Bras D'Or was wonderful, we even got to sail a little bit. Folks at Canso YC were wonderful, a fount of knowledge and generous with rides to the grocery store. We left Port Hawksbury late the morning of the 8th after stocking up on fresh bread and bagels at the great little bakery in the train station next to the marina.

Lennox Passage, north of Ile Madame, was quiet and beautiful. The lift bridge, which sometimes sticks and won't open on hot days, worked fine and soon we were into St. Peter's Bay.

The canal and lock were constructed in the 1840's on the site of a haul over road where small ships were dragged across the isthmus by oxen. The site was a fishing centre, fur-trade post and military garrison from the early 1600's. We locked through about 5:30, stopped for a pump out (which actually worked!) and went to the Liquor Store and Grocery to stock up.

Then we headed to an anchorage in a gorgeous spot behind a sand spit called George Harbour. A few cottages around, but absolutely peaceful.... Good BBQ for dinner, good wine and bed.

July 9th, very hot and sunny... and windless. We motored through picturesque islands, almost completely uninhabited, to the community of Orangedale. This town has two attractions, an authentic general store and an amazing railway museum. The museum is closed this year, supposedly for renovations, but we heard that the man who has been the heart and soul of the place suffers from rapid-onset Alzheimer's, sad. The general store sells everything from ice cream to appliances to Cheerios. We got ice for the cooler and ice cream for the crew and then decided to head to a nicer anchorage.

We dropped anchor at Estmere in Portage Bay. There was one house and the remains of a wharf. Much of the land was cleared by the wave of Scots immigration in the early 19th century, but it was poor farming and most of the area around the south Bras D'Or has been reclaimed by second-growth spruce and poplar. We watched the resident Bald Eagle, swam, had an extended cocktail hour....

Next day we slept in and then made the 2-hour run to Iona. The wind was on the beam and we hoisted all sail making 7+ knots all the way to Barra Strait where the wind abruptly died. We motored through the lift bridge at the strait and swung to port to drop anchor in Iona off the beach. Spent the afternoon relaxing, I went to the marina on the other side of the strait in the dinghy in search of ice (they were out), had a good BBQ of steak and salmon and another good night's sleep at anchor.

The morning of July 11th dawned foggy. The marine forecast called for gusts over 30 knots, so we decided to move Dragonfly to the pier for the day where there would be more protection from the wind. Once secure we started the long mile and a half walk uphill to the Iona Highland Village.

Cara was registered in a day-long program where she got to dress up and work alongside the other costumed interpreters in doing the chores and living the life of a Scots immigrant 150-200 years ago. She carded and spun wool, wove a small cozy on a loom, baked scones for lunch (which included churning the butter and collecting an egg from the hen house) she went to a traditional ceilidh and had a great time.

Heather and I spent the morning seeing the village, which begins with a traditional dry-stone masonry, sod-roofed Hebridean Black House like the crofters left in the clearances that happened after the failure of the 1745 rising. The road progresses to a log house, then a centre-fireplace frame house to more elaborate and prosperous dwellings. Also included are barns an outbuildings with Soay sheep and highland cattle. There's a schoolhouse, general store, smithy, carding mill and a Presbyterian/United church from Malagawatch that was floated across the lake to the site in 2004. It's an impressive museum made all the more fun by the thick fog swirling around giving everything a soft, mysterious air.

We went for a long, leisurely lunch at the hotel next door and discovered that they had a convenience store with ice and an agency liquor store. Not only that, the manager of the inn promised us a ride down to the pier once we were done! So we went back to the village to see if we could find Cara and get some pictures, and we found her at the ceilidh, did we stayed for stories, songs and fiddle tunes...

We collected Cara, got some snacks, a six-pack of Propeller Bitter and the much needed ice a got a ride down to the boat. A relaxing drink in the cockpit, a good pasta dinner and we were ready to settle in. As we were relaxing another sailboat came in, a 50' ferro-cement Colin Archer type double-ended cutter. With her long keel and 9 tons she was difficult to maneuver, but we managed to get her secured. The couple sailing her bought her off Kijiji and have literally brought her back from the dead. He was born and raised on Bras D'Or and was a fount of local knowledge.

About 2:45 I was awakened by shouting, some of the local 20-somethings had come down to the pier for a swim after finishing up at some local watering hole, trouble was, there are only two ladders from the water to the pier head ten feet up. There was a boat tied at each ladder. No matter, a couple of them jumped in and swam around at which point the voices got very close, I slid back the hatch to find them climbing aboard the dinghy at which point, in my scariest biker growl I told them quite firmly to get the $@€# out of my dinghy. The surprise of my sudden appearance led to their immediate departure, they swam to the other ladder, somehow squeezing between the 19,000 pound cutter and the wall and scampered away. In the meantime their buddy on the pier apologized for the disturbance with the proviso that "we didn't think there was anyone aboard!"

Next morning we headed out about 10:30 for the 2-hour motor (again, no wind) to Baddeck. The thing about cruising Bras D'Or is that everything is fairly close together, you only cruise 2-3 hours to your next destination.

Baddeck is the centre of boating on the lakes. We went first to Baddeck Marine for pump out (working!) dinghy gas and ice, we also arranged to take a mooring at the yacht club, Baddeck Marine manages all the Harbour moorings, we got the mooring right in front of the clubhouse a short dinghy hop from the floating docks. After lunch we went into Baddeck, hit the hardware and grocery stores, had coffee with an on-line clergy colleague of Heather's and generally played tourist. In the evening we went to Baddeck Lobster Supper for a feast of chowder, mussels and lobster then back to the club for some Big Spruce red, the local micro-brew.

Next morning after breakfast we hit the Alexander Graham Bell museum. Bell lived in Baddeck for much of the later part if his life, his estate is still in family hands on the headland opposite the town. He eperimented with flight, building huge tetrahedral kites that would carry a man aloft, he was instrumental in the first flight of an airplane in Canada. The Silver Dart took off from the ice off Bell's estate. He also built some of the first practical hydrofoils, the HD-4, a prototype sub-chaser built for the navies in WW1, achieved a record 70 knots in 1919. The museum includes replicas of the Silver Dart and the HD-4 as well as many of Bell's other inventions. It also gives touching insights into his family life and the social life he was the centre of.

After grabbing fresh salmon and scallops for the BBQ and Lobster Rolls for lunch from The Kissing Cod Seafood Market on the town dock, we headed for St. Peter's. Once again the lake was like glass, we motored out past the Bell estate and shaped course for St. Peter's. we arrived about 6:30, through our clothes in the laundry (the marina had SIX reasonably priced machines and the dryers actually dry clothes in one cycle!) and settled in for drinks and dinner of BBQed scallops and salmon.

Next day we fill the fuel and water tanks, pumped out and headed for the lock. We crossed Chedabucto Bay directly from St.Peter's to Canso, again dead flat calm....

I really enjoyed the Bras D'Or, I will come back sometime . I'd like to spend at least a week cruising the lakes as well as circumnavigating the coast. We didn't go to Cheticamp or Louisburg due to time constraints, there is only so much time available on this cruise......