Sailing on the South Shore

Terri and Drew

Embarking on a journey by sailboat is a daunting and daring idea for many. For certain it is not for the 
faint of heart or for those in a hurry. It is special and unique to be able to experience even a part of it. You learn early on that living or staying on a 39 foot sailboat with about 200 square feet of living space is a far cry from conventional life. The adjustment is easier than you might think.

Time slows to a crawl out here on the east coast, and it’s easy to fall into the unhurried pace of life. This too is fitting, because living on a sailboat means that each task to be done, each meal to be cooked, takes a measure of time, planning and patience to complete.  Pleasure is found in the simple things like a coffee on deck, the sun shining on a beautiful bay, the people that you meet and the time spent with good friends. The joy is in the journey itself. 

H2OBO in Halifax 

Seeing Maggie and Branko for the first time since they left is an ecstatic reunion. It’s so easy to pick up where we left off, happy to be together on this leg of their adventure. 

Lunenburg

Evening in Mahone Bay

We were fortunate to make several stops along the spectacular south shore of Nova Scotia. We had excellent weather for both sailing and motoring. We motored and sailed to Chester, followed by the town of Mahone Bay, a day trip (via hitchhike and taxi) to Lunenburg and motored/sailed to Hubbard’s Cove for our last day. Lucky for us the taxi to Lunenburg showed up when it did - Branko claimed that no one would stop for us because the less pretty couple (Drew & I), were leading the thumb attempt. But, we’ll never know for sure. I must give mention to Mike the horse in Lunenburg – if you are ever there, he is tethered near the downtown wharf with his carriage attached, and stamps his hoof impatiently waiting to take his next customers for a tour of the town.

Terri

Each location has its own charm, as well as the renowned east coast hospitality. In Chester, we dined on fresh beans compliments of a local who took a shine to Maggie during a walk and a chat. We were offered the loan of several cars, by people who knew us all of a few minutes. When Maggie and I ended up at the beach in Hubbard’s Cove without any cash for the entry fee, we were graciously allowed entrance with no second thought. It’s easy to see why people fall in love with this part of the country. 
The highlight has been being able to spend our time with our best friends, sharing lots of good laughs, great food, music and just plain fun. Branko and Drew got an enormous amount of pleasure over the use of a $10 game set that included Dominoes and Backgammon. Maggie and I trounced Drew & Branko several times playing euchre, and the game of hearts has become our new challenge.
   
One of my favourite times was an early morning walk in Mahone Bay with just Maggie and I. We found the best view of the famous 3 churches, and enjoyed a beautiful calm and sunny morning, sipping on a coffee as we walked and chatted. 

Fishing floats

We had a beautiful time, and are looking forward to more!
 Thanks again Maggie and Branko!    


                                                                Terri and Drew


Note from H2obo: pictures and blog by Terri

Nova Scotia

My cousin Bill (centre) Shannon & Gavin

Last we left off,   our friend Kathy was meeting us in Baddeck.  Kathy was travelling by car and had already spent a week or so in Nova Scotia.     She arrived in the pouring rain, which continued all day -  but that did not worry us
 :-)    Chowder and lobster sandwiches for lunch,  delicious,  thank you Kathy.
 A visit to the Graham Bell museum was a must,  mostly due to the rain - but turns out it was very interesting.   Bell had lived in Baddeck for many years,   and the family still maintains the home on the point.   I had no idea that he was involved in so many aspects of hearing; from teaching and developing methods to communicate with the deaf, building the telephone, to designing the fastest boat of the time ( he had begun with aircraft designs.)

Canso 

In the evening we went to a Ceilidh.   True Cape Breton version -  a fiddler and a piano player - both women and both very very good.  They not only played but educated us on the origins of the music,  history of, and the music scene of Cape Breton.   Branko and I also joined in a few traditional dances, which Kathy videotaped,  laughing along with everyone else - there was a lot of toe stepping, literally.   She is threatening us with uploading it to utube - we will keep you posted.

Bill my cousin,  his children Gavin and Shannon arrived the next day.     We had a wonderful time with them, but it was unfortunate that we had little wind,   as they were prepared for rough conditions on the ocean.  Perhaps next time :-)

Tangier Bay (with thistle)

We traveled from the Bra d'or Lakes  via St Peters canal to Canso.  Canso had a bad rap in our guide book,   but it was actually not bad, shopping, nice trails and historic -  the area of St Peters and Canso were at one time strategic areas for the French and British.

Some quaint areas along the coast to Halifax,   we anchored in Port Felix,  tied up to a fishing dock in Ecum Secum and had adventures in Tangiers Bay before arriving Halifax last Saturday night.

Halifax harbour

Penthouse view (hauled out)

 We tied up to the city docks and enjoyed the busker festival and million dollar views.   My cousin and family left on Monday to continue their journey via car,   we went to the Nova Scotia Squadron yacht club on Purcell Cove road and hauled out to do a little work.  The club is very nice with 2 pools,   one saltwater (adults only) and the other,  includes children -all in all an enjoyable stay with yet again helpful and fun people.

Adults only pool - saltwater - yea!

Sitting now in downtown Halifax again,   waiting for Drew and Terri (aka Sally G. for  you blog followers) who will join us for a week to Mahone Bay, Chester and Lunenburg -  can't wait!

Maggie

Our Little Adventures

Hey it’s Gavin and Shannon, Maggie’s cousin’s kids. 

We get the privilege to add a page to their blog about how much fun it is living on their boat. We were anticipating this trip all summer and it’s finally here. I (Gavin) am in Grade 8, and I love all sports and outdoor skills, so sailing is a real treat. I love this and I wish it could go on forever. I (Shannon) am in Grade 10 and am a drama student. I love adventure, and am so excited to be sharing this once in a lifetime experience with my dad, brother, Maggie, and Branko. 

Shannon

Gavin

The beach!

Baby jellyfish 

We joined their crew in Baddeck, in the Bras d’Or Lakes. Each day after motoring/sailing to our chosen destination we anchor and go swimming. In this we encountered an adventure...Little did we know there were (insert drumroll here) jellyfish in the waters. Maggie got stung by one the first night and after that we were all alert. Thankfully, Maggie was okay. Throughout the next few days all of us (except Branko for some reason,  perhaps its him smelling like a daisy...) were stung but we also learned a lot about The Jellies as we call them from the locals. The jelly fish are not really harmful, as long as you don’t get them in your face! The little ones don’t sting, the mid-sized ones feel like stinging nettles and the big ones....You keep away from! 

The beach, a place of rest and relaxation, or most would think. After anchoring near Marble Mountain, we blew up the dingy and took it over to a rocky beach with crystalline water. We then decided to go on a walk to a fresh water spring. On the way there, we took the road and it was mainly uneventful and long trek, except when we had to cut through someone's mostly abandoned property. When we got there, we realized that they were having a weekend festival, with music and games. We found the spring water tap, which was very cold and refreshing. We also passed cold water springs coming down the mountain and running into the lake. 

Spring fed stream

On the way back to the beach, well that’s another story. We decided to walk along the beach but the waves picked up and the trees were hanging over almost into the water, so we decided to cut through the forest to the road that looked as if it were a short distance away. Of course, it was not! We had to trek through wild rose bushes, raspberry patches and long grass for several minutes before the road was in sight. We climbed up a steep hill and stumbled onto the road. We managed to escape without any life threatening injuries (mainly a few scratches) but it was a harrowing experience on this adventure. If any locals had been there we’re sure they would have thought, there go the stupid Torontonians! 

Right now we are in St. Peters Marina which is a great place for anyone to stop at in the Bras d’Or Lakes. Tomorrow we are leaving the lakes and are heading through a lock into the St. Peter’s Canal on our way to the OCEAN! We are having a great adventure in Nova Scotia with Maggie and Branko, and we’re hoping for many more exciting adventures to come on our way to Halifax.

Gavin and Shannon

Trip to Cape Breton

Unfortunately no wind - so we motored/sailed across the Madeline gulf to Cap St Lawrence at the tip of Cape Breton.   While motoring we did see a 30ft gray whale about 10 feet from our bow,  who surfaced and swam under our boat - very nice!

Cap St Lawrence,  unknown to us until we entered it,  was a place we had visited years ago and held some special memories for us.  Another nice surprise.

Sofie looking at Baddeck

Next day again we motored along the east coast enjoying the scenery - no wind but a lovely day.  We were taken by the pink cliffs that ended with the pink sand beaches.   We have arrived in Baddeck and secured to a mooring ball off the beach with views of the village and sailing community.

View of Baddeck from the boat

Beach and lighthouse (Baddeck)

Tomorrow our friend Kathy will meet up with us for a little visit, which we are looking forward to - and then my cousin Bill and his children,   Shannon and Gavin join us for a couple of weeks on our trip through the lakes and east coast to Halifax.

Adventures in Acadia

We did not sail to the other side of the island next day.

As we left our last sugar pie spot, we were met by our friends Diane and Richard, and due to their engine issue they had met a few people who had helped them further- which just meant that now we were all invited for drinks on a refurbished fishing boat.

Drinks ended up with a dinner invite for the next evening and the use of a car, to tour around the islands.

Off we went next day, with our friends driving around these beautiful islands;
the Madeline islands are shaped like an elongated fish hook, held together by white sand dunes. Steep, red sandstone cliffs along the shore with 300 kilometres of white sand beaches that ring the islands. Gabled houses painted every colour of the rainbow. We were prepared to find the best lobster, the best crab, and fabulous maritime music with an Acadian beat.

Millerand - stormy day

Our hosts (refurbished fishing boat) were Marcel, Elfie, Francine and Michel. Michel and Francine are their friends, who were neighbours in Montreal and when retired, followed Marcel and Elfie to the Madeline islands. Marcel was born on the islands, but left early in life to pursue a varied life; as a radio operator to being a pilot with Air Transat - Elfie is from Germany and is the most wonderful, warm and inviting person anyone could ever meet.

Our dinner, an authentic Acadian meal, of ham, sausage and sauerkraut (just kidding) was prepared by Elfie - Francine, because of Branko's love and quest for the best sugar pie, made a homemade, you guessed it, sugar pie Now this time it was the best sugar pie anyone of us had ever tried – Merci Francine and Elfie! 
 Wonderful meal and great conversation!

Marcel, Michel, Francine,Diane, Richard, Elfie & Maggie

Next morning we left Millerand and motored to Havre-Aubert.  Although the day before was windy and stormy even the fishing boats did not leave the harbour, this day was windless and calm – hence the motoring. 
Harve-Aubert is a historic fishing village, that has been well kept due to tourism- a lovely place to visit. 


 After a walkabout and dinner we retired to bed. Sometime in the late evening I awoke to find a man in our pilot house – quietly putting the weather boards back in place and preparing to sleep on our settee. Yikes! At first I thought it was Branko, and then gave myself a shake and yelled out “Hey who are you?Branko there is a man in our pilot house!” I am not sure who was more surprised me or this 'guest'. He quickly realized he was in the wrong boat and calmly began removing the weather boards (our boat door.) Branko arrived, buck naked, with all things swinging wildly and said ' here let me help you...' -
 Ei yi yi our guest took one look at Branko and became frantic, eventually he left and off we went back to bed, laughing all the way.

Village of Harve-Aubert

Next morning we again walked to the village, and along the way we saw a man atop a wooden structure perched up on a hill. Curious, we went to see what the structure was and what the man was doing. Unbelievably, it was a homemade trebuchet aimed out into the bay, along side was a huge cross bow and across the street a few catapults – all made by this man, who happened to be a cousin of Marcels (you will notice a trend here.)


 Branko loves this kind of stuff and was totally enthralled. The cousin asked if we wanted a demonstration -oh yes please! He demonstrated all of them for us– wow!

That evening we found ourselves enjoying a few drinks on Marcel and Elfie's boat with Diane and Richard. Eventually, the group became too large to house us all, so another of Marcel's cousin (Yvon and his wife Carmen) invited us to their summer home (which was one of the converted fishing houses in the old village) conveniently right behind the boat :-)

Yvon and Carmen live in Montreal. Yvon is originally from Madeline islands and spends the summers here. He told us that most of the tourists are either cousins and/or friends/relatives of his cousins/brothers/sisters - they all keep tourism alive – with a spattering of us non-related persons for variety.

So this converted home is a square building not very large with two stories. The top story which you get to via an outside staircase – is one room, complete with enclosed bedroom (curtains around the bed), washroom, dinning room and kitchen (a loft.) The main floor opens to the street with two large doors that seem to always be open. Inside is a plethora of memorabilia from their lives and the lives of the islands so welcoming and comfortable. As we sat talking and laughing, people kept coming in and out these doors.

Side note: Just about everyone from the islands sing and/or play instruments – and have instruments at the ready for anyone arriving without their ow instruments – it is normal for people to get together and just start playing, singing and dancing

Yvon & Carmen's home

Well, didn't this just happen to us! In walks another cousin who plays guitar followed by a very famous singer from a band called 1755 – and don't they just happen to start playing and singing and well we just started to dance, FUN.


As we walked back to the boat we met another sailor,  who had already heard the tale of Branko and guest from the night before -  the sailor,  looking at Branko said he understood why the 'guest' was frantic to leave our boat :-)

Next morning we left , bleary eyed and sad to leave, the islands en route to Cape Breton. Diane and Richard waved goodbye to us with promises of meeting us in the Bahamas and us promising to learn more French :-)