Southwestern Shore, Nova Scotia

We left Halifax after spending 6 beautiful days at the Armdale Yachtclub, on Saturday, August 24.  We were  very lucky with our weather....lots of heat and sunshine, however already starting to cool down quite a bit in the evening, so lots of dew in the morning!!  While there, we ordered a sirius satellite weather system.  We have decided, after much consideration and consultation with some friends we have met along the way who have lots of experience on the Maine and New England shore, that we will continue on to the United States this fall.  Although we were originally concerned about the Caribbean's hurricane season affecting us in September, and thought we might stop in Halifax, we realize now that although it is still something to keep a close eye on (hence the weather system!!), it is, in fact rare that the full force of the hurricane can make it this far north, while the chance of both fog and crowded anchorages is greatly reduced in the fall.  Should a hurricane decide to brave our northern shores, we will have lots of warning and there are lots of places we can hide out.  So, with that in mind, and a new weather system successfully installed, we headed back out the Northwest Arm and in to the Atlantic, to begin the next portion of our journey; the Southwest Shore of Nova Scotia!

Northwest Arm

We had a propitious beginning....cloudless sunny day with a 10-15 knot N wind filling our sails from our stern quarter, and a following sea!!  We spent the entire day sailing with a beautiful schooner who couldn't quite pass us!!!  It was actually quite fun sailing with her and also seeing a number of other sailboats out on the water!  For the majority of our trip we have been the only boat in sight, so this was a pleasant change!  Because the wind was so great, we decided to push on to our original destination of Prospect Bay, even after a late start to the day.  We had heard all kinds of good things about Rogue's Roost, however we have also heard that 'the secret is out!', and especially on weekends, it is extremely crowded with motor boats and boom boxes, since it is so close to Halifax and therefore relatively easy to get to.  As a result, we decided to give it a miss.  Our hope is that we will find future anchorages along the way that will make up the difference!  As fate would have it, we found a lovely little anchorage behind Pig Island in Prospect Bay that was reported on as private and secluded.  However, as we rounded the corner, we realized we were going to take the last available anchorage site!!!  Another sailboat was already there, together with two other groups of motor boats rafted together, and, yes, playing their music for all of us to 'enjoy'!!!  Fortunately, some left shortly after nightfall, and the music stopped about 11pm, so the night was quiet!

sailing southwest, out of Halifax Harbour...with company!

our 'racing' partner

entering the cove behind Pig Island

Here are a couple of photos of the granite coast!

The next day dawned sunny and warm again, so after fiddling with our sticky jib furler, we headed back out to sail to Lunenburg!  This portion of our trip between Prospect Bay and Peggy's Cove has been dubbed the 'Granite Coast'...and for good reason!  I have included some pictures of the changing coastline for you.  Actually, that is why Peggy's Cove is so famous!  Any geologists in the crowd will know that there is all kinds of interesting history in the rocks of Peggy's Cove that is unique to the area!!  Although we have visited Peggy's Cove from the land when we lived in Nova Scotia, this is our first chance to see it from the ocean, so have also tried to share that with you!!!

Lunenburg is a beautiful little village to sail in to!!!.....Like Baddeck on steroids!  Because the day was again so beautiful and still the weekend, we continued to see lots of other sailboats enjoying the water, many of them schooners of all sizes!!!  And how appropriate, as we enter the village where so many of them have been built, the most famous of them being, of course, the Bluenose, whose image graces our Canadian dime!  We really enjoyed our short stay in Lunenburg and would have liked to stay longer, but we see bad weather coming in a couple of days, so feel we should continue to move on and try to take advantage of the days that are good for sailing and being on the water!

Bluenose II in refit

So, the next morning, we watched Lunenburg slip in to our wake, and made our way to La Have Harbour.  Picked up 15-20 knot SW winds almost immediately leaving the Lunenburg Harbour, so reefed early and enjoyed a fast sail to Le Have.  The water was starting to get rough just as we entered the Harbour, so were happy to find an anchorage and hide from the now 25 knot winds!!  We did not go up the river, so it was a bit tricky finding somewhere in the harbour, but eventually found a protected area just behind the Spectacle Islands. (There are actually a number of them, for those familiar with the ones in Lake Ontario!!)  Our trusty kerosene heater went on the fritz shortly before we reached Halifax, so we had picked up a propane heater, which we were very glad of that night!!!...Kept us nice and cozy while we watched a movie we had purchased at a used book/movie store in downtown Halifax!!

planning the next route.....is that a cup of tea on the chart??!!

The next morning we woke nice and early to get a good start for our next destination...Liverpool; only to find ourselves socked in with fog!!  The fog was expected to disperse by about 9:00am, so put on a pot of coffee and had breakfast at anchor.  By about 9:30 the fog lifted and we decided to make our way out of the Le Have Harbour.  The sea greeted us with a 15 knot south wind, which gave us a wonderful sail all the way to Liverpool.  Unfortunately, we did get in to some more fog, but it lifted as we made our approach to Liverpool Harbour and the Brooklyn Marina where we tied up for the night.  After having a shower and then a walk around the village, we enjoyed an outdoor concert by the Salvation Army and a guest bagpiper, then headed back to the boat for a salad supper and another movie!!!  We woke to fog again the next morning, so decided to get some re-provisioning done as there was a Superstore in the village of Liverpool, and I was still smarting from my Sobey's experience in Halifax.......spent more money there than I have in a long time (in fact I am sure I was overcharged on some items.....) and ended up throwing out half my produce as it went bad almost immediately!  NOT HAPPY!  Anyhoo, came back to the boat after successfully re-provisioning AND fixing George's glasses, and we both decided that with a forecast of high winds in two days, that we would move on today and see if we could make it to Lockeport where we were only a short day to Shelbourne from there, but a safe place to ride out the storm.

As soon as we cleared the harbour we entered thick fog, and for the first time in our journey, remained in it the whole day, until we entered the harbour of Lockeport at 7:00pm.  Although it was tiring to be in fog all day, as we had to keep a close watch for any contacts, of course, everything else about the day's weather was quite benign.....glassy calm water with practically no wind, and no rain, so all in all, could have been worse!  The great thing was, it did clear up just as we were entering the harbour, so had good visibility for tying up, and then the fog came rolling back in!  We tied up at the White Gull Marina;  a spot with two docks, no electricity, no water, no toilets, no showers, but a really nice little restaurant, which we took advantage of as it was open until 9:00pm!!!  We then walked around the quiet, foggy streets of Lockeport before retiring for the night on our damp little boat!!!  That night, and the next day, the winds picked up as predicted, so stayed put in Lockeport, waiting for the weather to improve for our trip to Shelbourne.

entrance to Lockeport Harbour