Day 148 - Sat 22 Aug 2015
Anchored – Shelter Cove (Tangier), NS

I got too warm in the berth last night and slept under the ceiling fan in the main salon. When I awoke at 0530, Clyde was eager for another shore excursion so I stretched my legs with him for quite a while, and when we returned, Diane was just getting up. My weather check indicated that we might be better off leaving early, so we cast off at 0630.

There was almost no fog as we headed down the river in the last of the ebbing tide, but the visibility dropped a bit as we got to the ocean. Still, it never got below about 1 mile and improved to almost 3 miles later. The first clue we were back at the ocean was an ever-growing swell on the nose that set the boat pitching up and down. We had to go SE for several miles to clear rocks and shoals before we could turn SW onto our course. Taking the waves almost directly on the bow was not really fun as they were a lot bigger than the forecast predicted.

Once we turned almost 90 degrees to the swell, I feared it would be an even worse ride, but fortunately the waves were not that close together and it was tolerable, not like the short chop that gets very uncomfortable in this boat when taken on the beam (side). Diane was not happy with the conditions, but I explained this is just the way the ocean is unless you have practically a dead calm. In fact, there can be no wind all around you, but if there was a storm out at sea in the past day or so, that swell travels hundreds (even thousands) of miles.

I had the RADAR on the whole time and never once spotted another boat. It wasn’t like we were out in weather that would keep sane people ashore or anything; this is just what boating in Nova Scotia is like. I guess there are just precious few boats out here. Conditions never got comfortable, but things did get better after a little while and 5.5 hours later we were tucking into a beautiful anchorage called Shelter Cove.

The hot lunch I made (sausage, peppers, onions, and mushrooms) with a nice bread roll tasted might good after the somewhat grueling time underway. What felt even better was a nice, hot shower on the stern. It is amazing how 2 people can get a great shower using less than one gallon of water. While drying off, we spotted several bald eagles flying over the one shore, but no seals.

Trying to stabilize your body with the constant motion of the boat does get tiring, so after lunch we both had a short nap in the calm and beauty of the anchorage. We spent the afternoon reading and then had the penne pasta with white clam sauce I mad the other day. It was great to have a meal all ready to go. Between lunch and supper, 2 other powerboats anchored near us, but at a respectful distance.

We had rain on and off for many hours and didn’t complain as it washed the salt spray off the boat. Closing the forward window and aft door each time got old, however, and it did get a bit stuffy when the boat was closed up. By 1900, however, the air had chilled to where closing up the boat was not a problem.

It was another early to bed night with the fog closing in. I slept in the berth half the night until it got too stuffy with no ventilation, then moved to the main salon. We had thunder and lightning in the area for a few hours and that kept me restless. It was after 0400 when I could get back to sleep and then we got up at 0600.

Sun we hope to be in Halifax for several days.