August 1

We want to have some time to putter around the coast of Maine especially Penobscot Bay so we are turning back towards home.  In the past we have always enjoyed our two week cruising vacations but they seemed so brief.  It will be nice to cruise the Maine coast without a timeline and be able to visit places in Penobscot Bay that we haven’t had the opportunity to go to yet as well as visit some of our favorite spots.

The eastern shore of Nova Scotia has fewer anchorages than the southern shore and most of them are a few miles inland.  We decided to do our best to find anchorages that stayed more on the outer edges of the coastline – doing so would be shorter and faster than deviating to anchorages in land. Our return route took us back to many of the same anchorages we had visited when heading east but we did find a couple of new ones along the way.

Unfortunately, there was not any sailing to be done.  The prevailing winds were right on our nose the entire way.  We did get some motor sailing in but most of the time we didn’t even bother to raise the sails.

August 1 – 2.

We left Baddeck on August 1 and returned to St. Peters Marina where we spent the night.    Daryl and Janet Lyon and their pup Sailor were there on their boat Blue Chip.  We had originally met them at the Shelburne Yacht Club towards the start of our trip up the coast and spent a little time with Daryl when he had moored next to us in Lunenburg.  It was nice to see them again!  We also met Craig & Karene White who sail a very nice Oyster 56. They are full time cruisers and it was nice to exchange stories of the places we have cruised in Nova Scotia and the British Virgin Islands and hear about the many other places they have visited since they started cruising about 3 years ago. 

The next day we exited the Bras D’Or Lakes through the St. Peters Locke and returned to Yankee Cove for the night.   Yankee Cove was just as pleasant the second time!

August 3 – Tuffin Island  -

At the end of this leg we would be in an area that didn’t offer much in the way of anchorages on the coastline.  Tim studied the charts and decided we would check out a little cove nestled between Tuffin and Little Tuffin Island.  The cove is not designated as an anchorage on any of our charts or in any of the cruising guides. If the cove was unsuitable for anchoring then we would continue to a cove located off Hartlings Island where we had previously anchored. 

Luckily the little cove at Tuffin Island was perfect.  It offered good protection from the southern swell and the wind and was also very pretty.  There is a nice little rock beach that was a great spot to land the dinghy so we could take Shamus to shore.   We were surrounded by sounds made by seals and various types of sea birds from the time we anchored until we left. The noises made by the seals were beautiful but kind of eerie since we couldn’t actually see them.  Tim and I agreed if we had the means to record the seals we could make a fortune selling the recording for Halloween parties and haunted houses.  

Although I am sure at some point in history someone must have anchored in this location they had not bothered to make any notation of it on any charts so we took the liberty to christen the cove “Ghost Cove” when we noted our stay there on Active Captain.

August 4 – Wolfes Island

Monday night we anchored in a cove on the southeastern end of Wolfes Island - another new location to us but this one was a designated anchorage on our charts.  I think it may be the most beautiful spot we have been to so far – very Maine-like except for its sandy beach.  We explored the inner and shallower parts of the cove with the dinghy and walked along the shoreline.   The sand beach is small but very picturesque. It moved right up to the number one spot on our list of favorite beaches.  The rest of the Wolfes Island shoreline was rocky.  One area of the shoreline has a massive boulder that is flat and that has an incredibly smooth and polished surface.  If I were a person who liked to sit on beach for hours on end I would take my beach chair right past the beautiful sand beach and set it up on this amazing rock.   Tim and I, especially me, are not sand lovers.   I absolutely hate getting sand all over me and in everything I have with me.  This rock was a perfect place to kick back for an afternoon. It was warm and went right into the water.  However, you would definitely need a beach chair if you planned to sit there for long.   It is after all still a hard rock!

August 5 – Returned to Rogues Roost. 

Although a popular spot for boaters from Halifax we had it to ourselves when we first arrived but a few other boats showed up for the evening.   We saw a massive bald eagle sitting up one of the erratics.  This bird was gigantic and we were looking at it from a distance! At first glance we actually thought we were looking at a person who had hiked up there to check out the view.   Huge!!

August 6 - 7.  We returned to Lunenburg.  It is still our favorite town in Nova Scotia.  

August 8 – Returned to Carters Beach.  There were a few thunderstorms around us just as we were arriving but thankfully nothing directly overhead.  Shamus was thrilled to be back on this particular beach.  He had enjoyed digging in the sand when we stopped here heading east and decided he need to dig some more!

August 9 – McNutts Island. 

McNutts Island is located just downriver from Shelburne Yacht Club.   The anchorage itself is not particularly pretty but it does offers good protection for the night and we understand there are some nice trails on the island but we didn’t take the opportunity to find them.   

August 10 – Rounding Cape Sable Island – Part 2

Wow! Rounding Cape Sable Island coming west was anticlimactic compared to our eastbound rounding .  We read comments from one person who indicated that he has never had a smooth passage around Cape Sable Island.  We have experienced both ends of the spectrum.  There was hardly a ripple on the ocean on our return rounding compared with the big breaking swells we had before.

We anchored for the night in Swim Harbour (next to Clark’s Harbour).   This anchorage is not very scenic but it is well protected and a convenient stop between Cape Sable Island and Yarmouth.   There is an island where we could take Shamus to shore.  It doesn’t have a great place to land the dinghy.  The water shallows up quickly as you approach the island and then we had to climb out and then pull the dinghy up on some slippery, seaweed covered rocks.   The island did look pretty from the boat when we got to shore we discovered it was littered with all kinds of trash that had washed up over the years.

August 11 – 12 Back In Yarmouth

We left Swim Harbour for Yarmouth on Monday morning on a rising tide.  The tidal current added an extra 2 to 3 knots to our speed over ground.  We didn’t break 10 knots but we got close at 9.88 knots.  We arrived in Yarmouth right around noon and decided we had enough time left in the day to rent a car and run up to Halifax to get the truck.  It was a very long day – roughly 34 nautical miles by boat and then 360 miles (6 hours) round trip to Halifax.

On Tuesday, Tim took the truck back to Portland Maine on the Nova Star ferry while I stayed in Yarmouth and did laundry, cleaned the boat and re-provisioned.  

August 13 – Westport / Briar Island

Tim arrived via the ferry back in Yarmouth about 9 a.m. and we set off for Westport / Briar Island shortly thereafter.   Once again we left on a rising tide that gave us an extra 3 – 4 knots the entire way.  This time we cleared 11 knots once or twice.  Zoom!!  We spent the night behind a breakwater rafted up with a local fishing boat.   The island is very tidy and it was a nice place to walk around.   We learned about the Ground Hog Day Gale that hit this area pretty damn hard back in 1976!  The storm washed several of the historical buildings right out to sea.  It was a doozy!

A nice little fun fact - Briar Island is also the childhood home of Joshua Slocum – the first man to circumnavigate the globe in a sailboat!

August 14 – 15 Whale!!!

We left Briar Island for Grand Manan Island early in the morning.   There weren’t high winds or big seas forecasted but both built during the day and we had quite a ride over to Seal Cove, Grand Manan Island.  The winds were gusting up to 30 knots and the waves built to be approximately 12 feet – some smaller and some a little bigger.

We finally saw a whale!!!  In all those big waves Tim spotted a huge whale breaching.   We think it was a humpback!  Magnificent!  We watched it for several minutes.   He was exciting to see but we were glad he was breaching where he was and not much closer to the boat!

We hadn’t really explored much of Grand Manan when we came through in May so we decided to spend the day there Friday and do some sightseeing.  We were able to get a ride from Seal Cove up to North Head.   From there we walked over to Swallow Tail Light which had beautiful views into the Bay of Fundy and looking back at fishing weirs and the town of North Head.

The west side of the island is uninhabited but we understand there are beautiful hiking trails there.   We’ll have to check them out if and when we travel to Grand Manan again.

Later in the afternoon we met up with Richard and Sharon Green at their home.   If you recall from one of our prior blog posts we had met them when we came through Seal Cove on our way to Nova Scotia.   It was great to spend time with them again.  Tim and I loved their home!  They have a beautiful view of Seal Cove from their living room and decks and it was beautifully decorated.   Thanks again Richard and Sharon for a lovely evening!    

We had planned on leaving Grand Manan and checking into US Customs in Jonesport, Maine  and then anchoring at Mistake Island for a night.  Jonesport is listed as a check-in location on the U.S. Customs and Border Control web site.   Thankfully Tim called customs to verify the check-in procedures because it turns out Jonesport is only a check-in site for commercial vessels – a little fact not mentioned on the website.   The next most convenient site heading in our direction is Northeast Harbor on Mt. Desert Island. We were headed there anyway.

August 16 -17 Back in the USA!!! – Northeast Harbor

We’re back in the USA!  It was a long but uneventful day.  It is about 70 nautical miles from Grand Manan to Northeast Harbor.  It took us twelve hours and it got a little bumpy towards the end of the trip.   We had heard varying stories from other cruisers about clearing US Customs.  Some said it was difficult to clear back in to the US but others said it was very easy.   For us it was simple.  Thank goodness.  Tim called about 2 hours before we arrived to advise customs of our arrival late in the afternoon – about 5:30 p.m.   We hoisted our yellow quarantine flag when we arrived and waited on the boat as instructed.   We were hailed on the VHF radio when the customs officer arrived and told to come ashore with our documentation.   He met us on the dinghy dock, checked our documentation asked if we had purchased any goods in Canada.  He specifically asked us about produce – in particular oranges and green apples – these are not allowed to be transported to the U.S. from Canada even though Canada most likely imported from the U.S. in the first place.  After answering his questions – he welcomed us back to the U.S., instructed us to take down our quarantine flag and have a good evening.  The whole process took maybe 10 minutes.

Today, August 17, we cleaned up the boat both inside and out.   It really needed it.  

We really enjoyed our trip through Nova Scotia most especially the people we met but we are glad to be back in familiar waters.  We are also looking forward to getting a few things here that believe it or not we couldn’t get in Canada such as American Cheese, edible pizza, decent breakfast sausage, and affordable beer to name a few!  What we couldn’t get in our neighboring country will have to be its own blog post!

The West Side

On July 24 we retrieved the truck from Halifax and then set out the next day to explore the rest of Cape Breton Island by car.  The first day, July 25th, we decided to head to Port Hood on the west side of the island and explore some of the Ceildah (pronounced kay-dee) Trail and then head north to explore the Highlands and the Cabot Trail.  I had found a small reference in one of the tourism guides that there is a scenic road between Port Hood and the town of Mabou called Little Mabou Rd.  I am so glad we found this!  The scenery was stunning! The surrounding hills rolled down to red colored cliffs overlooking the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  The Mabou area is farm country and many of the fields on the hillside had just been cut for hay.  The big round and gold hay bales stood out beautifully in contrast to the green hillsides, evergreens, and the sea.  Dairy cows grazed here and there, and to add to all the surrounding colors there seemed to be thousands of bright pink wild Rose of Rogusa in bloom.  We came across the West Mabou Provincial Park on Little Mabou Rd.  What a gem!   We were already enamored with the surrounding scenery and the walk we took through the park only made us more so.   The trail we took ran along the red cliffs and cut through evergreen trees and high grass. The roses were especially prolific along the trail and they smelled incredible as did the evergreen trees.  

After leaving the park we stopped at the popular Red Shoe Café -  a little cafe known for great live music and good food.   Unfortunately, at lunchtime, there is no live music but we can confirm the food is fantastic as are the people who work there! 

Our next stop was a tour of the Glenora Distillery where they distill single malt whiskey.  It was a fun tour that ended with a sampling of their product.  Tim and I both enjoy drinking single malt whiskey.  I liked the small sample I had but Tim didn’t care much for it.

From there we headed north and picked up the Cabot Trail which loops around the Cape Breton  highlands and the Highlands National Park.   We hadn’t made any reservations for the evening which is a little risky this time of year as it is prime tourist season but we located a dog friendly place to stay in the guide book called the Mid Trail Motel in Pleasant Bay that had an available room. The Motel is located right in the park and we had our first of four moose sightings on our way there.   A big cow moose was grazing right alongside the road.   It is so cool to come across wildlife like that!  When we arrived at the Mid Trail Motel we were a little skeptical about the place as they have a rough looking single wide trailer near their entrance that is the Laundromat for guests.  However, we found it to be a great little place to stay.  Our room was spotlessly clean and comfortable and there was plenty of room for Shamus to run around on the motel grounds. 

July 26th – The Skyline Trail - Breaking the Rules

After a nice breakfast at the Mid Trail Motel we purchased our park passes for the day and then  backtracked along the Cabot Trail to hike the Skyline Trail.   The Skyline Trail is the most popular trail in the national park and vistas from the trail are prominently displayed in the islands tour brochures. It is known to get quite crowded but we arrived at the trail head early enough get a good head start on the crowd.   We soon discovered that the Skyline is a “no dogs allowed” trail.  Tim and I usually adhere to these rules but we really wanted to hike this trail and it was way too hot to leave Shamus in the truck.  We deliberated for a few minutes and since it wasn’t crowded at the moment decided to bite the bullet and hike the trail keeping Shamus leashed.   We figured they would ask us to leave if there was an issue.

The trail makes a loop and quite by accident we seemed to hike it in reverse direction than most people so we had the trail mostly to ourselves for the first half of our hike.  As we were hiking Tim and I both heard a noise like branches breaking in the woods on the left side of the trail and when Shamus went on alert so did we.  There was a cow moose contentedly munching away on her breakfast about 75’ off the trail.   I squatted down next to Shamus who was a good boy and didn’t make a peep while Tim cautiously took some pictures of her.   Female moose can be aggressive this time of year especially if they have a calf.    We didn’t see a calf with her and thankfully she pretty much ignored us puny humans and even punier dog!  A thrilling experience!  We quietly moved on and left her to her breakfast. 

We soon came to the boardwalk that was built to protect the plant life on the trail and where those photos in the tour guides were taken.  The views were amazing!  By this time the crowds had arrived and not only didn’t we want to be around a lot of other people we also were very aware Shamus wasn’t supposed to be there so we hiked back to the car to continue our exploration of the Cabot Trail.

We slowly made our way to the east side of the island and Cabot Trail to the Maven Gypsy Bed & Breakfast where we had reservations in one of their cabins for the next 4 nights.  We saw two more moose off in the distance when we pulled over at one of the scenic overlooks.  They were grazing on the mountain side on the other side of the ravine from the overlook.   You could spot them from the car but we needed our binoculars to get a good look at them. 

We also got fairly close to 2 pterodactyl sized bald eagles.  The Cabot trail runs very close to Ingonish Harbor where we saw them.  The first eagle was sitting on some driftwood in the shallows of the Harbor and the second one was flying just above the water hunting for dinner.  He eventually landed as well.  My god they are amazing!  Such huge birds and just beautiful! 

We checked into the our cabin  shortly thereafter and made a beeline for the beach.  It had turned out to be a very hot day and we wanted to cool off!  The beach was mostly rocky but very pretty.  The water was nice and cool and it was refreshing way to end our first day exploring Cape Breton.

In the Hot “Bike” Seat – July 27

It had cooled down nicely overnight and the weather forecast was calling for it to be overcast most of the day.  Tim and I were itching to get on our bikes.  Tim located a trail in the park that allowed bikes and off we went.  We took Shamus with us as we expected it to stay cool and the trail description described it as “wooded”! The trail head was down a long dirt road and just as we arrived at the parking area I think every deer fly in Cape Breton found us!   They were literally flying in swarms next to the trucks windows.  I floored it as much as I dared to but couldn’t out run them.   Needless to say we were a little alarmed.   The last thing we wanted to be was the main entrée for a swarm of hungry deer flies! Thank goodness for Deet!   We liberally doused ourselves and Shamus with bug spray before getting out of the truck and were relieved when most of the flies took off to find something else to munch on! It was nice not to be bug chow!

The trail was more or less a dirt and rock ATV trail that gradually climbed up a short mountain.  The description of “wooded” was a little inaccurate as the area was mostly short scrubby trees and brush that didn’t offer much shade which turned out to be a bit of an issue when the sun came blazing out and started to bake the mountain top and us along with it.  Damn weatherman!  It got hot - fast - the heat was radiating up from the trail and it felt like we were riding our bikes in a furnace. After 4 miles we turned around because we were concerned about Shamus.  It was just too hot for him to be out there with us and quite frankly I wasn’t handling the heat so well either.  Thankfully there was a stream and some puddles for Shamus to wade in and there were a couple stands of tall thick trees that combined with the breeze that provided good places for all three of us to stop and rest and cool down but it didn’t take long to feel the heat once we started riding again.   We slowly coasted back to the truck and then returned to the cabin where we pretty much just lounged around for the remainder of the afternoon.

That night after dinner Tim and I went to a Ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee) we saw advertised on a little sign set up alongside the road.  A Ceilidh is a social gathering, which usually involves playing Gaelic folk music and dancing.  The one we attended was held in St. John’s Parrish Hall in Ingonish.  We sat on hard wooden chairs and listened to three excellent musicians.  There was a woman who was just an incredible fiddle player – it was so effortless for her.  In fact she seemed to be thinking about what she needed to buy at the grocery story rather than having to concentrate on the incredible music she was playing.  The man who accompanied her on the piano was also amazing to see and hear.  It was some of the best music I have ever seen performed live!

July 28 – 29, 2014

On July 28th we explored Northern Cape Breton Island which is called The Top of Island.  Once again the only words I can come up with to describe the area are stunning, beautiful ….  The mountains are steep and they rise straight up out of the ocean. 

On the 29th Tim and I went for another bike ride.  This trail ran beside a river and through a beautiful forest.   Shamus would have loved it but we left him at the cabin this time.   The trail wasn’t difficult but was very pretty.  Tim commented that it would be a great area to build a nice system of single track trails for mountain bikers.   The only hiccup we had on this ride in somehow I managed to get a double pinch flat crossing a rocky stream bed – that means I got two flat tires.  We only had one spare tube with us but no worries – my handy dandy husband – patched the other tube and I was able to ride out!

We retrieved Shamus from the cabin and went in search of two swimming holes that Kevin, the manager of the B&B, told us about.  The first one was in a little creek just down the road from the B&B.  While it was very pretty and there were a couple spots deep enough to take a dip you really couldn’t swim there.  So we took off to find the second one Kevin had described to us which turned out to be a nice little section of river just off the Cabot Trail.  The water was cool and deep.  The three of us swam upriver a short distance and rode the mild current back down to where we started.  Very relaxing!

July 30 – 31st Back to Baddeck

On Wednesday morning we headed back to Baddeck.  Other than running a couple small errands we spent the day relaxing on the boat.  It was nice to be home again!   

On Thursday, Tim took the truck back to the Armdale Yacht Club in Halifax while I cleaned and re-provisioned as we planned to start heading back to Maine on Friday morning.   We want to spend some time this summer in our still favorite cruising grounds in Penobscot Bay!