Yarmouth

Yarmouth, July 10 and 11th

Yarmouth, July 10 and 11th

After another foggy day of motoring Stephen and I arrived at Killan Brothers Marina in Yarmouth. Meanwhile Keith flew in to Halifax rented a car and drove down to Yarmouth to meet us. When he arrived we headed to Rudder's Bar and Grill to celebrate, eat drink and be merry.

The next day we took the self-guided walking tour around the town and checked out all the houses that were built in the late 1800s. Checked out some fishing supply stores and bought some cool lights. Very handy I might add.

Westport, Nova Scotia

Stephen and I left Grand Manan with the low tide in thick fog, visibility only 1/4 mile. It stayed like that the whole way across to Westport on the end of the Digby neck. Getting in was interesting, we had to time it for ebb tide, which was easy enough but the fog was a challenge. It thinned out just as we were entering the pass, good thing because we still had 3 knots of current. Once again rafting to fishing boats for the night. We hiked out to the Joshua Slochom menorioral and back. Not much to it. There was whale watching tours be offered and a couple of tourist traps. The tidal range was still 4 meters.

The Bay of Fundy

Tides on steroids. Full noon and 28'. Docks higher than most buildings.
We went through the reverseing falls this morning. On our first attempt and we had to bail, doing 8 1/2 knots going down stream turned and clawed our way back to a safe distance away,  waited another 15 minutes and went through with no problems. We were instantly rewarded by a seal siting.  With little wind and small seas we bundled up and headed out to sea in a thick fog, our goal was north head harbour on Grand Manan Island.
Saw a small dolphin on the way.
Having entered the dock area and finding it full of commercial fishing boats, we tied up against one and climbed a three storey ramp to get to ground level.
I called Ben ( I guy I meet in St. John who lives on Grand Manan) and he came down and took us to his place for a beer and visit. He picked us up the next morning and gave us the island tour complete with some of it's history and lots of info about lobster fishing, he show us this boat and shop. Nice to get a guide tour, we exchange contact info and promised to keep in touch.
I hiked around part of the island in the afternoon, and saw two bares sun tanning on a picinic table, and came across the hole in the wall rock formation along the coast line.
 I should have bought the Granud Manan tee shirt. Great place!

Canada Day 150

I spent the day hanging around the yacht club, listening to 3 music groups and eating seafood.
After my mighty walk the day before I wasn't going far with shin splints.
On the 2nd I left harbour in the afternoon and foundg a place to anchor for the night. Not a hard thing to do on the St. John river system, there a tons of great spots that remind me of the white shell.
I cooked up a steak, did a little fishing, the fog rolled in around 10 pm again, talk about dark, unbelievable. You couldn't see the shore line 100 feet away, no lights, just crazy dark. I rented a mountain bike and headed to Rockwood Park. It's a large park basically in the city and multi use. They had lot of trails and 10 k of single trail, some root sections and lots of technical rock and slopely stuff. I got a good workout. I moved to the RKYC and met the comidor Kim and she gave me rum and introduced me to a Don, who taught me the ins and outs of the currents around here.  I helped Roy rig his new Hunter. Assume sun rise and set today.

St John

The  St. John Marina is quite nice,  it was purchased two years ago by a construction company made of four brothers.  They have made major changes to the building and do a wonderful restaurant and wedding business.  The marina manager, Sarah, certainly knows her stuff and is very helpful.  It's about 4 miles from St. John in cotage country on the picturesque at St. Johns River.
After a day of rigging the boat and cleaning this and that,  it was time to head into town and see the sights.  I hitchhiked in and it didn't take long to get a ride.  Here I got the first glimpse of the reversing falls with the St. Johns River pouring out into the harbour.  I walked downtown and found Britt's pub and had fish tacos and a beer.  From there and I did a self-guided tour checking out the three sisters  Lampstand, the queen Square, the King Square, and the Olympic sized swimming pool.  I walked to the north quadrant looking for a hardware store and then to the west looking at a bike I saw on kijiji,  then back to the reversing  falls to watch the water run into the St. Johns River.
There's lots of heritage buildings in the downtown area which have been wonderfully restored  all with a rich history behind it.

Sheriac to St. John

When I went to replace a rusted anchor chain I got quite a surprise, a bird, had made a nest in the locker. There was twigs and branches and leaves every where.
The plan was to haul the boat from Shediac to the Brundage boat ramp about 5 miles north of the St. John's marina. This was because of low water levels in the St. Johns River.
I met Clayton at Romeo's and we loaded the boat onto the trailer and said our goodbyes to Jackie and Romeo and headed south. Once we arrived, I asked the attendant and a couple of Coast Guard personnel if it was possible to get over the reserving falls and out on to the Bay of Fundy. They didn't think so ......... not good.
I phoned the marina office and Sarah said "No problem you have 20 minutes of slack tide."
So Clayton backed Summer Wine into the river and away I went. Right after leaving the charts on my iPad disappeared, turns out my subscription had run out.
Once I got to the marina, I introduced myself to Sarah and she said "you can put the mast up Now ". It was a bit of a scramble to get things ready, but we had it stepped in about 10 minutes once I got to the rigging dock.

sorry no pictures just now, the app we are using is no longer working and I haven't been able to invert them.



Year Three is under way

Time flies when you are having fun.  It has been busy seven months with lots of construction projects and two bike trips to the states  and of course the fun filled week we had in the Dominican republic.
 Acdd to the mix our children in the three grandbabies and time really zips bye.
 But here I am in the land of lobster ( Shediac) getting the boat ready to be moved to st John by the end of the week and Canada day. Here we will step the mast.
 Once again we have a great lineup of people coming out to share the fun.  Stephen Meush will be joining me for the sail across reversing Falls and out onto the Bay of Fundy. Our veteran sailor Keith Bruch who sailed with us the past two years will be joining us around Digby and we will gunkhole our way Northeast towards Halifax hopefully finding all the wineries and breweries well trying to put a dent in the muscles and scallop population in the area.
 There will be a crew change in Halifax and Joann will join me followed a week later by Dorothy Cunningham who sailed the Vic Maui with me in 2008.  Andrew Meyer will be joining us in August for a couple weeks to help round out the trip.  So stay tuned.

                Toronto rain delay

                Shediac sunset

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