Enetai - Nova Scotia Cruise, 2017
Part 3: August 2 to August 7, Halifax to Port Hawkesbury, 188 nautical miles
From Halifax, we came to the "Eastern Shore". The renowned Inside Passage threads among and inshore of many islands.
Wednesday August 2, Halifax to Ship Harbour, 45nm.
The approaches to Halifax Harbor are asymmetrical; getting into the harbor from the West took a lot longer than going out to the East. We slipped behind McNabs island on our way out of Halifax. We went by a ro/ro that was ready to unload except for the SUV's and men/women in black blocking the unloading ramp. Guessing customs inspection. The landscape was already covered with new cars.
There is a Very narrow buoyed channel that gets quite shallow but lets you through. We did stray from the channel and tripped our rudder on a sand bar.
As we turned the corner around Devil's Island, we saw flames and smoke erupting from halfway up the hill in Halifax. It looked like a serious fire but they put it out in just a few minutes. We never did find out what it was.
We passed the entrance to the channel leading to Jeddore, it seemed a bit far to head up into the channel, and so continued on past Owl's Cove to anchor for the night in Southwest Cove just beyond the Ship Harbour light.
There was an eagle perched in a tall fir quite near us, watching the small cove for over an hour. It left when we dove in for a swim. We'd seen many eagles during this trip, and wondered why no ospreys had been seen at all to date. Did it have something to do with not getting along when eagles were nesting nearby?
We were later treated to one of the amazing sights we'd seen on the first leg of this circumnavigation as a small rain of gannets plummeted into a school of fish near Shag Rock across the water.
Thursday August 3, Ship Harbour to Richardsons Cove, 35nm.
The Inside Passage! We stopped by Shelter Cove at the 'recommendation' of our Peter Loveridge memory stick. It is a beautiful, wonderfully protected spot with rocky and rugged scenery but it was too soon to stop for the night. The Loveridge guidebook goes into detail about bearings and distances to find your way into the cove, with excellent sketches. Nowadays, these aren't necessary when your chart plotter and the satellites are working. Our binoculars have a compass built in but we have never needed to take a bearing on anything.We saw osprey, answering the question as to where they were! We let Russ know that we were where they took their kayak trip several years ago! Beautiful area.
Threading our way through islands to where we thought to anchor, and then deciding it wouldn't work out, brought us to Richardsons Cove. A house on shore looked unoccupied. It was so peaceful.
We have been a couple of days with no internet and I was experiencing withdrawal symptoms such as restlessness and a short attention span. I attempted to get internet by setting our cell phone as a hot-spot and running it up the flag halyard. Alas, there was no signal. I had to watch the sunset instead.
This spot provided the most beautiful sunset we've ever seen. The sun went down with a red flame, and then the blue sky with pastel clouds lit up and reflected in impossibly clear water. It was simply stunning, for more than an hour it held us breathless and admiring.
Friday, August 4, Richardsons Cove to Liscomb Mills, 17nm.
We wriggled our way through the inside passage, guided by our chart-plotters, slowing down at the tight spots. Winds were light. At Marie-Joseph, there was a strange jumble of boats and whatever on shore. No time to explore the harbor there. I hate rushing but this is a long coastline. We are passing up many intriguing harbors.
At Liscomb Head, Smoke Point, we turned into the bay and basically doubled back 5 miles to the river entrance and up to Liscomb Lodge at the head of navigation on the Liscomb River. This is a resort owned by the Province. They have fuel and overnight dockage available. The dockmaster, Chester, who remembered Peter Loveridge, had to help move a very large sailboat, 'Sienna's Choice', so that we would fit. We walked up a scenic trail that follows the river (but the map was not very helpful) then had a very nice dinner in the Lodge. We did laundry, the drier took forever! We rowed up the stream to the base of the little rapids, the falls, just past the bridge. Dangled our feet in the water.
A lot of rocks at the base of the little waterfall!
There were several places in Nova Scotia that had "portals" under the road for pedestrians. This one was great!
The dockmaster had said the door would be open to the shower at the laundry, but it was all locked up. Fortunately, we had opted in on the wrist band that lets guests into the pool - there were not-very-nice showers, which we used instead. Things were pretty busy at the Lodge, the weekend was Natal Day, a non-statutory holiday in Nova Scotia, something about the birthday of the Province.
Saturday, August 5, Liscomb to Yankee Cove, 46nm.
We got up quite early, with a plan to get to one of several anchorages recommended by Anthony Yue from 'Sienna's Choice'.
After hours of uncomfortable fog, swells, and chop, we sailed the last hour into Yankee Cove, where there was a fish farming operation of some sort, but it didn't take up the whole cove. Anthony had mentioned that he'd heard reports of aquaculture in the cove, but he didn't think it blocked the entire area. He noted that some anchorages have been rendered unusable due to large fish farming operations that even when abandoned continue to block harbors or coves. A sailboat from Florida was already in the harbor but they seemed disinclined to talk as we passed them and said hello. There was a lot of wind even in this protected spot.
>
Sunday, August 6, Yankee Cove.
Weather bound for the day by strong winds blowing on Cape Canso. The Florida boat leaves. We are alone in Yankee Cove. We take a row 'round the edge of the cove and down a little channel to the next cove. It's quite pretty, but no place to walk on the rocky, rockweed covered shore, although we get out and make our way for a short leg-stretch. We found detritus from fishing operations among the rocks and rockweed.
Later, when it became obvious the wind was not going to abate today, Gina took a swim in the lee of Enetai.
Bonsai Tree in Yankee Cove:
Monday, August 7, Yankee Cove to Port Hawkesbury, 45nm.
We get up so early the moon is setting and the sun is not up yet. But we can see the rocks in the dawn as we thread our way out.
Getting around Cape Canso: Waves and wind still seemed a little much for getting into Dover Passage safely so we stayed outside. We did duck into Andrew Passage to the Town of Canso. We motored into a 20 knot blast on final approach to Canso.
We went up the "tickle" past Canso past all the wharves and fishing boats until a guy walked down to the water's edge to tell us there was a bridge around the bend and we couldn't get through (which we knew, but still, nice of him to warn us). We thought of taking our masts down and going on through just to prove him wrong but that seemed like too much effort so we turned around and went back.
We tied to the outside of a fish boat wharf right in the center of town. We asked a random passer-by who told us we were fine there so we walked up into town. We came across the Whitman House Museum. We gave a donation but declined the tour. Their map outside showed how to get to the liquor store. The grocery store is very convenient to the wharf. However, the government liquor store is about a mile out of town. That is a long way to carry a 12 pack of beer and two cardboard plonks.
The wind was fair so we set off across Chedabucto Bay. I had been worried about the exposed crossing but it was fine. We had a close reach to start but the wind opened up to a beam reach as we crossed. A ship and a pilot boat went by. One of them was testing an AIS man-overboard alarm. Our radio blared a crystal clear MOB test message. Good to know those things work; we each have one on our life vests.
Ile Madam was to windward. We would have liked to visit the Acadian island. Maybe next time!
Entering the Strait of Canso, the wind went around to the North and we started tacking. We gave that up as the wind died and the shadows grew long. Motoring up the strait, we marveled at the huge infrastructure for loading and unloading ships. They moor to massive dolphins in the strait and the cargo, crushed stone, petroleum and coal are loaded or unloaded by conveyer or pipeline. We savored the irony of the wind turbines spinning above the coal fired power plant and its piles of coal.
We were welcomed by the Port Hawkesbury marina/yacht club. Many friendly people on the docks. We walked up the hill (always) to a decent restaurant associated with a hotel. We celebrated reaching the turning point to the North Shore.
There was a complete set of big-box stores on the hill above the town but we couldn't think of anything we needed. The sun had set by the time we returned. We walked along the wharf by the 'Dutch Runner' and the 'Yanneke Too', spoke with the captain of the 117ft yacht, Yanneke. They were waiting for parts. I believe the Dutch Runner was set up to transport wind turbine blades. The Yanneke said the Dutch Runner was going to be headed for Haiti to get painted.
Then, showers! The docks were very rolly and didn't have edging, it took some concentration in the dark to get 'round to where Enetai was moored. The next morning we took a little time to walk up the hill again for coffee and to explore toward the lock. There's a nice rail bed along the shore and signage about the ferry that used to cross the strait before the causeway was built.
The causeway blocks the flow of Canso Strait. This also blocked the flow of ice in the winter and ever since the causeway was built (reportedly 180 feet deep), the harbours on the south (& southeast) shore of Nova Scotia no longer ice over, while north of the causeway the ice packs in. It sounds like there was a remarkable change brought by the causeway.