Annie starting her shift at 9:00pm
(more pictures will follow on next blog update!)
Friday Sept 5 – Saturday Sept 6 – Shelburne to Northeast Harbour, Maine, USA
We left as scheduled at 7:00. We didn’t have any difficulty getting out of the marina as the winds were calm, but it was incredibly foggy. Carpe Diem left with us as planned. We took quite a while to get out of Shelburne Harbour as went really slow in the fog. We saw quite a few seals, a couple of loons and some harbour porpoises. The fog continued as we went offshore and that kept the seas fairly calm. The winds were light so there was no sailing. We all took turns resting through out the day in preparation for our night at sea. When Kristen and I were resting, Dave and Annie saw a yellowfin tuna jump out of the water. A little while later I saw a small whale right off the bow of the boat -- probably only about four feet off the starboard (right) side of the boat. Before we left, Dave had done some back of the envelope estimates of where we would be at what times to gauge how the strong tides and currents around the end of Nova Scotia would affect us. The times were amazing close! The seas were quite calm at suppertime so I made ham steak and hash browns. After supper the wind came up enough to sail so we put the headsail out. Kristen and I did the 7-9 shift as night fell. The fog was still all around us until the sun was gone and then the fog lifted and the moon and the stars came out. The wind continued to pick up over night but probably never went over 20 knots. Around 4:30, the motor quit. There was quite a bit of sea and we were low on fuel so sediment in the tank was getting into the engine. Dave changed the fuel filter and bled the line and got the engine going again, but a few minutes later it died again. We called Carpe Diem to see if they had an extra jerry can of diesel and they did, so we decided we would continue under sail until Carpe Diem caught up to us (we travel a little faster then they do and the were about 10 miles behind). We had a lovely sail as the sun rose, but the fog was rolling in again. When we got fairly close to Maine we reduced sail and waited for Carpe Diem. They caught up to us mid morning and after a few conversations back and forth on the radio, they found us in the fog. While we were waiting, we put the dinghy in the water, so when they arrived, Dave rowed back to them to get the jerry can and then rowed back to us and put the diesel in. In rolly seas this sounds a lot easier than it was!! The engine worked fine then and we set off in the fog up, through the lobster trap buoys for Northeast Harbour. The harbour is really busy with boats getting moved around in anticipation of the coming storm. We picked up a mooring and called into customs. It took most of the afternoon before the customs man came but eventually we got cleared through customs with no problems. We had a walk around the town before we went back to the boat for supper and a well-deserved sleep. We saw Glass Slipper but John and Cindy weren’t around. There is another family here that is just beginning a two year cruise and they have four kids on board.
Sunday Sept 6 – Monday Sept 7 – Northeast Harbour
On Sunday we did school in the morning and then took the free bus to Bar Harbour in the afternoon. Annie, Kristen and I had planned to get showers in the morning when Dave was doing some work on the engine, so Dave took us to shore – unfortunately had dinghied back to the boat with the shower bag! We went over to visit John on Glass Slipper and catch up on their latest adventures. Cindy had gone home for a few days to see her Mom. We had fun shopping in Bar Harbour and the girls got charms for their charm bracelets. Annie got an anchor and Kristen got a lobster trap. We went out for supper with Chris and Penny at the Tan Turtle Tavern. It was great!
On Monday we planned to go the Natural History museum in Bar Harbour so we planned to catch the early bus. Things didn’t really go as planned… It took a lot longer than expected for Dave and Chris to go to the fuel dock to fill the jerry cans… then we took the computer to shore to get on the internet and that didn’t work out so we needed to take it back to the boat before we left. We finally got to the museum around 11:30, only to find out it was closed on Mondays. We got sandwiches for lunch and then Dave decided to go back to the boat. We stayed in Bar Harbour and walked across the sand bar to Bar Island. After that we went to the whale museum and then headed back to NorthEast Harbour and got a few groceries. We had hamburgers for supper and made cookies to take over to SeaHawk after supper. SeaHawk is the boat with the four kids. We went for a little walk in town and then went over to SeaHawk around 7:00. They had just gotten back from a long hike and were pretty tired. We had a nice visit and were back on Bird around 9:00.
We left as scheduled at 7:00. We didn’t have any difficulty getting out of the marina as the winds were calm, but it was incredibly foggy. Carpe Diem left with us as planned. We took quite a while to get out of Shelburne Harbour as went really slow in the fog. We saw quite a few seals, a couple of loons and some harbour porpoises. The fog continued as we went offshore and that kept the seas fairly calm. The winds were light so there was no sailing. We all took turns resting through out the day in preparation for our night at sea. When Kristen and I were resting, Dave and Annie saw a yellowfin tuna jump out of the water. A little while later I saw a small whale right off the bow of the boat -- probably only about four feet off the starboard (right) side of the boat. Before we left, Dave had done some back of the envelope estimates of where we would be at what times to gauge how the strong tides and currents around the end of Nova Scotia would affect us. The times were amazing close! The seas were quite calm at suppertime so I made ham steak and hash browns. After supper the wind came up enough to sail so we put the headsail out. Kristen and I did the 7-9 shift as night fell. The fog was still all around us until the sun was gone and then the fog lifted and the moon and the stars came out. The wind continued to pick up over night but probably never went over 20 knots. Around 4:30, the motor quit. There was quite a bit of sea and we were low on fuel so sediment in the tank was getting into the engine. Dave changed the fuel filter and bled the line and got the engine going again, but a few minutes later it died again. We called Carpe Diem to see if they had an extra jerry can of diesel and they did, so we decided we would continue under sail until Carpe Diem caught up to us (we travel a little faster then they do and the were about 10 miles behind). We had a lovely sail as the sun rose, but the fog was rolling in again. When we got fairly close to Maine we reduced sail and waited for Carpe Diem. They caught up to us mid morning and after a few conversations back and forth on the radio, they found us in the fog. While we were waiting, we put the dinghy in the water, so when they arrived, Dave rowed back to them to get the jerry can and then rowed back to us and put the diesel in. In rolly seas this sounds a lot easier than it was!! The engine worked fine then and we set off in the fog up, through the lobster trap buoys for Northeast Harbour. The harbour is really busy with boats getting moved around in anticipation of the coming storm. We picked up a mooring and called into customs. It took most of the afternoon before the customs man came but eventually we got cleared through customs with no problems. We had a walk around the town before we went back to the boat for supper and a well-deserved sleep. We saw Glass Slipper but John and Cindy weren’t around. There is another family here that is just beginning a two year cruise and they have four kids on board.
Sunday Sept 6 – Monday Sept 7 – Northeast Harbour
On Sunday we did school in the morning and then took the free bus to Bar Harbour in the afternoon. Annie, Kristen and I had planned to get showers in the morning when Dave was doing some work on the engine, so Dave took us to shore – unfortunately had dinghied back to the boat with the shower bag! We went over to visit John on Glass Slipper and catch up on their latest adventures. Cindy had gone home for a few days to see her Mom. We had fun shopping in Bar Harbour and the girls got charms for their charm bracelets. Annie got an anchor and Kristen got a lobster trap. We went out for supper with Chris and Penny at the Tan Turtle Tavern. It was great!
On Monday we planned to go the Natural History museum in Bar Harbour so we planned to catch the early bus. Things didn’t really go as planned… It took a lot longer than expected for Dave and Chris to go to the fuel dock to fill the jerry cans… then we took the computer to shore to get on the internet and that didn’t work out so we needed to take it back to the boat before we left. We finally got to the museum around 11:30, only to find out it was closed on Mondays. We got sandwiches for lunch and then Dave decided to go back to the boat. We stayed in Bar Harbour and walked across the sand bar to Bar Island. After that we went to the whale museum and then headed back to NorthEast Harbour and got a few groceries. We had hamburgers for supper and made cookies to take over to SeaHawk after supper. SeaHawk is the boat with the four kids. We went for a little walk in town and then went over to SeaHawk around 7:00. They had just gotten back from a long hike and were pretty tired. We had a nice visit and were back on Bird around 9:00.
1 comment:
wow...sound cool...nice experience for the girls...fog.fog..fog..too bad..Lindsey is in the twins class this year ...very happy...Love the blog Love the Wilson xoxoxo nice pics
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