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Cruising aboard Isle of SkyeHello Everyone, It has been many months since our first update…..sorry but retirees r e a l l y are busier. We need a secretary!! Our first update ended as we were preparing to cross the Gulf of the St. Lawrence to Miramichi, New Brunswick. We will continue from this point but first we must answer three of the most frequently asked questions about our cruise. As you are aware, the summer of 2005 was HOT. It was rarely under 35 decrees well into August which made it very uncomfortable to sleep, even on the boat. Yes, we experienced one storm on the first section of the trip. We were anchored on the east side of Pelee Island, in Lake Erie. It was dusk, approximately 20:45, we were enjoying a very hot evening in the cockpit reading the local newspaper when Skip said “Holy Sh…t”, jumped up & ran for the bow. Naturally, Colleen looked up to see what was happening…the sky was not pretty. While Skip was letting out more scope, Colleen was in the locker getting out the awnings for the forward hatches. To late…..it was on top of us and the squall was brutal. The wind was blowing Isle of Skye broadside to her anchor, surfing port to starboard. We were in danger of being blown onto the leeward shore which was rock. Even though our anchor was holding, we didn’t want to take the chance of her dragging or letting go, so we raised anchor & as they say, went out to sea to ride out the storm. We cruised up & down the outer breakwall of Pelee Island Marina, about 30 minutes, until the wind died down enough for us to maneuver around the breakwalls into the marina. Safe & sound on the dock we realized we didn’t turn on the instruments, so we can only guess at the wind speed. The whole episode lasted about an hour. Future updates will include the rough spots. Your question regarding our solar panels. The two panels put enough into the batteries that we didn’t need to start the engine for the first 4 to 5 days when anchored, depending on the sun. Anything over the 5 days, we did run the engine for an hour to top up. Our Link 1000 was very helpful in monitoring intake, output & the battery levels. Even with the extreme hot & sunny summer, it may not compare to the warmer climates of the Bahamas, Exuma or Cuba, so we may find the need for a Honda generator or running the engine more often in these locals. We will update you further on this subject. You also asked if we had any funny stories. Well, everything about the cruise was fun, but funny; there was one incident that the men found funny. It was an extremely hot & humid day, prime for a thunder storm. Sensing this we were prepared with our foul weather gear close at hand. We were in the Beauharnois lock with one small power boat when the skies opened up. Skip on the stern & Colleen on the bow. The power boat, the kind you have to crawl through the windshield to get to the bow, was behind us with the guy on the stern under the enclosure (where else would he be) & the woman on the bow (no foul weather gear) wearing shorts & a white t-shirt. The girls at Hooters had nothing on her. Though embarrassed, she did have a good sense of humour. Another note of interest we didn’t mention was that the eastern provinces only provide a plan language forecast. If you want the Mafor code, you have to radio the coastguard. Now onto the second stage of our cruise which will include more detail. Many of you have already heard of our cruise to NS & seen the pictures, but we will update for the remaining family & friends. The last update ended in Anse Beaufils Gaspe, a great port to stay an extra day, which we did, waiting for favourable weather to cross to New Brunswick. Shippagan NB, a much easier 40 mile crossing, has a very long bay with a 49’ lift bridge which we could not get under. Not wanting to make the passage a two day trip or have to retrace our steps in the bay, we elected to make the 90 mile crossing to Miramichi. We were on our way at 03:30 hours, winds NW 15. One of the few times the wind was in our favour! The first 40 nautical miles put us ahead of schedule when the wind dropped to nothing so we were motoring again. Thank God for good weather in Quebec because the Coast Guard didn’t get the weather right once! So, here we are about an hour after the wind died, motoring, when the wind comes up & guess which direction? You got it….right on the nose at 35 knots!!! So much for being ahead of schedule. We were taking waves that were spraying over the enclosure, flooding the deck & knocking us down to 2 knots. Looking for the nearest port was not an option, we knew before we left that there was nothing on route that would accommodate our draft. Also, we soon noticed that the NW side of NB was very flat & no elevation. With the chartplotter, we knew NB was on our starboard side but not able to visibly see the land was nerve racking, especially with the weather conditions we were experiencing. As they say, ‘The boat can take more than the crew’. We arrived at Baie de Vin in the Miramichi River at 19:20 EST time – 20:20 Atlantic. GREAT, we lost an hour sleep when we needed it most. The next morning dawned bright & sunny for our motor trip up the Miramichi. We had three options, a fishing port, a yacht club & the furthest down the Miramichi River was Ritchie’s Wharf which our guide book said was a tourist area. We chose the yacht club because it listed a laundry facility which we needed. What is it that sets boaters aside from other people? They either give you the keys to their vehicle or they spend most of their day playing tour guide to complete strangers. We had our pick of three members who offered to take us anywhere we needed to go. John, a member of the Miramichi Boat & Yacht Club, made the 20 mile trip down the river worth while because the Miramichi was much prettier by land than by water.
The wind was lighter the next day but it was still in the wrong direction for PEI so we decided to sail further east on the NB coast to a small town called Richibucto. As we mentioned before, the NW side of NB has no elevation & it is also all sand with sand bars that move with every wind storm. Fortunately we had a guide book of the area that emphasized that the buoys would not correspond with GPS or paper charts. Due to the movement of the sand bars in wind storms, the Coast Guard is constantly moving the buoys to the newly formed channel.
We left at 10:00 the following morning for Pictou NS, in the company of the 30’ Nonsuch who for some reason could not keep up. Our guide book indicated that there was only one port in Pictou, NOT. We entered what we thought was a marina with a very tricky entrance & very little maneuvering room inside. The members were very helpful, telling us which dock to use etc. Once we were secured to the dock we were approached by a man who did not introduce himself & rudely asked us what we were doing on the dock. We explained that we would like to stay for the night & that we were directed to this dock space. Somewhere in there we found out that we were at a yacht club & not the marina. Our first clue should have been when the Nonsuch, a local boat, kept going further down the bay. He asked us if we had made a reservation & when we said no, we were told that we would be happier at the Marina. Being unwelcome we left for the much friendlier marina. Imagine being thrown out of your first port of entry into Nova Scotia. Would this be a bad omen? Once at the marina we told the fellow boaters what happened to us at the yacht club. They all said that he had it right when he said we would be happier at the marina. Apparently he is well known in the area as a rude & an unpleasant harbour master. That certainly made us feel a lot better. The following day we & the Nonsuch left for Ballantynes Cove. It was a very windy day, seas of 4 to 6’. Again, we were way ahead of the Nonsuch. At one point we thought they had turned back for Pictou & Skip, who was not feeling well, was tempted to do the same. Colleen radioed the Nonsuch & learned that they only turned into the wind to reef in more sail but was now on corrected course for Ballantynes Cove. It was a lumpy trip, & for once the seas did not affect Colleen’s stomach. Ballantynes Cove is a lovely tuna fishing port/plant with a quaint town. The water on the north side between mainland NS & Cape Breton Island is a big tuna fishing area. We were given the history of what happens during tuna season & where you do not want to be sailing. We left alone the following morning for a short trip to our final destination of Port Hawkesbury. This is where we would leave Isle of Skye for the winter. The wind was not as strong as the previous day but for our course it was a close reach. There is no charge to use the lock through the Canso Causeway & because the tide levels are the same on both sides of the lock you would just sit in the middle when going through alone. When we arrived at the Port Hawkesbury, Strait of Canso Yacht Club, the dock attendant had a message from Paul & Maggie to call them on their cell phone. They were in the Bra d’Or Lakes & because the wind had risen they would not be back until the next morning. This gave us much needed time to clean the layers of salt from the boat, canvas & tidy up below. As promised, Paul & Maggie arrived the next morning & we were there to catch their lines. What is wrong with this picture? We arrived at Cape Breton Island just in time to celebrate a week long 50th anniversary of the Canso Causeway. Maggie & Paul, our gracious hosts & friends, had many plans for our two month stay. The first week was spent around Port Hawkesbury, taking part in the anniversary. Some of the highlights were the regatta on Ile Madame, yacht club of the same name, who provided a great buffet dinner; concerts with the Rankins, Sons of Maxwell, & many other local talents; there were bagpipers playing while crossing the Causeway, the same as 50 years ago when the causeway was opened; the Bluenose II was there for the celebration so we not only had a tour of the old girl but the next day we went on a 2 hour cruise; & lastly, seafood chowder at SCYC & later that night a parade of lights, where all the boats are decorated & motor around the bay while cars on the shore honked their horns & bystanders cheered. Once the week long celebration was over we headed for the Bra d’Or Lakes. Paul & Maggie joined us for awhile & we took turns having dinner on each others boat or sampling the local restaurants. Great fun but duty called & they had to return home. While in the lakes we biked around St Peters, Dundee, & Baddeck. In Baddeck we noticed many American & out of province license plates. Baddeck is also the home to the Alexander Graham Bell Mansion & Museum which we toured. The Bra d’Or lakes have so many coves to anchor in that we almost felt like we were at home in the North Channel. Labour Day weekend was almost upon us so we decided to leave the
lakes, cross Chedabucto Bay for Guysborough, on the mainland, where
there is a great dinner theater to celebrate our birthdays. What
a night, the dinner was superb & the show was Back in Port Hawkesbury we were introduced to their Friday night free outdoor concerts with well know local talent at Grenville Green which is a big band stand behind the yacht club. It was neat to see the road blocked off to cars with so many people either standing, sitting on the grass or in lawn chairs watching a concert. We were beginning to think that everyone on the island sang, danced or played a musical instrument.
Our daughter Erin flew into Halifax to join us so we rented a
car & picked her up at the airport then spent 2 days driving
the Cabot Trail. Our first day was very windy which made
our pictures very spectacular. Erin
got to spend one night on the boat before we drove to Peggy’s
Cove & St. Margaret’s Bay, another windy day. The
following day Erin had a 17:00 flight back to Ottawa
so we drove to Halifax & spent the day touring the area. We
also did a tour of the old
After returning from Halifax we were stuck in Port Hawkesbury for the next 5 days, winds were 30 to 60 knots. Boat haul out was supposed to be the 15th of October, but some members were making noise that they had to be out by October 1st due to business commitments. This meant we had to stay close to home port. Around the same time Hurricane Ophelia was hitting Florida & days later they were forecasting that NS/Cape Breton Island could be hit. After taking off the canvas & battening down, all we got was some rain. Sure enough the haul-out date was changed to October 1st. The four biggest boats were craned out the Friday, September 30th & the rest were craned the following day. September is normally what the locals call ‘powerboat month’, but not this year. After listen to the SCYC membership complain for most of September about the high winds, the following days after the boats were hauled were beautiful, sunny, and warm with no wind. Go figure! We spent the next couple of days winterizing the boat, packing & making plans for our trip home to Elliot Lake on October 6th. That is all we have for now. We hope you enjoyed reading about our adventures & we look forward to sending more. Watch for our update on our winter motor tour of North America. Until the next time, take care. Colleen & Al
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Our
next port of call was Escuminac, claimed to be the largest co-op
fishing harbour on the Atlantic coast. They have two
separate harbours along with a fish plant that we took advantage
of (lobster & scallops for the freezer). I don’t
know about being the largest but it certainly was, I thought at
the time, the cleanest. When you think of a fishing boat
you automatically think smelly, possibly dirty…not so. These
fishermen were meticulous & orderly. They come in with
their catch & everything is unloaded from the boat onto the
dock in order, cleaned, inspected, & before it is put back,
the boat is pressure washed. The fishermen were also preparing
for the fall lobster season so the docks were neatly stacked with
lobster traps reflecting their different coloured markers. The
next day the wind was 35 knots in the wrong direction, so we stayed
an extra day which gave us time to tour the area. We found
the local boat builder, trawler type fishing & pleasure boats,
who gave us an interesting tour of his plant. We have pamphlets
if anyone is interested; he will deliver the boat anywhere in North
America.
The
crossing to Summerside PEI was done in lots of sunshine, warm temperature & beautiful
scenery which made up for the light winds. We stayed at the
Silver Fox Curling & Yacht Club. You
may notice by their name that they have all seasons covered. The
following day we put another 25 miles on our bikes. The bikes
were worth ever penny!! That night we were invited to join
the members & guests at a banquet dinner in the clubhouse,
$6.00 each, can’t beat that. Our next stop was Charlottetown,
to do the tourist thing, & again we sailed in clear blue sunny
skies. The Confederation Bridge was something to see from
the water. Sailing along the shore of PEI, Colleen was amazed
how clearly you could see NB on our starboard side, the approaching
bridge ahead, when NS came up on the horizon. 
WOW,
seeing three provinces at one time!!! We toured Charlottetown,
all the souvenir shops, Province House, where Confederation was
born, plus the Provincial Government use the building for Legislation
meetings. Lastly, but not necessarily last on our list, the restaurants
for clams & lobster. The following day we rented a car & toured
the NE side of PEI & the dunes & beaches. What red
earth & scenery!!! We walked a ½ mile boardwalk
through reeds & dunes to the beaches on the Gulf side. We
also toured Victoria which boasts a chocolate factory, yummy, & an
antique clock store which unfortunately was no longer open.
magnificent. Hal
Bruce, more local talent, performed many John Lennon & 50’s & 60’s
tunes. He was so good; we stayed to the bitter end. Guysborough
is a very pretty picturesque port with their different coloured
buildings. We took advantage of their hiking trail, another
old railway bed, to do some exploring on our bikes. We soon
found that the trail was not in as good shape as the one in PEI. However,
we did reach the McAllister Bridge which Colleen had to see. Paul & Maggie arrived a couple days later
so we traded in the anchor for the dock, toured all the shops & had
dinners & breakfast at a picnic table on the dock. Just
like old times. 
Maggie & her
family took such good care of us, providing great dinners. You
can’t get enough fish or seafood chowder. We
were also treated to a tour of the Clearwater lobster plant. This
place is amazing. The
first picture is Skip holding a 5 lb lobster & the other is
one of the refrigerated rooms where the lobster are stored after
their claws are secured, sorted & weighed etc. They have
10 rooms this size & the plant holds a million & a half
lobsters. 
Alexander
Keith’s Brewery & Nova
Scotian Crystal. We bought some souvenirs at the brewery
but passed on the crystal. We were disappointed that we were
a day early for the guy who blows the glass, but we did see them
etch the patterns from a spinning wheel.