With the slight breeze easing me away from the pier, it was an easy departure. As Kelly and I motored out of the harbor, we saw what Mia and I had both thought was some sort of shoreside industrial facility or oil refinery. But I also noticed a large number of tugboats, including several large ocean-going tugs. As I made way east through the Canso Strait, I came to realize that the tugboats were all very close to the industrial facility and it was definitely out in the channel. This confused me as I had been convinced, when Mia and I saw it a couple days before, that it was on shore.
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| Ocean tugs hauling drilling platform out of Port Hawkesbury, Canso Strait |
Suddenly it dawned on me that this monstrously large platform was in fact underway! There were two large ocean tugs pulling the platform forward (eastward) while two smaller tugs were tied to the rear corners of the platform and were running in reverse! I could see the towlines and the wash of the reversing tugs quite clearly in the close quarters as I passed the platform in the Strait. In addition, there was another ocean tug and another standard tug, each immediately available to help their sister ships, as needed. And just to keep things interesting, another large freighter was headed westbound through the Strait while the platform, tugs and Kelly were all headed eastbound. Since I was doing about 5 to 6 knots, I estimated that the tugs and platform were making about 3 knots. Slow enough that I could pass them, but fast enough that I was very near them for quite some time.
The sun broke out and made for a beautiful, if windless, day. I had a gorgeous trip through the Lennox Passage which is a small boat channel between the Canso Strait, Chedabucto Bay and St. Peter's Bay. It reduces a boat's exposure to the open ocean to just a few miles, and it includes beautiful scenery as we passed several bays and coves.
The Lennox Passage also had a lifting (bascule) bridge at Burnt Island. The operator there clearly had his lessons from the Valleyfield school of “Ignore the Boater” bridge operations. I called the operator on several VHF radio channels for several minutes as I approached the bridge, but got no replys. When Kelly got to within a hundred yards of the bridge we began circling, in hopes that the bridge would open. It did begin opening after a short while, but seemed to stop when it was only halfway open! I turned back and circled again, radioing the bridge to find out if the bridge opened any further. Since I was concerned that the operator (who still did not respond) might close the bridge, I pressed ahead and kept Kelly's mast as far from the edge of the bridge as I could, about 5 feet!
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| Seal in Lenox Passage |
A couple porpoises and a seal swam by and I got a photo of the seal. Just before entering the harbor at St. Peter's, it is necessary to go through a small canal, lock and turnstyle bridge, all in less than half a mile. The lockmaster and his assistant were very helpful and accommodating. Since the public is encouraged to be up close and learn about the canal and lock, Kelly and I were the entertainment for a family visiting from British Columbia. The BC family even helped me by handing my docklines to me when it was time to depart the lock.
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| St. Peter's Lock and Canal |
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| Bascule bridge at Barra Strait |
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| Mooring at the Bras d'Or Yacht Club |
I spent the afternoon browsing through the museum dedicated to the life and work of Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone. He spent much of his life after the telephone on an estate near Baddeck. He used the property as base for his many inventions and product improvements. I was surprised to learn that he was responsible for the initiation of flight in Canada as well as developing several successful hydrofoils that set world record speed records that stood for ten years.
The next day, July 24, I spent in town doing a little grocery shopping, laundry, and mostly catching up on my email and website activity. I did have a bit of bad luck when I went to fire up the electric outboard to return in the dinghy to Kelly, nothing happened. In the past, the light, little motor would just start humming and push us where we wanted to go. I tried a number of different adjustments, plugging and unplugging, cleaning, drying, etc., but nothing worked.
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| Kelly IV at her mooring, Baddeck |
I was very lucky to have several sunny days on Cape Breton Island and enjoyed one sunny day motoring the 31 miles back to St. Peter's. Cell phone coverage was good, even on the Lake, so I phoned the folks at Torqeedo, the manufacturers of the electric outboard, while I was enroute. They made a few suggestions which I followed through upon anchoring back at St. Peter's but still no joy. I called them back and made arrangements to ship the motor to their Canadian shop in Montreal.
That evening I enjoyed some Celtic music provided by a few members of the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron. They were in St. Peter's for the night beginning their annual Bras d'Or Lakes Cruise.
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| St. Peter's anchorage |
I spent the next sunny day in St. Peter's building custom shaped cardboard boxes from several I picked up at the local liquor store. The custom made boxes held the electric outboard & tiller and I shipped the parts to the shop in Montreal. I also shipped the Bras d'Or Cruising Guide back to Jerry. You'll recall he is the friendly sailboat cruiser, shopkeeper and yacht club member who helped me out with the fairlead on Prince Edward Island.
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| Silver Shalis and Kelly IV |
Late that afternoon I topped off Kelly's diesel and water tanks, then moved her through the bridge and lock and tied up for the night in the canal. The forecast predicted winds from the north so I wanted to be ready to leave early. If all went well, I'd make a long leg towards Halifax.
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| Silver Shalis and Kelly IV |
When I exited the lock, I couldn't see the end of the canal because a huge motor yacht, Silver Shalis, was tied up in the canal. It was such a huge vessel that I had to go past it to see if there was any room for me to tie up. Once by, I saw there was just enough room for Kelly, so I circled back and tied up with my stern facing the stern of Silver Shalis.
Kelly IV and I have now traveled over 1561 nautical miles from Erie, PA.
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| R2D2 fire hydrant above St. Peter's Canal, courtesy of https://www.kuriositas.com/2010/10/star-wars-fire-hydrants.html |
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| Yoda fire hydrant above St. Peter's Canal, courtesy of https://www.kuriositas.com/2010/10/star-wars-fire-hydrants.html |
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