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| Skinny water everywhere |
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| maze of entrance marks |
Getting into
Bouctouche was another winding channel through a sandbar entrance. This is the land of shifting sands and buoys that don't quite follow the charts. You need to keep an eye out for the marks and the depths as neither are quite what or where they are suppose to be.
It was a short day's motor from Richibucto. The skies were dull with no wind and a little mist.
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| Sand bars at the entrance |
We were without crab/lobster pots to avoid so the auto pilot followed my track as I cleaned, polished and waxed boat. Only a small section ... just the spot beside me where I sat behind the dodger. That one spot looks great and is now putting the rest of the boat to shame. It might be one of those projects where by the time I finish the last "small section", the first one will have needed doing long ago. I need to get Linda to do some too!!
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private home
in the shape of a lighthouse? |
Earlier in the day Bob called on radio and said he had no water going through his engine and it was starting to overheat. He stopped and anchored to sort out the issue. In the end it was just some sea grass in his strainer. Now, maybe we were just getting paranoid, but not long after Bob sorted out his engine issue both Linda and I heard a funny noise from down below. I immediately looked back and we both "thought" there was more smoke than there should have been. We slowed down and I checked the engine temp with the temperature gun, but all systems seemed normal. We proceeded with caution, but nothing obvious revealed itself nor did any further problems show themselves.
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| A familiar sight! |
Upon entering the marina I caught a glimpse of a wine-glass shaped transom with very distinctive burgundy stripes. There couldn't be another boat with a Hughes transom and those colours?! Sure enough it was Dragon III! We have found where Tom/Sue are hiding! They live in the Moncton area where Sue works, but this is where they keep their boat. Tom and Sue later made their way to us with some local brew.
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| Tasty |
While sitting in the cockpit later, enjoying that local beer with Tom and Sue, we decided to duck tape my waterproof camera to a boat hook to video under the boat to be sure we didn't have any line of other lobster trapping machinery fouled in the propeller or rudder. Both Bob and I were concerned after traversing the minefield of lobster pots, and especially since I may have run over a line at one point.
Bob's master cinematography resulted in a video of black, black a little bit more black and then some slightly tea coloured light spots (academy nomination is coming for sure!). We were able to find, using single frame advance, a couple of frames that showed that the propeller, strut, and zincs were all intact and not fouled. (video to be posted later ... not!)
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| Very nice, Irving funded, marina building |
The next day both Bob and I did oil changes and engine checks and I did find some debris in the strainer and that my water pump belt was too loose. Luckily, it was one of those easy fixes.
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resident Great Blue Heron
catching breakfast |
John, the marina Manager, knows Cheryl Barr and her parents. Cheryl wrote the guide book we have been using religiously on this trip. John also knows everything about the area and possibly everyone here too. He is very helpful and knowledgeable, and pretty-much has a story about everything.
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| Harbour was full of "Moon Jellies" |
Speaking of the marina, this place is one of the nicest places we've been. The docks were nice and the building nicely appointed, which John keeps immaculate. It was an old Irving oil warehouse that was relocated to this site (previously the site of an old Irving sawmill ... hence the Sawmill Point Boat Basin). Located 1 km outside the town, means the marina has no casual traffic except for people who have boats there. During our entire stay, there were very few people there at all, and we had the lovely inside, with fireplace, mostly to ourselves.
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| Christmas ornament? |
Tom and Sue returned the next day in hopes of a sail. Sailing conditions were not favourable, so they kindly took us for provisions, and then on a driving tour of the area, including the Irving arboretum and along the shoreline to the
Irving Eco Centre - La Dune de Bouctouche Beach entrance.
Anchor capital of N.B.! Ten old ship anchors around the marina and arboretum. These are from a collection of one of the Irving sons. We asked John about the origin of these anchors was, but other being from an Irving collection, it seems no-one remembers where they came from.
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| Canada Day entertainment |
Since this was where we were spending Canada Day, we took part of some of the mid-day celebrations in Bouctouche. A local musician sang songs, while we waited for the day to be kicked off by a short speech from the Mayor, raising of the flag by local veterans and an appearance by the local constabulary in his red surge.
This was all topped off by free hotdogs!!!
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