12 September, 2010

As I expected our tie up wasn't in the quietest location. We were rocked and rolled every time a big ship or the harbor tug or a speeding power boat went up or down the river. But after a few hours we got used to it and slept fairly well.

After a leisurely start to the day, we went roaming around Halifax. We shared the expense of a rental car with John and Joan so we could easily get beyond the water front. The first thing was to find The Binnacle, a very well-stocked and well-known marine store. With only a basic water-front tourist map it took John a while but with his handy portable GPS we finally found it and since it was Sunday it was closed.

We drove by the Armdale Yacht Club and the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Club and they were both loaded with boats and cars. It was probably due to the races that were going on that week-end. I have to wonder whether we could have even got into either one had we tried.

After more roaming it was grab some dinner along the way and then back to the boats for a quiet evening at "home".

13 September, 2010

We had decided that Monday was to be a day of getting things done. With the laundry being the first thing. Bill and I gathered all the stuff together and walked around the floating dock to Changing Lanes.

As we turned the first corner, we noticed a boat had come in either during the night or very early in the morning. As we got closer, she looked awfully familiar. It was Ken on Fair Wind. He had been across the river in another marina. It was great to see him again and he joined the Lanes and us in our local travels.

It was the laundromat for Joan and me while the three guys went off to The Binnacle. Then it was back to the boat where Ken spent some time looking at John's outboard and Bill installed some gear to help the jib furling line rum smoother. John, Joan and I left them to their chores and we were off to Costco for fleece sheets for Eos (absolutely love them!!) and some groceries, Sobey's for the remaining groceries, the post office to mail charts back to Louis and Camille in Rimouski, and a service station for a couple of jerry cans of diesel for Changing Lanes. That took us into the middle of the afternoon and by the time we got back to the boats and put things away the afternoon was gone. But we all felt really good about getting so much done for ourselves and our boats.

We found a local restaurant, The Old Triangle, which had wonderful pub food. Among the five of us we had steak and kidney pie, Irish stew, fish and chips, and a chicken pastie. How much more English pub could we have been? I had the pastie and it was wonderful. Everyone else thoroughly enjoyed their choice of entrée and, of course, some nice beers and lagers to round the meal out.

John and Joan dropped the three of us off at the boat and they took the car back after a quick stop at the local casino. I asked Joan the next day if she had won enough for us all to be rich and she just chuckled.

14 September, 2010

We were off the dock by 0700 and moving down the river. Fair Wind and Changing Lanes had both left an hour or so earlier. We motored out of the harbor following a huge container ship and the tug and met two Norwegian cruise ships coming into harbor. It is quite a busy harbor as we knew from our active dock location.

The sky was partly sunny and the wind was - you guessed it - on the nose again and was only 4-5 knots anyway. So it was another day of motoring. We eventually passed Changing Lanes about mid-day and then caught up with Ken about an hour before we arrived at Lunenburg Harbor. They had both been able to put some sail and sail off the wind a little and keep the sails filled. With our large sails there just wasn't enough wind to keep the sails filled on Eos so we motored the whole way.

Things were kind of fun for about 10 minutes during the trip when the GPS for our chart plotter couldn't hold a reading. We weren't sure if it was the system or our equipment but after getting the handheld out and messing around with it and discovering that it couldn't get more than 3 satellites we decided that it was the GPS system. Soon after that it all came back on line as strong as ever and we were certainly happy to have that settled. But it was a reminder of why we have paper charts and the handheld GPS.

We arrived at The Yacht Shop Marina and were all tied up by 1400. This is not what one thinks of when one says marina. It is really a couple of old fishing wharves with some floating docks attached and there are minimal facilities. But it also is fairly inexpensive - a plus. It is owned by North Sails and the marine store is amazingly well stocked for a little store.

There wasn't room by our wharf for Fair Wind so Ken went on down a couple of wharves and tied up. Changing Lanes came in and took their reserved place here at our wharf. They have a ramp up from their floating dock while we have a floating dock attached to the wharf and are doing the ladder climb every time we go some where. It is a strong metal ladder and has good and well-placed hand holds so it is just a bit of exercise for us.

Doug (from the marina) and his wife Robin have a Whitby 42 that is docked right across from Changing Lanes. They are refurbishing it and are putting the heater in right now so they can live aboard this winter. They joined us on Changing Lanes for cocktails and conversation. Doug said the fight was finally over between the old hard line fishing crowd and those who wanted to upgrade the wharf area and make it a tourist attraction. The fishing industry has now fallen to such a low that it isn't necessary to maintain it here at the wharf so things will be changing considerably in the next couple of years. There will be a new marina and next year there will be a large fuel dock here where we are. It sounds nice for future sailors coming into Lunenburg but it is sad to think of so many years of the fishing industry and tradition becoming only a token of what it was. However, times do change and they are actively figuring out how to keep their town prosperous.

We called Ken and he came over to join us for dinner on Changing Lanes. Between Joan and I we had steak enough for everyone and John got the BBQ out and did his thing. Joan popped some yams in the oven and we had a lovely fresh salad as well. An almond chocolate bar and short bread cookies for dessert and, of course, wine and drinks. Who could ask for a better repast!

We left around 2100 or so and the tide was at its very lowest. Luckily there is a light right where our ladder is but we did have to go to the very last rung before we were at the dock. It reminded us of the ladder we climbed in Plymouth, England when we were sailing with our dear friends Ralf and Val.

We had thought we would be moving on to an anchorage in Port Mouton and then on to Shelburne but Joan called and had gotten the latest weather on her phone and they were talking about strong winds on the nose again so we decided to stay in Lunenburg another day or probably two. That is fine with us. Now we will get a chance to roam about and see this lovely place and I can get up to the local coffee shop to post this blog.

15 September 2010

Today was a day for boat work both inside and outside. The weather was such that we didn't go to Port Mouton today. We are going to roam around Lunenburg some and then get an early night so that we can hopefully do a long run to Shelburne tomorrow.