I awoke about 5am on the 27th when I heard the diesels on the Silver Shalis warming up. I had planned to begin my own trip early, so it worked out just fine. I got to see the very cool and adept handling of a very large and exquisite motor yacht deftly move away from the seawall, cruise cautiously past Kelly, and make her way into the open waters of St. Peter's Bay . . . All in Reverse! It was quite a sight to see.
By 6am Kelly and I were also underway in the open waters of the bay. St. Peter's Bay is a deep well-protected body of water, especially when the winds are out of the northeast. We motored through the bay and even raised the jib as the northeasterly breeze gave us a boost in speed.
Gradually, over the next couple of hours, the breeze increased to about 20 knots and worked its way to being more of an east wind. The waves were growing larger as well and we began to see and hear the lightning and thunder of unforecasted thunderstorms. At times the rain was so heavy that I was convinced that everything on deck was well washed and free of salt!
Some of the waves seemed left over from the strong southwest breezes that blew through on the 26th, but some may have been built up by nearby storm weather. Regardless, we were seeing waves in the range of 7-10 feet or so. These waves were much further apart than the large waves we've seen on Lake Erie, but they still were able to set Kelly rockin' and rollin'.
Although I had eaten a light breakfast during the first hour or so that we were underway, the up, down, left, right, constantly moving this way and that began to make me feel a bit queasy. By 9:45am I had “fed the fishes” twice. Fortunately, I always feel fine for at least for an hour or so afterward.
The motion must have been pretty severe because about 10am I heard some clanging behind me. I turned to see that the dinghy davits and solar panel mounts were breaking loose and stainless steel tubes were banging against the stern pulpit. I spent the next 30 minutes hanging over the stern pulpit, preparing the dinghy to be towed and tying up the loose banging parts so they wouldn't be lost overboard or damaged. Finally, the dinghy was towing behind Kelly and I could figure out our next step.
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| Portage Cove anchorage |
I had plotted courses to several anchorages along the Nova Scotian coast so that I would be able to tuck into any one of them as needed. This seemed to be just such an occasion, so we made our way into Portage Cove, just south of the town of Canso. We only made 29 nautical miles but it was the right thing to do. With the early start, we had the anchor down before noon. Portage Cove proved to be in a very rural spot with no cell or internet available. Without those distractions, I was able to spend the afternoon disassembling the loose parts, reworking them so they (hopefully) won't work loose again, and jury rigging the damaged solar panel mounts so they can complete the trip to Halifax without any more issues. I should be able to get the damaged mounts replaced properly there. The dinghy was back in her proper place hanging from the davits and Kelly was all ready to brave the elements for the next leg.
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| Fog in the Portage Cove anchorage |
The next morning dawned clear, but by the time I had 70 percent of the anchor rode stowed and began hauling on the last few feet of chain, a thick, soupy fog rolled in. The weather forecast said the fog would clear in the morning, so I let the anchor line and chain back out and waited for the fog to clear. Before 10am the fog was gone and we were underway. The breeze was from the northwest, so I was hopeful of sailing, but after only a couple hours, the wind backed off and we could only motorsail. The day presented a mix of cloudy skies and patchy clouds, but by the time we entered our harbor for the night it was a beautiful, clear, blue sky with a bright setting sun. We set the anchor in Isaacs Harbour, Nova Scotia, just across the small harbor from Goldboro, Nova Scotia. Both are neat little towns each consisting of a church and several homes, but no real commercial district that could be seen from Kelly IV.
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| Isaacs Harbour, Nova Scotia |
The Friday forecast was for light winds then shifting to 15 knots out of the southwest in the afternoon. Of course, my trajectory is now southwest, so the 15 knots on the nose was to be avoided. Kelly and I departed Isaacs Harbour by 5:30am so we could make Liscombe Mills by Noon, before the breeze battered us.
It was a beautiful morning with the sun dawning bright and clear, but we could see thick fog to the southwest of us. By the time it moved in, we were off shore and the fog was well behind us. With the very light air, it was strictly a day of motoring. The waves were very small, but there was still a swell of about 3-5 feet moving underneath Kelly all morning. We nosed into Liscombe Harbour and coursed through the winding river until it seemed there was barely room to turn around. We could see the dock at Liscombe Lodge about 1/3 mile away when we dropped anchor.
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| Liscombe River anchorage |
As forecasted, the wind did build to about 15 knots out of the southwest, so it was good that we had settled into a cozy anchorage. The push from the southwesterly made the rowing of the dinghy an easy and fun exercise to the small marina at the Lodge. I spent the sunny, breezy afternoon reading my book sitting on the deck overlooking the river at the Liscombe Lodge, then out of the breeze in the lee of the tall pine trees I rowed back to Kelly for the evening.
While reading my book below in the cabin, I heard some voices nearby. I climbed on deck to see a canoe with two couples. They were parents, son, and daughter-in-law, canoeing from the Lodge on their annual vacation here. We chatted a bit and I discovered that they were originally from Nova Scotia, but now hail from New Brunswick, about an hour from the Maine border.
With the forecast calling for strong southerly winds and rain today, we'll spend all day Saturday at anchor. Surprisingly, there is no cell coverage here, but I do have internet access using my external antenna on board Kelly. I just posted the log about the Bras d'Or Lakes and will be adding this log shortly.
Kelly IV and I have now traveled over 1665 nautical miles from Erie, PA.
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