As many of you know, but some do not, when we arrived back home from our NFLD voyage Dave was diagnosed with Mesothelioma, an asbestos-caused very aggressive cancer. An 18 our operation in January removed 97% of that malignant horror show in his abdomen, requiring a slit from stem to stern, removing and scooping all organs and putting him back together minus a few parts. This was followed by a chemo flush, a few more weeks in hospital and then home to recover. No sooner was he up and on his feet than he decides to cut a tree a windstorm had taken down, resulting in him slicing his ankle in the one spot not covered by chaps. He also needed cataract surgery in both eyes. It was a brutal year for him.

None the less, we drove out to visit Mysti-Cal leaving Kato at home for the couple of weeks last summer 2016. It was not possible to launch that year but we did stay aboard a couple of days on the hard, just to check up on everything. "Next year" we vowed, as a way to keep our spirits up! Mesothelioma has a very slim survival rate, but we planned on being one of those numbers and so far so good!
Upon our return again we found the cancer had come back, aggressively.
A year of chemo, as well as working with our colleague Wendy, herbalist and energy worker, and Talal, a mushroom specialist who has Dave on a strict regime of herbs and supplements that now take up a whole drawer of space on this voyage!

So this year we launched from North Sydney after driving here with Kato. He seemed so excited to get in the car, he knew where we were going, we were sure of that.

Upon arriving we set the ladder up to climb up the boat and Dave rigged a line so the ladder could stay swung out from the boat when not in immediate usage. We have a ladder-climbing cat who has recently figured out how to get out of any harness we try. Three seconds our Houdini has it down to. Whenever one of us forgot to push the ladder back out, he was gone. The first time I found him cowering in some bushes with a nearby dog barking away at him. The next time he came back on his own while we were out hunting for him, Dave hollering from up on the road that he was halfway up the ladder!
It was then I discovered my computer would suddenly not come on. At all. Dave took it in to a camera and computer place in North Sydney where a really nice group of people gave me a new hard drive. Photos were all saved but all documents are missing, except my daughter's University essays I had edited for her. My novel, poetry, musings and essays are no longer here but they may be somewhere in the cloud as the pictures all were!
While in Sydney we noticed an Old Triangle pub and decided we needed to stop in for a brew as Dave had played in the one in Halifax and in Moncton and one of the owners Kevin Evans had produced Dave's first CD with his duo with John Hughes.

On the way back from North Sydney, driving by the marina Dave noticed a boat out anchored... Could that be 'Beamy"? Sure enough, with binoculars we could see Bernie aboard, but had no way of contacting him but calling out and waving. He waved back.
When we were in Lewisport NFLD hauling out two years ago we were looking out the club windows and Dave said 'I recognize that boat coming in! It's Beamy from our port of Waupoos!"
Next spring we hang out as we got our boats back in the water and when I went to return our rental car to the airport, when trying to find the bus to take back, who was there but Bernie and Barb from Beamy who gave me a ride back to Lewisport!

Along our journey that summer we heard tell of them in Come by Chance Fogo Island.. "That poor english woman who fell and broke her rib! Now her husband will be sailing solo and she will follow along in the car.' Injuries can end a sailing trip faster than anything can!
Then in Cape St. Mary's... 'Well an Englishman with a little Ontario sailboat came in and didn't he ground! Called the coast guard to complain and then we had to go out and put that there green bout back out. So now youse'll be safe sailing in and out a here."

When we anchored and took a dingy in to Burgeo to check out the town of Farley Mowat's fame there was Beamy digging a hole in the asphalt to lay in his keel, already up on the hard for winter.
Back in North Sydney, when Dave emailed him later he responded saying he did not recognize who were were on shore but would be in the lakes all summer so we would be sure to meet up again.

It took a little longer than planned to get in the water, as it does, but there is no way we would have got in sooner than we did without my cousin and his wife showing up. Jim and Tammy were traveling through from near Calgary in their motor home, scattering my uncle ashes. Some of our family came from Scotland to Cape Breton originally, so this was one of the spots on his ancestral trip.
I went to pick them up from their campsite near Baddeck as we waited for the crew to arrive to put us in the water. They said around noon and we were back in plenty of time, to wait.
Finally around 3:00 a man showed up staring up at the boat.
'Hi, are you here to put us in the water? We have been waiting for the crew to arrive since noon!'

"What crew? I am it!' he said, 'But I would rather wait until tomorrow to do it'.
'We have been waiting all afternoon' I told him.
"Well I had a chance to sail out in Baddeck, but it was raining when I got there' he told us.
'But you told us you would be here at noon to put us in the water... '
'Well OK, if you have crew here we might as well get it done.'
We were an annoyance to him and I didn't want an annoyed man hauling our boat around so I tucked mine away in favour of appeasement.
'That would be great, it means a lot to us' I told him. 'Really appreciate it.

So with Tammy and Dave aboard, and Jim and I on the ground, we got the belts under her, with strips of linoleum to save the hull paint positioned between the straps and the boat, kicked the stands out and she was on her way over to the salt water. It was tricky and the expected crowd had gathered to watch the maneuvers, offering stories of disasters and comments on how it should be done, but we got her lowered into the water.
The operator was untying us and yelling for Dave to throttle up and get going, but Dave had other ideas and yelled back to keep her tied in! Good thing as the throttle was not working and we had no forward!

We stayed in the launch slip for the night as the operator had somewhere else to be. Tammy and Jim had a night aboard, in the launch slip and it was great to catch up over wine and a curry. The throttle problem turned out to be a stop lever on the newly re-built fuel pump which needed an adjustment, an easy fix.

The next day they helped us get over to our slip, get the sails on and clean and organize ready to go as only hard working Albertans can do! That night we had grilled Alberta steaks they had brought to share with us. We don't eat a lot of red meat but those steaks were the best either of us have ever tasted! It was a fun evening and it was sad to have to take them back to their campsite the next morning without even getting a sail in with them! But we did get a great visit!

Our friends we met last year in North Sydney, Richard and Diane from Maya showed up at the boat! Richard is from Madoc, near where we live, and Diane from England and then St. Anthony's NFLD. They had bought a Tayana sailboat in Panama and had spent the winter down there fixing it up and making it seaworthy. He had gotten really sick with sepsis while down there and so did not get everything done. They were there when my daughter's best friend was tragically murdered, and gave us some brutal insights into how the justice system works there. Richard was still recovering so they were going to take it easy on the lakes here this summer, like we are doing.

One more overnight tied to the docks and I took Jim and Tammy back to their campsite in time for check out and they were on their way to the Tall Ships in Halifax.
I spent the day doing ship shaping, grocery shopping and general get readiness while Dave rested and the next morning we timed our tides and set out to the deep blue to come around to the inlet to the sacred lake of the Mi'Kmaq nations, now known as Bras d'Or, Arms of Gold.

It was so nice to be out on the water again, but Dave was not up to sailing so we motored in through the entrance and made our way to Baddeck, the home of Alexander Bell! Kato was right out with us sniffing the breeze and tucking up into his favourite cozy spot atop the life raft tucked under the back bench.

The whole basin between Kidson Island and the town of Baddeck is a no anchor zone with plenty of moorings, and about a half dozen anchored boats which we also did as Baddeck Marine told us there were no moorings left as it was regatta week! So there we were anchored out beside a giant no anchor sign. LOL
We had an overnight and then met up with Richard and Diane on Maya in Maskells harbour, touted the prettiest harbour on the lakes. We rafted up and shared dinner with Kato happily moving back and forth between boats, making himself right at home on theirs!

We took the kayaks out for the first time and doodled around the cove, exploring the mini caves and the wetlands and came back for a pot luck dinner aboard our boat with a third boat, friends of Richard and Diane's who had just sailed in. They were also from England and had worked together in St. Anthony's for many years, he being the head doctor there. Dinner aboard with new friends in beautiful settings, this is the life.
We went back to Baddeck and Richard and Diane taxied us around to the grocery store and liquor store in anticipation of Dave's son Brennan and his partner Marina arriving to spend time aboard.

They arrived very late at night and Dave ran over with the dingy to pick them up and settle them in to their cabin. Next morning we set out for Maskalls harbour where we swam and kayaked and hung out for the sunny afternoon. Out on the water we all found we had no cell service and discovered that all of NFLD and parts of NS were out of service. Not having any way of finding out what was going on we speculated about North Korea, cyber hostage attacks, and all the craziness that goes on in the people world. It turned out to be a cut cable and by late afternoon we were back connected in to the world. I kind of liked not having connection, especially with the mass insanity on full display in so many countries right now. Anchoring out in this pretty harbour, surrounded by trees and birds, rocking on the gentle waves, away from mainland nonsense was more where I wanted to be.

Next morning we decided to sail to St. Petes and catch four of the Tall Ships which the internet had told us were there for the weekend. I secured the goods aboard and Dave tightened up the dingy and we headed out onto the rather choppy waters! I was


As we headed towards Berra Straight bridge we trained Marina to do the call honours on the radio requesting the bridge be opened.

This bridge is also called Iona bridge as the town there is Iona. We call it Richard's bridge as when he was telling us his plans and said Iona bridge I joked back ,What? You own a bridge? When did you buy a bridge?' So we call it Richard's bridge.

We had the wind to our bow so we motored into St. Peters but saw no sign of tall ships! We called the marina and got a mooring ball, and a ride from the Marina to the ships who were on the ocean side of St. Pete's. ! A whole fleet of volunteers were at our service as we were taxied over to the ships. We spent the afternoon snooping aboard the four ships that were there, the 'Mist of Avalon' appealing to me and the 'When and If' built by George Patton to sail when and if he survived the war. Unfortunately a car accident in France ended those plans and his boat is now on tour with he Tall Ships festival.

While there we checked out the lock system which we planned to go through to visit our friends on Isle Madam. I chatted with the lock master about how it all worked and got the low down. Usually one employee operates the lock and the bridge, so he has to run up to the bridge, let us through where we are to go right into the first part of the lock and tie off. Then he or she runs back to the lock and either fills or empties the water down the couple of feet depending on tides. Then they open the lock and out we go on the other side of Bras d'Or lakes.

Back to the boat for showers at the marina and dinner aboard. Next day we came out onto the lake to find rough waves but wind on our aft quarter, plus a crew meant we could sail back! Winds were perfect for us and we hit 7.4 knots on a few occasions! It was glorious sailing!

We got back to Baddeck and Brennan and Marina took day trips exploring the highlights of the area, arriving back late at night. Hang ashore is a Newfie term for the kind of folks who sleep in later than the fishing boats go out. Adjusting to Maritime hours was taking it's toll so we had some hang ashores aboard!

When they took off for Mahone bay we took off for Maskalls harbour for a couple of down days for Dave. We had a toilet to install, which meant painting the floor there, a new wind generator controller and a new inverter to install as our old ones were fried in NFLD. We now have power in the outlets when off shore! Civilized and no more cords to trip over! A subwoofer is also in the process of being installed in the cockpit, but he was pacing his workload with lots of naps and reading.

I decided this was a good place to practice using the dingy as I had not driven one since I was 12 years old! Dave took me out for a practice run, and then I took Kato out for a tour of the harbour.
It was a lovely peaceful harbour surrounded by forest with a lovely lighthouse at the entrance.
Peaceful until first three seadoos buzzed in making waves all around the harbour. Then two power boats came in blasting their version of music and shouting at each other over the very loud music,

The other six of us here anchored looking for peace and quiet did not exist in their world as they pulled up on the beach with the sign that said no trespassing and loudly filled the bay with their personal noise.

I had a wonderful swim and snorkel and dove down to check on the whirly thing that measures speed in the water which had stopped working, along with our anchor light and temperature gage for the engine. Gremlins aboard. It was not stuck as we had thought, so plan b.

Next day was Dave's birthday so we made blueberry pancakes for breakfast and had a leisurely morning. We got ready to sail back to Baddeck where Marina and Brennan were going to meet us for a Birthday dinner in town.

The one hour trip back beat the rain by about 10 minutes, and no sooner were we anchored in the no anchor zone then it started to pour. A rainy day aboard for installing the aft head, well, at least getting the floor painted to do so!

Soon it was time to take the dingy over to the little century hotel Brennan had chosen for dinner. It was an uphill walk but the rain had minimized by now. I still wore my NFLD Sou'Wester!
Dinner was amazing, locally sourced gluten free, and home made ice cream! Do try the Winter in Baddeck dessert!