Liscomb Lodge – July 10 -11, 2014
On Thursday, July 10, we left Hartling’s Island on and headed for an anchorage up the Liscomb River. The fog was still thick and while the sea conditions had improved the swells were still fairly large - maybe 6 ft – but fairly well spaced and they weren’t breaking.
We anchored in the river just west of Riley Island and southeast of the Liscomb Lodge. The lodge has quite a bit of rustic charm. There is a nice main lodge with a restaurant and bar, a small hotel, and several charming little cabins. For $20 we had full access to the lodge’s amenities including showers, laundry, a swimming pool and hot tub, kayaks, canoes, and bicycles.
There were three other sailboats anchored at Liscomb Lodge when we arrived. Franz and Mary who own a beautiful Hinckley 59’ named Remedios invited all of us to their boat for cocktails. We had a lovely time and enjoyed getting to know everyone and sharing stories of our travels! Thank you Franz and Mary!
On Thursday, July 10, we left Hartling’s Island on and headed for an anchorage up the Liscomb River. The fog was still thick and while the sea conditions had improved the swells were still fairly large - maybe 6 ft – but fairly well spaced and they weren’t breaking.
We anchored in the river just west of Riley Island and southeast of the Liscomb Lodge. The lodge has quite a bit of rustic charm. There is a nice main lodge with a restaurant and bar, a small hotel, and several charming little cabins. For $20 we had full access to the lodge’s amenities including showers, laundry, a swimming pool and hot tub, kayaks, canoes, and bicycles.
There were three other sailboats anchored at Liscomb Lodge when we arrived. Franz and Mary who own a beautiful Hinckley 59’ named Remedios invited all of us to their boat for cocktails. We had a lovely time and enjoyed getting to know everyone and sharing stories of our travels! Thank you Franz and Mary!
Sunset over Liscomb Lodge
There is a pretty hiking trail that starts at the Lodge and winds up and down both sides of the Liscomb River for a total of 6 miles. The sun was out for the first time in days and once you were away from the anchorage and the breeze it became quite humid as all the moisture from the past few days started to evaporate. So although it was a sticky and damp hike it was worth it to see the pretty waterfall and the fish ladders located at the head of the trail. Shamus was able to cool off in the Liscomb River as we hiked along but as hot and sweaty as Tim and I were from hiking we really didn’t consider joining him for a dip – the water was an ankle biting 42 degrees!
Falls and suspension bridge at Liscomb Lodge
Kathy and Shamus crossing the suspension bridge
Yankee Cove
We stayed two nights in Liscomb and then decided to make a push to get to the Bras D’Or Lakes. It is supposed to be incredibly scenic with some beautiful and remote anchorages. We motor sailed east to Yankee Cove – about 40 miles east of Liscomb. We had blue skies and the seas had calmed considerably so it was a rather easy but long day. Yankee Cove is beautiful and reminded us a lot of Rogues Roost. There is a narrow passage that leads to a basin behind Yankee Cove. We explored it in the dinghy. The current in the passage to basin is extremely swift. When we were returning to the boat we had to give our engine about half throttle just to make headway in the current. Yankee Cove and the basin behind have been used for aquaculture for several years to cultivate mussels. There were no longer any aquaculture pens in the anchorage in Yankee Cove but there were some in the basin and they are now farming oysters instead of mussels.
We stayed two nights in Liscomb and then decided to make a push to get to the Bras D’Or Lakes. It is supposed to be incredibly scenic with some beautiful and remote anchorages. We motor sailed east to Yankee Cove – about 40 miles east of Liscomb. We had blue skies and the seas had calmed considerably so it was a rather easy but long day. Yankee Cove is beautiful and reminded us a lot of Rogues Roost. There is a narrow passage that leads to a basin behind Yankee Cove. We explored it in the dinghy. The current in the passage to basin is extremely swift. When we were returning to the boat we had to give our engine about half throttle just to make headway in the current. Yankee Cove and the basin behind have been used for aquaculture for several years to cultivate mussels. There were no longer any aquaculture pens in the anchorage in Yankee Cove but there were some in the basin and they are now farming oysters instead of mussels.
Yankee Cove
St. Peters Lock
On Sunday, July 13, we completed another long leg to reach the Bras d’Or Lakes – about 38 nm. The skies were clear and seas calm. The winds were downwind and relatively light to start but they built throughout the day so we were able to cut the engine and had a beautiful sail for the last couple hours of the day. We were having such a nice sail we waited until we were just outside the entrance to the St. Peters Lock to drop the main sail and furl the genoa.
Enroute we caught up with Moonlight Maid and Lagniappe - two of the boats that had been anchored with us at Liscomb Lodge but had left the day before us. We all entered the lock within minutes of each other along with a fourth boat called Gorgeous Girl whose homeport is Belfast , Maine. Two boats tied up on the port side of the lock and two of us on the starboard side of the lock. Once the lock was full we all transited through single file and made our way around the corner to the St. Peters Marina. The lock is unique as it lead from the Atlantic ocean which is tidal to the Bras D’or lakes which are also tidal as they have a small passage that is open to the ocean at the other end of the lakes which requires no lock. Because of this the lock needs to have doors that open outwards on both ends. Most locks have doors that face the same way(towards the higher of the two bodies of water). This is supposed to be the oldest lock of this kind in North America.
On Sunday, July 13, we completed another long leg to reach the Bras d’Or Lakes – about 38 nm. The skies were clear and seas calm. The winds were downwind and relatively light to start but they built throughout the day so we were able to cut the engine and had a beautiful sail for the last couple hours of the day. We were having such a nice sail we waited until we were just outside the entrance to the St. Peters Lock to drop the main sail and furl the genoa.
Enroute we caught up with Moonlight Maid and Lagniappe - two of the boats that had been anchored with us at Liscomb Lodge but had left the day before us. We all entered the lock within minutes of each other along with a fourth boat called Gorgeous Girl whose homeport is Belfast , Maine. Two boats tied up on the port side of the lock and two of us on the starboard side of the lock. Once the lock was full we all transited through single file and made our way around the corner to the St. Peters Marina. The lock is unique as it lead from the Atlantic ocean which is tidal to the Bras D’or lakes which are also tidal as they have a small passage that is open to the ocean at the other end of the lakes which requires no lock. Because of this the lock needs to have doors that open outwards on both ends. Most locks have doors that face the same way(towards the higher of the two bodies of water). This is supposed to be the oldest lock of this kind in North America.
4 boats in the lock waiting for the water to rise
Lock doors and looking down the channel
Passing thru the bridge at the end of the channel
St. Peters Marina is a great facility with a very comfortable cruisers lounge that includes a full kitchen, laundry, several showers and a TV. We gathered there on Sunday night to watch the final game of the world cup!
There are only a few places on the lake where you have access to groceries, post offices and hardware stores and St. Peters is one of them. So we stayed put on Monday and restocked the pantry and fridge, and did some laundry. Tim changed the engine oil and spent a good portion of the rest of the day troubleshooting what is wrong with our engine driven generator. It had started giving us trouble a couple days after leaving Halifax. After running some diagnostics and checking all the connections Tim concluded the issue seems to be with the alternator itself which means it needs to be shipped back to the manufacturer in Texas. Let’s hope it can be repaired or we will be shelling out for a new one. We will know in a couple weeks.
Tuesday, July 15, we thought we might head out to another anchorage after hauling the generator up to the post office but Tim ran into some frustrating technical difficulties updating our Garmin GPS to the most recent version. A 20 minute update ended up taking a couple hours. By then we decided to stay put and Tim spent the remainder of the afternoon hardwiring in a new inverter that we could use to recharge some of our electronics that require a 110 volt outlet.
Tomorrow we start our exploration of the Bras D’Or Lakes!
Happy 50th Birthday to my big brother Kevin! Love ya!
There are only a few places on the lake where you have access to groceries, post offices and hardware stores and St. Peters is one of them. So we stayed put on Monday and restocked the pantry and fridge, and did some laundry. Tim changed the engine oil and spent a good portion of the rest of the day troubleshooting what is wrong with our engine driven generator. It had started giving us trouble a couple days after leaving Halifax. After running some diagnostics and checking all the connections Tim concluded the issue seems to be with the alternator itself which means it needs to be shipped back to the manufacturer in Texas. Let’s hope it can be repaired or we will be shelling out for a new one. We will know in a couple weeks.
Tuesday, July 15, we thought we might head out to another anchorage after hauling the generator up to the post office but Tim ran into some frustrating technical difficulties updating our Garmin GPS to the most recent version. A 20 minute update ended up taking a couple hours. By then we decided to stay put and Tim spent the remainder of the afternoon hardwiring in a new inverter that we could use to recharge some of our electronics that require a 110 volt outlet.
Tomorrow we start our exploration of the Bras D’Or Lakes!
Happy 50th Birthday to my big brother Kevin! Love ya!
I love sleeping in mommy and daddy's bed!
