Daily Archives: September 19, 2010

Tuesday, August 17

Departed Canso at 7:00am and headed to Issacs Harbour. Strong wind and high waves caused us to turn back. We had lunch in a small cove near Three Islets, checked out the passage to Issacs Harbour and found that the wind and the waves had not subsided. By this time it was after 2:00pm and we did not have sufficient time to reach our desired destination—even if the wind and the waves immediately died down so we started searching for a location to spend the night. Glasgow Harbour is a well sheltered area on the other side of the hill from the town of Canso. There was a lot of strong wind out beyond the barrier islands but we were in a very sheltered cove and quite comfortable.
Joan showed me how to rig up a bridle line from the anchor chain to the forward deck cleats and that arrangement took the strain off the windlass. We settled in for the night and Joan cooked us another great supper. By the time it was dark the wind was blowing very strong and Ananda was constantly straining on her anchor—but we had not moved a foot in several hours so we were confident that the anchor would not drag even through the night.There were many small islands surrounding the harbour. They all had lots of seals hanging out on them and were “moaning” constantly. It was an erie sound, especially at night mixed in with strong winds in the rigging!
The seals were still out there “moaning” even though we could not see them. I got our spotlight out and shone it on the islands. Every time the light swept by one of the islands the seals would stop moaning and then start up again as soon as the light was gone. Through the night we had a terrific thunder and lightning storm that circled around the area 2 or 3 times. We were all awake at the peak of the storm and watched the anemometer peak over 25 knots several times. Finally the storm died down a bit and we all went back to bed for the remainder of the night.

 

Monday, August 16

We departed Ballentyne’s Bay around 7:00am. Chapter II left just a few minutes before us, bound for her home port of Charlottetown–where we had come from just the day before. We had a great time the night before telling sailing stories and comparing adventures. John Dennis built Chapter II himself and he has sailed her all over the world–including crossing the Atlantic Ocean six times. Ananda has a bit of catching up to do! 
We arrived at the Canso Canal at 10:00am and were allowed to pass through right away. The canal has only one lock and the “rise or fall” is about 4 feet or less—depending upon the tide. This lock is designed to the same specifications as all of the locks on the St. Lawrence Seaway because many freighters use this passage instead of going around Cape Breton Island. 
The lock also serves to slow down the flow between Cape Breton and the Nova Scotia mainland because the velocity of water passing through the channel that was left open after the causeway was built is very strong and it would be hard for vessels to navigate without fear of running aground. The passage on the “ocean” side of the canal is fairly heavily industrialized with a major fuel terminal and a paper mill.
We continued our trip past Port Hawksbury and then anchored in the harbour in front of a church in Canso at 3:30pm. By the time we had our anchor set it was beginning to rain so we settled in for an early supper and early to bed.

Sunday, August 15

We departed Charlottetown around 8:00am and had a relatively lobster-pot-free trip to Ballantyne’s Bay, Nova Scotia. There were a few pots along the way but nowhere near as many as we had encountered to and from Shediac. The day was very calm with no wind so I decided to try switching fuel tanks again to see if the fuel supply from the port-side tank would work. We stopped the engine, switched feed lines and started the engine up again. The engine only ran about 20 minutes and quit. Same as before—the fuel line became air-blocked. I switched back to the starboard tank, bled the fuel line, and started the engine. It runs without difficulty on this tank. I need to figure out once and for all what is going on with the port tank.
We were about 2 hours from our destination when we spotted a small fishing boat headed out towards the point of land in front of Ballantyne’s Bay. Looking through the binoculars, we saw that the boat was stopped and observing a school of about a dozen black dolphins swimming in a tight circle.
We adjusted our course slightly to come closer and it soon became obvious that the dolphins were feeding on something and their circular motion was to keep their prey trapped. This went on for about 30 minutes more and then the circle broke up and the dolphins swam north up the Northumberland Strait.
We arrived in Ballantyne’s Bay late in the afternoon. The community has a small marina and is also home to numerous fishing boats.
The townspeople have built a small museum that is attached to the marina office. It has an interesting display about tuna fishing in the region and about other aspects of the local fishery.
Shortly after we arrived another sailboat came in to the marina and tied up to the dock beside us. John Dennis is the owner/captain of Chapter II. He and two friends were on their way back from Saint-Pierre & Miquelon, two islands close to Newfoundland that are still associated with France.

 

We exchanged travel stories and after supper Chris and I went over to Chapter II with a couple of half-filled bottles of Scotch to say “hello” and gam some more with them. You know what happened after that… 🙂