 I spent the day at Tom’s place relaxing and visiting with Tom and his son Campbell. |
 Tom’s wife Jill came home around lunch time with her friend Anne Partridge. It was a very hot day so Tom took us all for a boat ride on the lake after lunch. Jill and Campbell and Anne rode behind the boat in the water tube and had a blast cooling off in the spray and bouncing around on the waves and boat wake. I felt guilty leaving Ananda all alone in Dartmouth but I knew she was safe on the dock. |
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Daily Archives: September 19, 2010
Saturday, August 21
| I departed Liscombe Mills at 7:30am, headed to Halifax and my final destination for this part of my journey—the Dartmouth Yacht Club. It was raining lightly as I left but the forecast for the day was for sunshine, light winds and relatively calm seas. |
 Cousin Tom Heighway had arranged dock space for me at the Dartmouth Yacht Club. Wind and waves were rough for first three hours but then things calmed right down and the rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. I even got to put the jib and mizzen out again for a few hours. The new inverter for the backup computer continued to operate just fine. Tom and I talked a few times finalizing the arrangements for my arrival. I also talked to Wilson Fitt in Chester and to Catherine and to my two sisters Jane (in St. Andrews, NB) and Grace (in Canmore, AB). It had been several days since I had cell phone service so I wanted to give everyone an update on my progress and to let them know that I was safe. |
 Entering Halifax Harbour was very exciting. I have been to Halifax and Dartmouth many times by land but never by sea. The passage in from the ocean is several miles. Halifax has a long and important maritime history – for commerce and in times of war. This harbour also serves as the main Atlantic base for the Canadian Navy. |
 By the time I arrived at the Dartmouth Yacht Club it was 8:30pm—just at dusk.Cousin Tom was there to greet me. We tied Ananda secure and then Tom took me to his place in Falls River for an awesome dinner, a hot shower and to sleep in a real bed! |
Friday, August 20
 I departed White Head at 7:00am and headed towards Liscombe Mills. I was tempted to go up to Les and Carol’s house to say goodbye and thank them again but I was not sure if they would be up, so I cast off and waved in their direction several times—just in case they were looking! When I got out on to the ocean the wind and the waves were pretty rough for an hour or two but then things calmed right down—just as the marine weather forecast said it would. It was even nice enough for me to set the jib at 1/3 and the mizzen full for several hours. |
 The Liscombe resort and marina is up a river and quite a distance inland. This was a very interesting trip inland and well worth the extra mileage. There were a few points in the river where the channel was not much wider than the boat but lots of depth so I was not worried about running aground—as long as I stayed in the channel! As it turned out Ananda was the only boat at the resort. It is a beautiful little oasis from the wild ocean. |
 I arrived at 2:00pm and after talking with the marina manager I went to the restaurant to have lunch and a cold beer. I even got to see the resort chef preparing cedar plank salmon for the dining room’s evening dinner menu. He was cooking several huge fillets on a very large plank in front of an open fireplace set up near the restaurant patio. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the young lady who served me lives in London and is a tourism/hospitality student at Fanshawe College. What a small world it is indeed! After a great lunch I had an exciting night washing the boat, doing laundry and responding to email. It was good to be underway again and also that the inverter for the backup computer was working just fine. |
Thursday, August 19
 Chris and Joan were set to head to Halifax shortly after lunch. The weather did not look too bad and the forecast for the rest of the day was encouraging. Perhaps I would be able to make it to Liscombe Mills. I set up the backup computer and checked it out for running the TIKI navigation software. It ran the software just fine but the power inverter would not keep the computer’s battery charging and it was obvious that this particular setup would not be reliable. I was running the risk of getting out on the ocean and losing my navigation computer after 3 or 4 hours—not a situation that I was willing to take a chance on. I considered my options of going with Chris and Joan to Halifax and buying a proper inverter there—but that return trip was about 650 kilometers (over land) and would take an entire day. I talked to our new friend Les Harris (who lived in a house across the road from the wharf) and he told me there was a Home Hardware in Guysborough where I might be able to buy an inverter and he was willing to drive me if I wanted to go. I called the store and they had two in stock so I asked them to hold them until I got there. Guysborough is about a 100 kilometer round trip from White Head—so I could be back by noon and still have time to get to Liscombe Mills before dark. |
| Chris and Joan and I said our goodbyes in case I did not get back from Guysborough in time to see them off. It was sad to see them go and we were all disappointed that we did not make it to Halifax together—but what an adventure we had had over the past 3 weeks. Enough memories to last a lifetime and lots of fun and laughter too! |
| While I was in Guysborough for the inverter I also bought two jerry cans of diesel fuel for Ananda. When I got back to the boat Chris and Joan were already gone. I hooked up the inverter and was astonished to discover that it would not work! A closer investigation revealed that someone else had tried to use it before me and somehow fried the electronics. I threw myself at the mercy of Les and he loaned me his car again to drive back to Guysborough to return the defective inverter and to buy the very last one (in the entire town) from the Home Hardware. Thank goodness for the kindness and trust bestowed upon me by Les and his wife Carol. |
| While I was in Guysborough for the second time that day, I bought another two jerry cans of diesel. I figured that I might as well have as much fuel as possible to get me to my next destination. This time I tried the inverter before I left the Home Hardware parking lot. It worked fine, so off I went back to White Head. Once I got back I added the extra fuel to my starboard tank and then hooked up the new inverter. It worked fine. Hoooray! By this time it was too late in the afternoon so I prepared to spend another night in White Head. |
| Les came over to the boat to see me after supper. We chatted for a while and then he invited me back to his house for some tea and to visit with him and his wife Carol. Les showed me his father’s and grandfather’s old general store—which was attached to the house and we looked at several old nautical charts of the area that his grandfather had. One chart was dated mid 1860’s. During the time it was open, Les’ family’s store was a focal point in the community. It was fun to chat with Les and Carol about life in White Head and to imagine what it must have been like back when the store was new and in its prime! Today White Head is a pretty quiet place, well off the beaten path but it is truly a beautiful spot and I hope that I can return to it again sometime for another visit. In the meantime I will always remember the beauty of the area and Les and Carol Harris’ kindness and generosity. |
Wednesday, August 18
 We left Glasgow Harbour at 7:30am to try once again to get to Issacs Harbour but the wind and the waves continued to be too high. In addition, we could see fog forming and we were concerned about getting caught in thick fog—along with the rough water. We check our charts and headed in to Marshall Cove and then over to the community of White Head which was quite a distance inland but totally sheltered from the ocean. |
 We tied up to fishing wharf in White Head at the far end of the bay. This was a completely different world weather-wise in this large bay. There was no wind or waves. We talked to a couple of local fishermen and residents. They said we could stay tied to the wharf for a day or two if we wanted. This was to be our first experience in tying up to a wharf that was subject to tidal influences. Up until now we had always tied to floating docks so we did not have to worry about our docking lines going slack or tight with the tides. |
| The forecast for the rest of the day and in to the next day was not encouraging—more heavy fog, strong winds and high waves. As a result, no chance of getting any further for at least two days. We were all getting concerned about making it to Halifax in time for Chris and Joan to catch their train on the 21st. |
 Chris found a local fisherman who was willing to drive them to the Dartmouth Ferry Terminal the next day, so we settled in for the evening. After dinner we set up the computer and watched the “Captain Ron” movie. Ooops! Wine spilled on computer keyboard—end of that operation! You’d think that the computer would have a better appreciation for fine wine! |