David’s Voyage Blog

Publish Date: Wednesday, September 9, 2009
A funny thing happened to me during the last week. It began while we were moored in Charlottetown, when the wind blew from the north for a couple days. It was cold, and it felt like fall. I didn’t think much of it at the time.

Then, over the weekend there was quite a bit of activity around the marina in Charlottetown. At first I just chalked it up to being a weekend during the waning days of summer. But then I realized many people were packing up their boats, getting ready to haul them out of the water for the winter.

Kathryn and I evaluate the weather every day out here, even when we’re not actively cruising. We have both noticed recently that gradually the “good” cruising days have become fewer and farther between. The wind seems to blow harder and more often, and of course, the days are getting shorter.

Then I looked at a map, and it hit me just how far north we still are. It really shouldn’t have been a surprise — it was always our plan to cruise the maritime provinces during September. But planning to be here, and actually being here now, are two different things.

There was no denying it: I was feeling the unmistakable urge to migrate. It was time to start heading south.

Kathryn and I discussed it, and she was feeling the same way. We had planned to spend a little more time cruising Nova Scotia, especially the Bras d’Or Lakes, but we decided to save it for another year; We wouldn’t enjoy it anyway if we felt like we were on borrowed time. So we’ve set our course for Maine, planning to get there as soon as the weather allows.

Our first stop was Pictou, Nova Scotia, where we went to meet some friends of some friends who we had met cruising in the Bahamas last winter — the cruising community has a very long reach. Dave, Kathy, and their two daughters hosted us for a wonderful dinner at their home, which we appreciated very much. It’s always fun for Ayla to spend time with other kids, especially kids who are familiar with the cruising life.

We moored at the town wharf in Pictou, which is a challenge with the tides. We were tied to an immovable platform, but Three@Sea would rise and fall six feet over the next twelve hours. The key is to tie up with lengthened lines: a ratio of 3:1 is the rule of thumb, so each of our lines would have to be about 15-18′ feet long. Ideally, at low tide you want them sloping down to the boat about three feet, and at high tide you want them sloping up to the boat about three feet. If you do the math (remember the Pythagorean theorem?), this ratio means the boat position at the end of the lines would only vary by about 3-4 inches at mid-tide (i.e., when the lines are straight out, level with the boat). In practice it’s hard to achieve this ideal line configuration, but if you get close, the boat position will be just fine. And we were.

Yesterday we cruised from Pictou through the Canso Strait, which separates eastern and western Nova Scotia. To control the current through the strait they built a causeway and a lock. The lock is the size of the St. Lawrence Seaway locks (i.e., large), but it has very little rise/fall. In fact, we didn’t even have to tie up in the lock — they just closed the gate behind us, and then opened the gate in front of us. Without the lock, the current through the strait used to reach 6-7 knots during the maximum tidal current.

We anchored in a little cove near the south end of the Canso Strait last night. The holding wasn’t very good on the bottom — it felt like gravel or medium-sized rocks — but the wind was light, and the cove was well-protected, so we just set an anchor alarm and settled in. It turned out to be a peaceful night, and we awoke to glassy water and a beautiful clear-skied sunrise. This is my kind of anchoring!

Today we cruised to Liscomb Harbor on the southeast side of Nova Scotia, and we’re anchored on the river that goes up to the town of Liscomb Mills. On our cruise today a pod of about 25 white-sided dolphins surfed our bow wave for about 20 minutes. It was a spectacular sight to see! Our anchorage seems well-protected, with good holding, and we’re looking forward to a quiet evening.

We’ll cruise to Halifax tomorrow or the next day (depending on the weather), where we’ll spend a couple days, and then we’ll press on to Maine. Maine is still very far north, but at least we can coastal cruise south quickly if the weather deteriorates into an early winter. And if we get a nice Indian Summer, we’ll be able to enjoy the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts knowing that the ICW is within reach.

Now I know how those Canada Geese feel this time of year.