Since we had a GPS track of our way coming into the river and the radar, I felt we could make our way out of the harbor safely, as long as we were careful and proceeded slowly. We motored along at about 3 knots without seeing anything but the faint outline of trees along the banks. Soon even the trees began to disappear, as the river widened. Our only confirmation that we were following the safe route was when we would pass close enough to see the small red or green buoys marking the channel and they were only visible as we passed alongside within a couple hundred feet.
At one point, the radar showed the MacGregor sailboat we passed on the way in, sitting at its mooring. Only when the radar showed that we were within 100 yards, could we barely discern the sailboat visually. At that point I knew we could not go back. Our options at that point were to keep going or drop anchor and wait for the fog to clear. Since the harbor at Liscombe keeps opening wider as you approach the open sea, I felt we could safely continue and we did so.
It is a good thing we did not wait for the fog to clear. We sailed along the coast until almost 3pm before visibility increased to over a mile. Frequently during the day, we passed sea buoys along the way and confirmed that our visibility was under a quarter of a mile.
We also saw a sea turtle who was only about 50 feet from Kelly, but shortly after sticking his head out of the water for a good look at us, he dove and swam away.
 |
| Shoal Bay |
The breeze was light and variable so we never raised the sails, but motored the entire day. As we turned towards shore, I was happy to see that visibility was clearing up nicely at sea, but I had a little concern because directly ahead us, inshore, the fog was still pretty thick! Thankfully the visibility continued to improve as we ventured into Shoal Bay and made our way to the anchorage at Murphy Cove, off Carter's Point.
Although I did drop the anchor, I saw that there were fishing boats tied up to the wharf and the chart said the wharf was public, so after checking the depths in the dinghy, I decided to raft up to the fishing boats at the wharf. The forecast was calling for thunderstorms and it was possible that Kelly and I would be here for a few days. If we were tied to the wharf, we could go ashore without rowing the dinghy through rain and storm.
 |
| Kelly IV rafted in Murphy Cove |
Two fisherman were watching from the wharf as I came alongside and they helped me with Kelly's lines. A little later one of the fishermen returned. He was collecting the $10 fee for tying up to the wharf. He also had two cold beers to welcome me to Murphy Cove! Norman and I had a nice chat as we enjoyed the beer.
A local sailor, Frank, stopped by briefly to say hello and I invited him to visit the boat when he had more time. He not only was willing to visit Kelly and me, but also proved to be another great friend as we make this grand adventure through the Maritimes.
 |
| Thistles along the walk |
On Tuesday morning, I decided to take a long walk as the forecast was not favorable for at least another day or two. Just as I was leaving Kelly, Frank stopped by to invite me to dinner with he and his wife! Of course, I jumped on the chance for a great home-cooked meal with local sailors.
My walk took me about 7km, less than 5 miles, to Tangier, the head of Tangier Bay and where the Tangier River enters the bay. It was almost entirely along the water and proved to be a very nice walk. Since it followed the coast it had very little in the way of hills and a lot of wonderful views.
That evening I had a terrific time with Frank and his wife, Anita. They are retired and prepared a wonderful meal and I learned about Anita's career in healthcare administration. I also enjoyed hearing about Frank's career with the Bedford Oceanographic Institute and his trips to both polar regions, including the first North Pole visit by a non-nuclear ship.
 |
| Tangier River |
The only downside to my terrific evening with Frank and Anita was the heavy rain and thunderstorms that blew through later in the evening. The forecast I heard said the rain wasn't due until Wednesday morning, so I didn't think to close up the boat and left the main cabin hatch open. My computer was directly under the hatch and it got a thorough soaking. I spent all day Wednesday drying out the computer, two bunk cushions, and all the carpet. I went through almost 3 pounds of propane in my portable heater to get things dry. Mostly because it rained all day Wednesday, I could not open the boat, except for a small opening in the companionway to let the fumes from the heater escape.
The rain finally quit Wednesday evening and Thursday dawned with some sunshine but contrary breezes. Frank stopped by again to check on me, so I gave him a tour of Kelly IV, then he took me over to Tachyon, his beautiful Alberg 29. That evening I joined Anita and Frank for another wonderful evening.
 |
| Murphy Cove sunset |
The next morning, Frank picked me up and took me to the local shopping in Halifax as the winds were again unfavorable for sailing to Halifax. Thanks to Frank's local knowledge, I was able to buy some chain, a grapnel anchor, groceries, and some more reading material without wasting time just trying to find where things were located. In addition, Frank introduced me to his yacht club and I made arrangements to have the Torqeedo outboard shipped there.
Early Saturday morning, Kelly IV and I slipped away from the fishing boats in Murphy Cove and made our way through the rocks and islands to Ship Harbour, then off shore for the sail to Halifax. The wind did work to our favor for a couple hours, then we resorted to motor sailing until we turned northwest past Devil's Island. We sailed for the first hour, no engine, through the narrow gap into the Eastern Passage before the wind dissipated to the point where we had to motor the rest of the way through Halifax Harbour and into Bedford Basin, the home of the Dartmouth Yacht Club (DYC).
 |
| Awning over cockpit at Dartmouth Yacht Club |
Kelly and I are tied into a slip waiting out the rain at DYC. After getting the needed parts for the solar panel mount repairs, I bought a new computer and have spent the rest of the day in the DYC clubhouse getting my new computer loaded and running with the software I need. I'll be doing more of that as I still have a few more applications to load before I can get the computer working as it was before the rain-soaked computer failed.
Tuesday morning brought a drier day and the diesel mechanic. Chad did the 250 hour maintenance since Kelly IV has run her engine over 250 hours since departing Erie, PA. He also double checked the PSS Dripless shaft. You'll recall I was concerned after wrapping the stern anchor line around the shaft in Liscombe, but all is OK and working as designed.
I took advantage of the missing precipitation and installed the new adjustable supports for the solar panel over the dinghy davits. The new supports are all metal (no plastic) so I'm hopeful they will take the beating of travel on a sailboat better than the nylon pieces that failed in the rocking waves south of St. Peters. After a few other odd jobs and repairs I turned back to getting the new computer up to speed and worked on that the rest of the day, including updating the CaptMurph.com website.
Kelly IV and I have now traveled over 1776 nautical miles from Erie, PA.
No comments:
Post a Comment