Cape Negro Island, Yarmouth, Westport, NS - August 17-20, 2011

With lots of excellent advice I decided to depart Shelburne after lunch on Wednesday.  The most important advice came from Peter Loveridge, author of the most excellent Cruising Guide for Nova Scotia.

His home port is Shelburne and he was there during my visit and we had several very detailed conversations about the current weather forecasts and their impact on my plans to round Cape Sable.  It is critical to sail westward round Cape Sable at low slack tide for two important reasons:  To avoid the huge tide rips and to take advantage of the flood tide's push towards Yarmouth.

The morning was cloudy, but the sun burst through before noon and Kelly IV and I sailed the length of Shelburne Harbour, which is really saying something!  It is a 10 mile trip from the town to the open sea and we had a steady northwesterly pushing us all the way.

Just shy of the Cape Roseway Lighthouse at the harbor entrance, Kelly and I were boarded by the Royal Canada Mounted Police (RCMP) and their Customs and Border Patrol personnel.  They were very courteous and let me continue sailing along my route as they went through their questions about when I entered Canada, where was I going, what safety gear I had aboard, etc.  When they had completed their duty, they reboarded their vessel and we waved goodby.

Unfortunately, the northwesterly ended a few minutes later as Kelly turned southwest past the lighthouse.  The wind changed at the same time we turned and we completed our trip, motor sailing directly into the now southwest breeze.

Cape Negro Island

There was only one other boat in the anchorage, a large (70 feet OAL?) sailing yacht, “Hawk”, with a hailing port in Vermont.  We had learned of a secure small boat mooring in the anchorage and picked it up for the night.

The timing of low slack water at Cape Sable was 7am on Thursday morning, so our anchorage at Cape Negro Island

Cape Sable sunrise 

put us about three and a half hours from Cape Sable, requiring a departure of 3:30am and a 3am wake up.  It was a beautiful night when I poked my head out the companionway at 3am.  After a hot breakfast of oatmeal, I dressed in layers for the cool temperatures and went on deck to drop the mooring and depart the anchorage.

Being Nova Scotia, I should have expected the fog that rolled in while eating my breakfast.  Thankfully, the visibility was never worse than a quarter mile, sufficient to see the buoys and depart safely.

Cape Sable Lighthouse

The fog dissipated upon learning it couldn't stop Kelly and me and the day dawned cool, calm, and sunny.  Thanks to our timing to pass Cape Sable at slack low tide, the only waves at the Cape were small rollers left over from the southwesterly.  Before and after Cape Sable there was only flat water, but the shoaling at the Cape turned the flat water into rollers.  I would hate to pass this point in heavy weather, given how the waves are magnified so greatly.

The breeze joined us soon after turning the corner so we set the sails and headed for the

Schooner Passage, an inshore route that avoids the more treacherous tide rips and also cuts off several miles from the trip.  With the air pressing the sails full, but not sufficiently to shut down the motor, we cut through the sparkling morning, our speed augmented by the rising tide.

Kelly and I squirted through Schooner Passage astonished by speeds up to 9.3 knots, settling to our tide-supported run of 6 knots once through the skinny waterway.

Yarmouth slip

We tied up in the marina at Yarmouth and met our new sailboat neighbors from New Brunswick, experienced cruisers who shared much of their local knowledge.  I spent the evening and next day planning the waypoints and routes that would take Kelly IV and me across the Bay of Fundy and back into the United States for the first time since June.  I also topped my fuel and took a relaxing ride through the countryside with my New Brunswick friends.

Chebogue River Harbour

The next morning was a lazy one since Kelly and I couldn't depart until low tide.  We were headed north into the Bay of Fundy and we learned from the locals to ride with the tide.  For our next sail, this meant riding the flood tide up the bay to Westport, on Brier Island.  Paul, the Marina manager, stopped by to see me off and Kelly and I were on our way about 8:45am.

Westport before the fog

Westport after the fog

It was a partly cloudy day with the sun breaking through on a regular basis.  They forecasted a “risk” of thunderstorms and rain, but we saw none of it.  We motored into the small harbor at Westport about an hour before the fog closed in.  By the time I finished dinner, visibility was down to less than a quarter mile.

Westport seen from Kelly IV at low tide and sunset

Since Westport was our last stop in Canada, we splurged (to spend our last Canadian dollars) on a great haddock dinner in Freeport, the village just a ferry ride across Grand Passage (about 1nm away).  After dinner I rode the ferry back to Westport and settled in for the night.

Kelly IV and I have now traveled over 2024 nautical miles from Erie, PA.