We dropped the mooring lines in Nantucket (finally!) on July 1st, and had a beautiful sail across Nantucket Sound, through Woods Hole and up Buzzards Bay. We made such good time by catching the current that we kept on going past Onset, through the Cape Cod Canal at 11 knots and arrived in Provincetown in the late afternoon. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), we had to stay in P-town for a few days until the seas settled down for the passage to Canada. Neither Peter nor Suzanne had ever experienced Nantucket or P-town, so they had a chance to see some new sights...and, of course, P-town offers some very 'interesting' sights! It was fun for Ingo and Jeri also since we had never experienced P-town from the water--only day trips while visiting Hans & Mitzi on the Cape. (I must say that we did miss the stop in West Bay/Cotuit as we had done many times in the past when they lived on the Cape. Wonderful memories were made there!)

Sadly, we dropped Peter and Suzanne off at the dock in P-town on July 3rd
due to work complications and travel expenses from Halifax. They took the ferry to Boston and flew home. However, we were happy to have their wonderful company for as long as we did, but sad they couldn't enjoy some of our favorite spots in Nova Scotia.

Ingo and I are now enjoying a beautiful sunny day after a bit of a bumpy passage from Provincetown, MA. Once again, dead downwind sailing with the preventer on tight to prevent accidental gybes. Although we started out on a sunny day from P-town, the evening brought dense fog and steady 18-22 knot winds. UGH!

However, we're now hanging on a mooring outside of the Shelburne Yacht Club and are loving being back here after 10 years. The town and waterfront look the same--time seems to pass slowly here. Yesterday, we enjoyed lunch at the Seadog Saloon, still making their famous fish and chips--the best we've ever experienced. Then, that evening we had dinner at Charlotte Lane Restaurant--again, another favorite and one of the reasons for coming to Shelburne. Kath and husband/chef Roland have been successfully operating the restaurant for 19 years, so successfully that people from all over the province to have dinner there. And, based on our meals, they are continuing to provide the same or even better quality and service. We did miss having Sarah with us though. Having a 12 year-old along and homeschooling on the previous trip gave us slightly different perspective. This time I think we'll focus more on experiencing Nova Scotia wines and exploring a few vineyards! For instance, anyone heard of the L'Acadie Blanc grape, a hybrid developed in Ontario in the 1950's and well adapted to the NS climate? A grape escape, anyone?!

As we walked around town, we kept seeing posters for a concert on Sat. night (tonight) at the Osprey Performing Arts Center, which shares the same building with the yacht club. The pair performing, called Naming the Twins, are launching a new CD with the concert. It sounded like quite 'the' event, and several people stopped us on the street and said we should go. Posters are all over town, including at Charlotte Lane. Well, as we were paying our bill, I noticed a strong similarity between Kath, the owner, and Kath, the performer! Yes, not only is she the owner of a successful restaurant, but also a singer with several CDs. We immediately bought tickets and are looking forward to the concert this evening.

Tomorrow we hope to move on, probably with a stop for the night at Port Mouton and then on to Lunenberg the next day. 'Til next time...