While the winds were up, then down, and then back up and then quite breezy near the end of our 40 mile leg south-east, the sea-state was
continuously lumpy. The swells were a couple of feet high, but because the period was so short, they were quite uncomfortable. A couple
of times we would punch our bow through the next wave bringing some water along the foredeck. As we approached the Cape George Point where we would
turn for protection, a wind line crossed over us from the east, and added about 10 extra knots to the wind speed to add insult to injury.
Our destination, Ballantynes Cove, is a small fishing harbour that also includes a number of docks for recreational boaters. It is located just inside Cape George Point. Tall, red earth cliffs
surround the area with the point topped by an old lighthouse. The harbour, protected by stone breakwaters, is just a mile or two around the point, and
reasonably protected from the swells.
Finnish Line entered a little before us and just as we entered the
Rain just getting started
harbour it started to rain. Buy the time we had fenders and lines
on, and were coming into the harbour to find our slip, it started to pour. Bob was standing at the dock to catch lines along with the
poor girl working the marina. Unlike Bob, she had no raincoat on. As soon as we got ourselves secured, we sent her away to try to
stay dry. Marriah said "no problem, I have three changes of clothes here." Sounds like she's accustomed to expecting the unexpected.
Harbour full of red
At that point the skies opened up and we experienced the biggest downpour of our trip so far. We quickly installed our awning and watched
the rain from a little bit of protection. I pulled out the boat soap and scrub brush and took advantage of the fresh water dousing to do a
bit of cleaning.
Red run-off entering the harbour
Once the rain settled down a bit, you could still hear some small waterfalls in the background rushing with rain runoff.
After shot .... you can see the hard transition in the distance
The soil and landscape around here is similar to PEI ... red. The fresh water that was now flooding down the hill sides and into the harbour
(that's where the three separate water falls/rivers and culverts terminated) was VERY red. Being fresh water, with doesn't readily mix with the salt water.
The result was a harbour full of red fresh water, flowing out of the harbour mouth and into the surrounding salt water, and not really mixing
at all, and forming a distinct line of separation. It wasn't until morning that the colour of the water returned to normal.
Ramble On among the fishing boats
Our slip was located on the opposite side of the harbour to where the fishing wharfs and the marina office was ... where
the washrooms and laundry where located. On one of Linda's trips around the harbour to use the facilities, she noticed one of the fishing
sheds had it's doors open. Upon sticking her head in and looking about she struck up a conversation with the technician doing off-season repairs. He was very friendly and informative and took the time to explain the use of the tanks and the lobster fishing side of things once the lobsters are brought ashore.
The tank at Ballantynes Cove was built to hold up to 50,000 lobsters. Their claws are banded and are the lobsters are kept 100 to a crate, which are then submerged in the large pool. The pool is highly regulated for temperature and salinity, to keep the lobster in a calm dormant state. A few degrees warmer and they can become aggressive with each other or start molting.
Apparently there is a website where you can enter the number that is printed on the elastic claw band
so that the fisherman who caught the lobster can be identified. He said this is quite popular in Europe where they are very interested in proof of sustainable fishing practices. I learned that there are three categories of lobsters: caners-that will be processed before they are sent to market, Canadian-sold live but around 1 lb, and American-sold live and are 1-2 lb. Although called American, it just means that they're acceptable for the international market. He told me that Yarmouth has a larger storage facility and they are building one to house up to 1 million lobsters that will also hold them for longer periods so that live lobsters may be available year round.
Also part of the marina office was a Tuna Interpretive Center. Up until this point, the fisheries were predominately lobster, crab, oysters and mussels. Here was the first time we had seen anything about the tuna fishery. The centre was a one room display, but although small had interesting information about the fishery. Marriah told Linda that it can cost up to $2000 for 4 guests to go tuna sport-fishing (catch and release) for a few hours.
From here we would leave in the morning to head for the Strait of Canso!
Hawksbury/Strait of Canso Yacht Club
New snuffer worked perfectly!
Our sail from Ballantynes into the Strait of Canso started off with a perfect opportunity to put our spinnaker snuffer to work. We had a comfortable reach all the way, and snuffed a couple of times to sort out minor rigging issues. Ultimately we had to fire up the motor in order to make it to Port Hawksbury so we didn't arrive in the dark.
Large quarry on west side
By the time we approached the strait, the wind had piped up again to about 20 knots. There is a man-made causeway across the strait (originally called a "Gut" as is common on the island) completed in 1955. As a result, there are locks and a swing bridge on the Cape Breton side of the causeway. The lock manages the difference in water level that result from tides and flow on each side of the strait.
Finnish Line exiting lock
As we approached the lock both Finnish Line and ourselves mistook a red range light for the lock light when, in fact, there
was a very small traffic light at the lock entrance which neither of us saw until quite close. It was green and may have been for quite a while.
Our passage through the lock was complicated by the stiff breeze from behind in addition to a bit of following current. Both Finnish Line and ourselves had a hard time keep aligned in the lock due to the wind pushing out sterns out from the wall. Fortunately, it was only about a 2' drop so it didn't take long.
Evening view from CSYC
Once we exited the lock, we had only 3 nm to go before we arrived at the Strait of Canso Y.C. (the same entity as the Hawksbury Marina) where we would be staying for the night.
Hot steaming ... industrial!
Our initial stop was the gas dock. The marina attendant was on lunch break when we arrived, but after a short wait, we were able to fuel up. To our surprise, however, the marina only accepts cash! So Linda walked a km to the nearest ATM so that we could make payment. The club/marina was a nice building, with a odd "U" shaped dock system that required us to walk away from the club, along a interesting wooden wave attenuator, and then back to the club. Bob and Chris ventured into town for a short walk and explore.
Loading up on something dusty
All of us were kept amused by the train engines the were being shunted around, in particular right beside the clubhouse. Lots of rumbling diesels, clanking tracks, engine horns, and other noises that broke the quiet at regular intervals. There is a bunch of heavy industry nearby and saw our triplet of engines appearing at various factories and industrial site a mile or two away.
St. Peter's (Bras d'Or Lake)
Seals feeding at the tip
of Isle Madam
Porpoise
Today we departed Hawksbury to head into the Bras d'Or Lake(s). We might normally take the inside route through the Lennox passage, but the bridge has been under construction since the spring. The latest news reports were from April and had estimated completion as June 30. However, after interrogating all our sources, we determined it was not yet open.
Cormorants doing their job
The bridge was suffering from problems of expansion in the heat, and at one point the local fire department was unable to get to the island because the bridge would not close properly and the fire consumed the building. Until the repair work began, the decision has been closed for safety. Thus mariners have had to take the longer route around Ile Madame. Not a big deal as it only added a handful of miles to the leg.
Jerome Point Light
We had a great sail around the island, and after we rounded, we took a north heading to find the entrance to the Bras d'Or Lakes. The entrance to the lake is via the St. Peter's canal which is tucked into a small bay. The entrance is almost indistinguishable except for a small lighthouse nearby.
Exiting traffic
Once close we circled around, while in radio contact with the lock people, to peek down the small canal to see the progress of the boats exiting the lock. It is a very short canal, with just a couple hundred yards on each side of the lock. But in high season (mid-July through mid-September) they lock through anywhere from 20 to 40 boats a day.
Then us!
The lock is a national historic site, and this was their 150th year in operation. As a result, we got a cute little certificate for passing through. We're boat 261 this year! The lock is similar looking to the Rideau locks (older stonework structures, pretty grounds, etc.) but the lock are hydraulically operated and the gates are more modern steel structures.
There is also a new (2 years old) swing bridge that passes over the canal (an upgrade to the old single lane bridge). Once we passed the bridge we were quickly into the "lake(s)", and after erroneously following the buoyed channel the wrong way (and then questioned by Finnish Line on the radio as to "um, where are you going?") we turned left and headed the short distance to the St. Peters Marina.
The marina is located at the end of a small quiet bay that contained a number of mooring balls as well. We were greeted at the dock by the full staff (training day?) of about 5 people. As friendly as you could ask for!
The marina was owned and run by the Lions Club. It's located on a small hill overlooking the docks and the bay. There is a large lounge and kitchen for use by the boaters and regularly used for evening ceilidhs.
Fender boards against rock walls
of lock
The town of St. Peter's is only about 15 minute walk from the marina, and contains a Coop grocery store, NSLC, Home Hardware, authentic German bakery (Carmen's), and a handful of other stores plus a few restaurants, Mac Bouche being one of them. This was where we had dinner our first night, accompanied by a open mic ceilidh. Each entertainer was allowed three songs. The most unique act was a former local, "Chuck", who was more of a poet than a singer, but sort of said his poetry to a melody. The content was mostly about the rat race in Toronto and comparison to his old life in Cape Breton. Chuck had two other songs that followed the same melody (no chorus, just verse after verse). I wish I had made a short video of it! The other entertainers were mostly local. The content was purely from a maritime perspective, and for the most part quite good.
Our schedule going forward is to head out for a few nights to some nearby anchorages, and then return where Bob's crew, Chris M. would catch a ride to Shediac with Tarja and at the same time she would pick up Ben from the Moncton airport to have him join for a week while we explore the Bras d'Ore Lakes.
While in the lakes we will connect with Peter and Ze and perhaps will cross paths with Tom and Sue again.
Summerside, Charlottetown & Brudenell P.E.I. Current Locations: Summerside, Charlottetown & Rodd Brudenell River Resort Date: July 5-13 Mile: 1136, 1182 & 1238 Locate: Ramble On Locate: Finnish Line 2.0 Google Photo Album
This is a combined post for three stops which covers our time on and around PEI. Internet has been poor and it's been
hard to get connected.
Note: AIS tracking has been and continues to be poor from Gaspe to here. Coverage by marinetraffic.com is poor.
Summerside
Today we set out for the 4th province on our maritimes exploration. Summerside PEI is east north east from Shediac and free
of any complications for crossing the Northumberland Strait. Although we put up our sails, it was motor sailing all
the way. The water was flat calm, with only the slightest wisp of wind.
Keychain delivery service
Porpoises are common
The only real excitement today came in the form of another visit from the MSET team. Again,
seemingly out of no-where, a big black zodiac appeared and was clearly powering toward us. The last time we saw these guys (same boat, different crew) was
in the St. Lawrence after leaving the Saguenay. Again, they were very friendly. This time a little less formal with much fewer questions.
After a short chit-chat they handed us a complimentary floating key-chain with their phone number on it and were asked to report anything suspicious that
we might see. We haven't seen too much other than sealife and fishing boats, and none of it was particularly suspicious!
Bob trying to convince them he's
not a threat to national security
Once they were done with us, they peeled away at speed to pay a visit to Finnish Line, and deliver another keychain! Like most of the trip down from Gaspe,
we have seen virtually no other boats and AIS shows we're equally lonely.
The entrance to Summerside was straight forward. Indian Spit is the only obstacle but it is terminated by a pretty, wooden lighthouse. It is
not hard to miss. The entrance to the Summerside Yacht Club basin was tucked deep toward shore next to the large commercial wharf. Once inside
the nicely protected basin, we were directed to our slip by the most helpful dock steward.
I don't quite know the details of the arrangement, but
the shoreside building here is the "Silver Fox Curling Club & Marina" which includes a public restaurant. The Yacht Club appears to have access
to some of these facilities. There are showers, washrooms, and laundry that appear carved out for
Yacht Club use but not too much else.
which one looks more
weather beaten?
The yacht club was right downtown and within walking distance from Spinnakers Landing, a shore side collection of little shops, the train station turned
brewery, farmers market, and Holmans who serve the best ice cream we have had (perhaps the best any of us have ever had).
First night, we went our for dinner at "Uncle Mike's". It was a short walk into town. The highlight (low light maybe) of the evening were
a pair of local singers "Holly & MacClure" (I can't help think of "Troy MacClure"). These two played along with a pre-recorded music of all
sorts of hits and oldies. Holly is a very respectable singer, but Mr. MacClure was an abomination. I hate to be a critic, but he just plain
couldn't sing. I've totally forgotten what we ate for dinner, it was fine, but the lasting memory was "MacClure", tone deaf and massacring every
song he tried.
Spinnakers Landing
A highlight of our visit to Summerside was a visit from my Picton/sailing friend, Tom Sutton. He and his wife have a place over near Bedeque, just 20 minutes
from Summerside. Tom took us to the old train station, which has been transformed into a microbrewery and restaurant (Evermoore Brewing Company). I had a great time catching up on what Tom was up to
and the food and beer were excellent.
In our exploration of the town, we found ourselves at Hollman's Icecream (twice!). As noted, the icecream was excellent. What made it
even better was that it was located in the old Holman's Homestead. The property had gardens, a fire-pit with adirondack chairs, and a wonderfully
restored building that include rooms/suites that could be rented.
On one of our outings we ended up at the "Fox museum" in the old Armory building. Inside an earnest young summer student told us all about
the silver fox industry on PEI (hence the name of the curling club/marina). Silver foxes occur about 1 in a 1000 naturally, and at the turn of the century
were highly prized. A few people mastered the breeding such that they could produce quantities of these pelts. At peak value, a single pelt could
buy you a car and still have money left over.
Tarja (Bob's wife) joined us by car in Summerside. She will be joining us by car in the next few PEI destinations, and then
again when we get to Nova Scotia and the Bras d'Or Lakes.
Acadian Museum
Thanks to Tarja having arrived by car, we were able to do some exploring of the island. One venture took us to the
Acadian Museum located about 30 minutes away in Miscouche. Not a large museum, but very informative about the history
and struggles of the Acadian people that still occupy Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI (as well as places further abroad).
Charlottetown
Never seems tall enough
Our next destination was Charlottetown, 46 miles further south-east from Summerside. We had a pleasant sail for much of the day.
The wind was from behind, faded, and then built again as we headed into the harbour mouth. The town and the yacht club are
located on the eastern-most of three rivers that form the entrance to the town.
Charlottetown YC is not enclosed by a stone breakwall as have most of the harbour we've been at, but their
dock system includes floating concrete outer docks that function as attenuators for waves. The river is
only about half a mile wide at this point so there is not too much opportunity for chop to build up.
The club is nice and has a familiar feel to KYC. Lots of boats, evening racing (interestingly ... started and finished
from the outer dock right where we were moored), active junior sailing program, and lots of members hanging around
and enjoying the property. Also handy for us, the club is just minutes from downtown.
We've been noticing jellyfish since we were in Bouchtouche, and there are more of the strange creatures here
that anywhere we've seen. Everywhere you look into the water there are 10-20 of these things, from very small
to the size of a dinner plate. Some with short tentacles and some have tentacles a couple of feet long. I wonder
how to clean one of these out of the strainer?
Dinner tonight was at "Lobster on the Wharf". We enjoyed a nice meal with the most entertaining waiter. Andrew
had a full lobster dinner complete with tools and bib!
The following day we found a place to rent a car so we could tour this end of the island. This was a chance for all of
us to explore what we could in a day's drive around the east and north of the island.
We visited "singing sand" beach located at Basin Head Provincial Park. Singing sand is a phenomenon where if the
sand has a sufficiently high silica content and you scuff your feet on it, it makes a unique sort-of squeaking sound. My best description
would be the sound your snowsuit, in grade school, makes when you legs rub together.
The beach and park were very nice. The
location was an old fishing harbour with a maintained/restored cannery building where I suppose they canned freshly caught
lobster. The park building included a very nice fishing museum.
Andrew taking in the view
East Point light
Next we headed to the East Point Lighthouse where we were able to climb a well preserved wooden octagonal lighthouse. The fog horn
building, having been move from the eroding shoreline, was now a visitors center. While exploring the grounds, and looking
off to the east, we notice 3-4 harbour seals just hanging out off the point, watching us watch them. They are curious but
cautious.
Robinson's Island
In the rest of our exploration we took a walk at Robinson's Island trail (part of the National Park), found some excellent
fish and chips at "Rick's", explored some other fishing harbours, and lighthouses, and found the place where Dirt Shirt's
were made.
Pretty simple process: place shirts in washing machine with red dirt, and press "go". Out comes red "Dirt
Shirts".
"Green Gables"
One of the last attractions that we ended up at was the "Anne of Green Gables" house that inspired L.M. Montgomery to write her
famous book. The house now has a brand new giant entrance pavilion. This is one of the most popular places on the island and
due to the influx of cruise ship traffic (more on that below), this place gets overrun with visitors. Aside from the out of
place looking pavilion, the rest of the grounds are picture perfect, and the house looks just like you would imagine. We arrived
as they were closing, but we were allowed to wander the grounds anyway.
"Red sand between my toes ..."
Last stop, dinner at the "Dunes". This was a combination gallery, gardens and cafe. The setting was quite unique with very
interesting art and craft work on display and for sale. Perhaps some of the slowest service we've had (but there is a competition
for this title!), but the food was good and the location was unique.
On our second morning we were woken up my a somewhat mysterious sound coming from outside the boats. At first it sounded like
a large motor boat was pulling up the dock and futzing about. But something sounded different. The continuous rumbling was
interspersed with LOUD rumblings.
This was something different. Upon sticking our heads out of our respective cabins, we were
confronted with a cruise ship dropping anchor a couple of hundred feet from the club docks! It had driven in forward and then
using it's thrusters, done a 180 to face back out of the harbour, followed by the slow, and noisy dropping of their bow anchor.
Meanwhile, 4 of it's tenders had already been dropped into the water and were circling like vultures to wait for the anchor to be
set, and ferry the first passengers to take them to shore. This was all happening so close to us that there was a continuous
din of noise resonating up from the hull. The thrusters particularly sounded like they were coming from inside our boat--the
noise was much louder in our cabin than when we stood on our deck. The cruise-ship's generators, or other systems, made such a noise, that being down below in out boats
would drive you to distraction.
Cows Ice Cream!
Later in the day, a second ship arrived in the harbour and pulled up the the cruise ship wharf just a little further into the harbour.
While all of this was happening, work from a few very large barges was underway in order to expand the harbour and ship wharfs
to handle even more cruise ships!
During our final day in town we spent some time puttering around the town to see the sights. Confederation Hall was closed
for renovation work (this is the birthplace of confederation) but we saw a small portion of the exhibit in the nearby arts centre.
Would took a very short guided tour of city hall (turns out not to be much to see), looked around in the very impressive church,
and took in other sights.
During our exploration, Andrew located some locally produced hot sauces. Ghost peppers and Louisianan Reaper peppers .... SUPER hot!
Racing just off the club docks
Our last night at C.Y.C was a club race night. We wondered how they would run their race as the "Zaandam" was parked right across their
starting line. Turns out the ship detached their stern line, pulled anchor and loaded all their tenders quite quickly and cleared the
way for their 6:30pm race start time. Tonight was flying sail night (two nights ago was white sail night).
We took this opportunity to have dinner at club in their upstairs restaurant. We enjoyed a great meal and were able to watch the
evening racing.
floating shops in Charlottetown
Tomorrow we continue to head south east to our last stop on PEI.
Brudenell
We left for our last destination at 8am, but not before saying goodbye to Andrew as Tarja drove him to the Charlottetown airport.
No lack of iconic lighthouse pics
It was a long day getting around the south east top of PEI before turning most east to get to where we were going. We motored to start, but then found favourable wind so we
managed to get in a good sail as well. We were faced with annoying swells as we rounded Cape Bear to head north toward Brudenell.
Robb Brudenell Resort
Our initial plan was to head to Montegue, but after some phone calls to reserve a slip we were told that everything was full due to "Montegue Summer Days", a local cultural festival.
so we went to the next river over and found a slip at Brudenell's Resort.
Oyster beds
About 7 miles down the river, past Georgetown, past many large oyster beds, past
a number of sandbars, and then the resort revealed itself after rounding a small island. Not a big marina, but one long
spine running from the shore of the resort with fingers on both sides.
This is a golf resort and conference centre with many other amenities. There are two buildings containing rooms for resort/conference guests, as well as
a small spa where Linda treated herself to a pedicure.
Also part of the complex were executive style cabins, a riding stable, summer camp/day care and a beach, in addition to the 36 hole golf course!
We have access to showers, washrooms and pool. There is a "19th Hole" bar/restaurant. We had a decent meal there one night.
Model-T's galore!
The resort was hosting a Model T car show called the "Red Dirt Tour". Reportedly there were somewhere near 200 Model T Fords
and other vintage vehicles participating. Most are trailered here, but they will be driving around PEI with various scheduled stops around
the island.
As part of the car show, they put on an excellent fireworks show. A number of times, it felt like it was over only to continue. The fireworks
lasted at least 20 minutes and had some quite elaborate displays!
A very nice end to our exploration of PEI by land and water. Tomorrow we head across the strait to Ballatyne's Cover for our first stop in Nova Scotia!
The tank at Ballantynes Cove was built to hold up to 50,000 lobsters. Their claws are banded and are the lobsters are kept 100 to a crate, which are then submerged in the large pool. The pool is highly regulated for temperature and salinity, to keep the lobster in a calm dormant state. A few degrees warmer and they can become aggressive with each other or start molting.
Apparently there is a website where you can enter the number that is printed on the elastic claw band 
Our sail from Ballantynes into the Strait of Canso started off with a perfect opportunity to put our spinnaker snuffer to work. We had a comfortable reach all the way, and snuffed a couple of times to sort out minor rigging issues. Ultimately we had to fire up the motor in order to make it to Port Hawksbury so we didn't arrive in the dark. 
The bridge was suffering from problems of expansion in the heat, and at one point the local fire department was unable to get to the island because the bridge would not close properly and the fire consumed the building. Until the repair work began, the decision has been closed for safety. Thus mariners have had to take the longer route around Ile Madame. Not a big deal as it only added a handful of miles to the leg.
