Category Archives: 2010 – Down East Cruise

Ananda’s Down East Cruise in 2010

Saturday, August 28

Wilson came over to the boat and helped me plan the next phases of my trip. He had lots of good tips for places to stay and anchor. I had an early lunch at Wilson’s and then decided to set out for Liverpool, NS. I left Chester at 2:30pm and arrived in Liverpool around 8:30, just as the sun was setting. The days are getting noticeably shorter. The harbour there is small, with a paper mill on one side and the downtown on the other. The harbour was full of boats because there was a big festival going on down by the waterfront and I could not find a place to anchor. I left the harbour and went out in to the bay across from the paper mill. I found a little cove and anchored the boat in 10 feet of water. It was pushing 11:00pm and close to low tide by the time the anchor was set. I had a cold beer and watched the anchor for an hour. Satisfied that I was not going to be dragging my anchor anywhere, I went to bed and set my alarm for a 2-hour wakeup watch. I got up a couple of times through the night and the anchor held without difficulty all night long.

 

Friday, August 27

I departed Dartmouth Yacht Club’s mooring field at 7:30am and headed for Chester, NS in Mahone Bay. My friend Wilson Fitt had arranged for me to use a mooring ball in Chester Harbour and within easy walking distance of his house. I had a great trip to Chester. The first few hours involved some more tough pounding through the waves but then things calmed down and the rest of the trip was pretty easy.  
I arrived in Chester around 5:00pm. Wilson met me at the dock and I went up to his place for a shower and a cold beer. After that I had dinner with Wilson and his wife Thelma, Wilson’s mother Christine and a few of Wilson & Thelma’s friends. It was a great evening with a wonderful dinner and company.
I met Wilson about 10 years ago (where did the time go?) when I was working for Wheelabrator EOS and pursuing DBO contracts for water treatment projects in Dartmouth, NS and in Moncton, NB. Wheelabrator had teamed up with The Hardman Group, a local development and real estate management company and Wilson was my key contact with our local partner.
Wilson is also an avid sailor. He built his own sailboat from scratch and sailed it all over Atlantic Canada and through much of the Caribbean. Last summer Wilson sailed it single handed to Scotland. Wilson has also managed to incorporate sailing in to his work career—recently starting an assignment as a project manager for the rebuild of the famous sailing schooner “The Bluenose”.

Thursday, August 26

The weather report for today was not good—high winds, waves and fog, so I decided to stay put for another day. I took advantage of the time to change the engine oil and to perform several other small maintenance tasks. This also gave me an opportunity to put the dingy back on its davits and to try out the new fittings that I had installed on the pontoon to help keep it in place while underway.

 

Wednesday, August 25

I returned the rental car and got a ride to the dingy repair place. It is on the waterfront and “just around the corner” from the Dartmouth Yacht Club. I picked up the dingy and Jason, the repair technician helped me put it in the water at their dock. I then motored back to the marina. As a visiting member of the Goderich Yacht Club, the Dartmouth Yacht Club was generous enough to offer me two free days on one of the mooring balls in their mooring field. I happily accepted their offer and moved Ananda from the dock to the mooring field at noon. I spent the rest of the day setting up the new computer and organizing my provisions.

 

 

Tuesday, August 24

More running around in the rental car today. I also went to Tom’s place of business (Maritime Lawn and Garden Supply) and he helped me do some work on fittings that I had bought to strengthen the railings on Ananda’s stern. With that job complete I did some more running around and also made a trip to the grocery store to pick up additional provisions in anticipation of Emily and her best friend Alice joining me for the trip from Halifax to St. Andrews. There is a large boating supply and service business less within sight of the marina . I went there to talk to them about some repairs to the dingy and arranged for the work to be done. I went back to the marina, loaded the (deflated) dingy into the rental car, took it to the service depot and arranged to pick it up the next day.