It was bright and a sunny start to our trip......
Well it was a least warm and somewhat sunny at the dock. Once I left the dock and motored for 5 minutes it was foggy. It was a thick fog which reduced the visibility to about 50 feet. This would be the way for the whole day. But because I install a new digital radar this winter on the boat I was not worried about visibility. I left Halifax habour around 9 am and I was lucky that once I got out of the habour I was about to sail just on my head sail about 35 degrees off of the wind. Even with only one sail out and being close hauled I was able to get an average speed of 6 knots all the way to the mouth of Lunenberg habour at which point I had to roll in the sail and motor the rest of the way to Lahave river.
The entrance to the river was very well marked and easy to follow the markers once the fog lifted.
I decided to stop for the day at
Lahave bakery on the west side of the river. The bakery has a dock that can handle 2 boats of 40 feet or so. I went to the dock at low tide and there was still 10 feet of water under my boat. About 2 hours after I tied up I saw and head one of the biggest thunder and lightning storms. I sat in the cockpit for an hour watching the storm.
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| Lahave Bakery |
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| Lahave ferry crossing |
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| Lahave Bakery |
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| Inside Lahave Barkery |
The Bakery does have any services besides the dock and wonderful baking and coffee which I had before I left in the morning. The cost to stay at the dock over night was $.75 per foot. The area is very nice and lots of people stop here for the baking and for the pottery store which is a few minutes walk down the road. Also there is a
Fort which was the Captial for New France when the French first settled this area. It only a few mintues walk pasted the pottery studio.
The next morning I departed up the river to head to Bridgewater. After a great coffee me and my crew.
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| The crew (Harley) |
It was a great trip up the river and took about 2 hours at 4 knots. The river has a lot of twists and turns that give you get views of the farm lands, old homes and wooded areas. By the time I got to Bridgewater the water took on a very dark brown color and is mostly fresh water. Which is great because it kills off and bottom growth that was on the bottom of my boat. We stop at the
Bridgewater Marina for two days. It's a great small marina with all the stuff you would need within walking / dingy ride. The marina offers wireless, washrooms (very clean) with showers, washer/dryer (free), water, power, fire pits, docks for boats up to 40 feet and pump out service. The cost per night is $45.00 (plus HST) which is good for all the stuff that is included here. RaeAnn is working here for two days as part of her paramedic course. So she meet me here with the car which was great because we got to explore some of the area and visited one of the winery.
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| RaeAnn |
Our next stop on our trip was the town of Lunenburg. I will not go into to much details on this town because I have posted about it before in my blogs. But it was a great weekend to visit the town because there were national dory racing happening right behind the boat and also the Lunenburg annual folk music festival was happening. The folk music was great since all of the music played by over 100 people were all free.
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| Lunenburg, NS |
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| Dory racing |
After spending two wonderful days in Lunenburg left at 9 am for Chester Basin to meet up with Cactus (Steve and Lora Wrights boat) which is a Freedom 39. They purchased this boat this spring and sailed it back from Quebec. Chester Basin is pretty much the most inward inland inlet in Mahone Bay. The trip around the peninsula and into the bay was pretty eventual and took about 3 hours to complete. Some of it was under sail and some was under the motor. But it was a warm sunny day so life was good.
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| S/V Cactus at anchor in Chester Basin |
After setting the anchor in 15 feet of water I took Harley to the public
wharf at the head of the inlet. It was only a 2 min dingy ride. There
is a place to tie up your dingy at a floating dock. The wharf can also
be used to tie up your bigger boat as well. But there is a 2 hour
maximum for the use of the dock. Near the dock there is drug store and
restaurant. (
Sea Shanty) I have eaten there in the past and the food is wonderful.
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| Sheep and their Chester home |
We spent the night here and then the next morning I want to go for a swimming so I to a trip out of the bay to Young Island on the South side of the island. The water was so clear that when I anchored in 15 feet of water you could see the anchor laying on the bottom. I when snorkeling for almost and hour. Saw looks of interesting things on the bottom (lobsters and scollops). I even took time to scrub the bottom of my boat and the water line. It was interesting to see how much more growth there was on the starboard side of my boat. That's is the side that is in the shade when I am tied up at my dock at Shearwater Yacht club. After a great swim I tried out my new transom shower that I installed this winter. I was so nice to be able to wash off the salt water with a nice warm shower. I headed back to the basin for the night.
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| South Shore Marina |
The next morning I head over to
South Shore Marina for water and fuel. They have a great setup there. There is a small yacht shop, showers, moorings, water, fuel and a very large boat yard. We then moved over to back habour in Chester for Chester Race week.
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