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. Bill and Joan and I roamed around Lunenburg some and found the local coffee shop where I could get on the Internet and post a blog entry. Bill stayed and did some work on the internet and then went back to the boat to do more boat work. His list is never empty as you who know him can understand. Joan and I wandered around town some more and got a chance to go down by the wharves where the touristy things are located.

We had hoped to head out to Shelburne tomorrow but the weather report is quite bad for our trip. The seas will be 3-5 meters and the wind will be out of the SW 20-25 knots and gusting to 30 or more. Not a good travel day at all. Joan and Joan stopped by for some after dinner drinks and conversation and then it was settle in for the night.

16 September 2010

Our decision not to go was right on. The winds are quite strong and there are white caps on the waves here in the bay no less. The boats both on moorings and our boats on the docks are doing the ugly wind and wave dance. We stayed on the boat most of the day but met Joan and John and Ken at the Grand Banker Bar and Grill for dinner.

I found out that although they will never be my favorite things really fresh mussels can be pretty tasty. I'm not sure I would necessarily order them for myself but who knows in time I may develop a real taste for them.

After dinner Ken took off to take Lady Jane, his dog, for a walk and we walked down to the water front. Joan noticed that there was a production at the Fisheries Museum that evening - the last of the season. We went right in and got seats - a wise decision as it turned out to be completely full with people standing in the back and along the sides by the time the production started. The production put on by nine local performers was Glimpses 2010 - A Look at Our History through Song and Dance. The songs were accompanied by a slide show. The whole thing was quite well done and it took parts of Lunenburg history from the first settlers to 2006 when the Anglican Church caught fire and burned. We came away with a real feel for the town.

Then it was back to the boats for a not very quite or restful night. It was quite obvious from the conditions and the weather report that we would be in Lunenburg yet another day.

17 September, 2010

The day started with problems with the head and that defined the whole day. I won't go into the gory details but we had to take part of the cabinets in the head out (thank goodness Bill had made them removable), re-plumb a water filter for the waste treatment system and use a portable macerator pump to empty the very, very full holding tank into the harbor. Luckily dumping is allowed in Nova Scotia and it isn't as bad as it sounds since a great deal of the fluid was sea water that was getting put into the holding tank rather than through the treatment system. And with the heavy wind and waves and the rain that fell all day what we had to dump was dispersed widely and very quickly. It took us until 1430 to get things fixed and poor Bill had to go up to the marina shop in the pouring rain and then run the macerator in the rain. He was completely soaked by the time that was done.

We were having to move off the docks because this week-end there is a schooner festival in Lunenburg and someone had reserved our spots. Changing Lanes took off about mid-morning in the pouring rain and went out to the mooring field and grabbed a mooring. We had decided that we were going out in the area near the golf course across the harbor and anchor. Since Bill was already sopping wet we decided it was time to go anchor and then he could change to dry clothes. We had Eos comfortably anchored by 1400 and I mean comfortably. The difference between the rough ride at the docks and the gentle ride on the anchor in the lee of the winds and seas was tremendous. As it turned out whoever was going to use the dock where we were didn't make it in but we were so much more comfortable hanging on the anchor that we were glad they had asked us to leave the dock.

The rest of the day and into the early evening we spent cleaning up the head and putting the cabinets back together. It was a lousy way to spend what would have been a day to just nestle inside while it rained outside but we have one more thing shaken-down on our shake-down trip.

18 September, 2010

Today was the day when the weather eased up and we could make the trip to Shelburne - about 75 NM. We were up and weighed anchor at 0630 and spent the next 10 hours making our way to Shelburne. The wind was very light and mostly on the nose so we motored all of the way although we did put the main and the jib up for a couple of hours. Finally we decided it wasn't doing that much good and they were having a terrible time staying filled with wind. The waves were almost non-existent but there were big, long rollers that gave us a gentle rocking chair ride down the coast. The sky was sunny but what wind there was made it cool in the cockpit until the afternoon when the sun finally warmed us up. It was really quite a lovely day - especially after the last couple of ugly ones.

We arrived in Shelburne and were tied up on the dock by 1630. Changing Lanes came in a couple of hours later and are just down from us. Today was the last of the local racing season so the docks were very busy with racers all over the docks rehashing the race and its results. The manager told us that there were several boats here awaiting the right window to cross to the US coast so we will have plenty of cruisers to commiserate with as we watch the weather. It appears that the first time we will even be able to consider heading out is the end of the week.

19 September, 2010

We had a lovely peaceful night. This morning we met some of the other cruisers who are stranded here until ??? There are four boats with couples aboard and a solo sailor. Most of them are from Canada although three of us are from the States and someone mentioned that there is another boat out on the moorings with a couple from Europe on board. We haven't met them yet. Nine of us gathered for late morning coffee on Changing Lanes. I can't get my PC to connect to the internet here so we have relied on others for the weather report today. It appears that Thursday or Friday will be the first that we can consider going. So we all moaned about that and then split off to do chores and such.

Joan and I walked up to the grocery store while Bill and John did boat work. I picked up a cake and have passed the word that there would be dessert and coffee at 1900 on Eos. In addition to the cruisers who had coffee together this morning , I also invited another couple from Quebec to join us. And so Joan and John, Patrick and Karen, Wayne and Pattie, Louise and Jean-Denis, and David came over after super. We had eleven cruisers on board for dessert and had a lovely time talking about boats, place, experiences, and plans. Some one commented that they had never been on a boat the could handle that big of a crowd so comfortably. It was nice to be able to have them all over. It has gotten cool in the evenings and the cockpit is no longer a real alternative after sunset.