Halifax to Bar Harbor

Halifax to Bar Harbor Maine

 

Halifax:

We arrived in the fog and to all Jack’s best abilities on constant checking the weather, we end up leaving in the fog.

While we were in Halifax we did enjoy a few good meals.  For those that we visited in Halifax we visited the Armview Diner at the Armdale Rotary in Halifax. We had breakfast which was very good and generous portions. It was located across from the Armdale Yacht Club, a short dinghy ride and about a five minute walk.

It just happened that our daughter Colleen arrived the next day for a company conference and guess where they were going for dinner, that’s right to the Armview.  We were invited along and met many of Colleen’s  co-workers. It was a very interesting evening and once again the food was very good. We would like to thank David and Leo from Harper-Collins Publishing for allowing us to spend some time with them.

Back to our day to day stuff,  we are still trying to figure out our refrigeration problems.  It is not a problem where we have no cooling but it is only cooling when the fridge wants to.  It seems if we are hooked up to shore power it will work sometimes but when we are underway it just turns off and on constantly.  We finally had a fridge guy come down but no results.

 He was very nice and went home and researched the problem and it kept coming back to a voltage problem. So as our house bank batteries are 6 years old, we replaced them.  Not a problem, right.  We are in Halifax.  Wrong.  We had to order them so there goes another day.  We did get them and fortunately Matt (Colleen’s Husband) arrived the day before and was able to give Jack a hand installing them.

Guess what same problem we have been adding extra ice and reduced the size of the fridge to save on the use of the batteries. We will have it looked at in Shelburne.

Well the rest of our time was spent doing some tourist stuff with Colleen, Matt and Sam.  We went to Peggy’s Cove, then to Lawrencetown Beach,  which is a beach on the ocean  It used to be a sandy beach, where as a kid we used to build sand castles and play in the waves but now the beach is covered in beach stone that is constantly being washed ashore, very little sandy area which is a shame.  Many years ago they but a ban on taking the stones form the beach well maybe they should allow some trucks to come in and clear them away so you can use the beach again just my opinion. 

The next day we walked the waterfront and there was a sailing vessel at one of the docks named Lady B.  She is 147 foot long sloop, there is a website if you like to look at luxury or what I thought was luxury until we arrived in Bar Harbor.  Lady B came to Armdale and blocked half the channel but like any large boat, she attracts a lot of attention.

Finally we leave Halifax in the fog once again and I still do not like it. As we are leaving we could hear fog horns but Jack assured me that they we coming from the land but then they seem to be getting closer and then out of the fog was a huge cruise ship not close enough to cause any problems but a little unnerving.  It was a Disney cruise ship as there were Mickey Mouse ears on the smoke funnels.

 Finally we get out of Halifax and we had to wait until later in the day for the fog to clear.  I must say, I’m still not fond of the fog but as long as we do not have to maneuver into an unknown harbor, it is tolerable (my (Linda’s) opinion is that there should not be such a thing).

We arrived in Lunenburg, we anchored in the harbor for the night amongst five or six classic schooners.  We went ashore, took some pictures and had dinner and watched some of the Olympics, then went back to the boat and crashed.  It is amazing how tired you get being out on the ocean all day.

The next day we were off to a little place called Brooklyn N.S.  It was a small little town with basic services but a dock for the night with power for $30.00. We took a stroll and had a few cold beers.  People offered to take us into Liverpool but we had what we needed and decided to stay close to home.

Then we were off Shelburne, guess what surprise sun and calm seas, glassy actually.  Sounds boring to all those people who like high winds and sailing at 30 degrees, well we had a very good day enjoying the sun for a change.

I was reading and Jack said look at that over there.  There were some whales about ¼ mile away off our port side.  Not close enough to get a picture but something that you will remember. One had its head completely out of the water, what is called spy-hopping, they do this to have a look around them.  A minute later another one completely breached the water and came crashing down, causing a huge splash.  A little later as now we are watching out for whales, we see more coming to the surface and swimming along and then they would dive showing off their tails as they went under.  We got a picture but it looks like a spot in the ocean.  I guess I need a camera like Ty’s to make it worth telling. Well the whale watching lasted for about an hour and just as we decided they were gone Jack was telling me about these birds he saw yesterday and there they were again tiny little things.

As we are watching them they seem to jump out of the water but did not fly. Then we realized they were fish and they were being chased by a large tuna about 5 feet long.  He jumped out of the water partially and the a minute later, it jumped five feet out of the water after the small fish.  It was no mistaking the type of fish, and guess what we do not have our fishing lines rigged up yet.

Shelburne was a straight forward harbor to get into, but it is two hours from the ocean.  We took a dock as we had arranged to have someone to look at the alternator.  Well he came down to look at it, he determined that our problem was the voltage regulator.  The company that we had look at it said their supplier was closed and that they wouldn’t know anything until Monday.  Well we found out West Marine carries them.  We ordered one and had it shipped to Southwest Harbor, Maine.  That way we could pick it up when we got to Bar Harbor.

We met up with Cheryl and Norm from Asylan’s Wind and caught up on the gossip.  After speaking with them we decided not to go to Yarmouth as the approaches left little to be desired and Norm said it is always foggy there.  Well that decided it for me.  I’d rather be on the ocean for awhile longer than have to go into a port with lots of shoals in the fog and the tides are about eighteen feet there.

Once again checked the weather and saw a good weather envelope to cross over from Shelburne to Bar Harbor,  so we got ready to leave.   We got up early and once again fog.  I’m starting to think I am cursed.  We left anyway hoping it would clear once we get away from shore but no we had to wait until about 10 that night.

Shelburne, Nova Scotia

You all know the song farewell to Nova Scotia, well now I know the meaning of it. If I am ever back it will be flying or driving never by sea again. Linda’s thoughts.

The next morning the sun rose and it was clear and light winds. Finally got some sails up and we took turns catching a few needed naps.

I must say that there never a lack of adventure on this route. We are approaching Bar Harbor and Jack read somewhere there are seven million lobster traps in Maine.   I think that there must be one million approaching Bar Harbor.  They are in water that is over 200 feet deep and spaced about 70 to 100 feet apart. They have them in the area where there are mooring balls, buoy markers, channels and any other place you think of. We were lucky going slowly we managed to get through the mind field without getting snagged on anything. I have some pictures but you need an aerial shot to do it justice.When we got to Bar Harbor we had to wait for customs.  They had to come from Bangor about an hour plus away.  The custom officer was really nice and issued us a visitor’s permit that is good for Canadians for one year at a cost of $19.00.

Bar Harbor is located on Mount Desert Island and is home to Acadia National Park.  They provide free bus service over the whole island.  We went to Southwest Harbor and picked up our parts by bus.  They ask for donations.  It was about a 35 minute trip which isn’t bad for a few bucks.

We had dinner ashore and returned to the boat with groceries, parts for the boat and ice. Hopefully tomorrow we will get our problem solved once and for all.  There are a lot of bars in Bar Harbor and the night life goes on until the early hours.

A large cruise ship just pulled in I have a feeling they must have a few traps under their hull and they don’t seem to be bothered by them.  Jack is busy getting the voltage regulator replaced and I am updating the blog.  There are about six 100 foot plus power boats here, but the harbor is a working harbor with 95% of the moorings taken up with fishing boats and very few pleasure boats.

For pictures you will have to check out next posting.

See you soon. Jack and Linda