 2 of the Bell grandchildren who gave us a tour of the house and endeavoured to answer our many questions. We also had a fabulous lobster and salmon dinner to kick off the official start of the Rally.