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Well, the last web update indicated some mechanical concerns relative to Zelda. As a follow up, we have now discovered that previous installations by our NJ marine providers were somewhat less than adequate. With a careful tightening of belt clamps, etc., many of our issues have been resolved.
With that, we left Southwest Harbor, ME, on a clear sunny late morning and then, guess what, the foooogggg rolled in again as we navigated to buoys that would take us on our way to Nova Scotia (NS), Canada. Once we cleared a few critical buoys, the fog (thankfully) was left behind with clear skies and calm waters ahead. Ahead of us, a 95 nautical mile passage for the two of us to share; so we set up the usual watches (3 hrs on and 3 hrs off). Terry took the 9-12pm and I took the 12-3am watch and so on.
Before we started our watches, we saw seals, mienke whales and other unidentified whales not too far from the boat (finally). We had a great dinner at around sunset and got ready for our watches; once again a beautiful sunset picture (see sunset photo below; I hope you are not tired of these as they are ALL special). Terry secured the jack lines (lines secured to the deck so that we could latch onto them should either of us need to work on deck). The weather was fantastic; the sailing delightful. During Terry's watch, the foooggg rolled in at about 4 am. When I came up for the 6-9 am watch, it was pea soup. Terry, unfortunately, had to forego his 3 hours of rest and stayedb below to keep an eye on the radar for other vessels. Since we were now approaching Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, we could expect commercial vessels "anywhere."
Due to Terry's excellent navigation skills, our computer charting programs and radar, we rounded the buoy to take us into Yarmouth Harbor. As a regular procedure around these foggy waters, the boats moving about harbors call in a 'Security' via VHF to let other boats know their intentions and position. Terry did just this as we started our entrance into Yarmouth Harbor. Thank goodness because the captain of the Scotia Prince responded saying that he was leaving Yarmouth (outbound) to Portland, ME, and that he was 470 feet long and 80 feet wide and that we would meet alongside in this somewhat narrow channel "in the fog!!!!". We agreed that we would hug the rightside and he the left. Terry is below watching radar and I driving the boat; suddenly an extremely loud fog horn sounded to the left of us and within a second (in dense fog) the Scotia Prince appeared to port. Interestingly, the passengers were thrilled to see us alongside as demonstrated by their waves, etc., while Terry and I were recuperating from somewhat of an anxiety attack. We made our way into the foggy harbor, settled in and chilled out.
We have learned from other sailors here that we apparently made our trip to Canada a bit late in the season (enjoyed Maine a bit too long). Many of our fellow sailors are already sailing South in the US. We have decided to forego sailing to our planned harbors and have settled into Yarmouth Harbor, found the local supermarket, the Y for email/internet and decided to rent a car to visit the harbors of choice. Within two days, we traveled over 700 kilometers via highways to various ports of interest. Lunenburg, is a Unesco world treasure, one of two in North American; we have also visited Port Mouton, Shelburne, and Cape Sable--quiet and lovely. The people we have encountered have been friendly and helpful. The seafood is as fresh as can be and delicious. The weather in Yarmouth and Nova Scotia in general is interesting, foggy in one second to sunny at the next. In the Yarmouth Harbor, there are two ferries; the Scotia Prince from Portland, ME, (our harbor fog partner mentioned above) and the "Cat" from Bar Harbor, ME. The Cat is 500 feet long and travels at 55 knots/hour (it would blow you over; see Cat photo). We have learned to identify its "rumble" even when it is several miles away. In fact, as we left Southwest Harbor to sail to Nova Scotia, we could hear the Cat's rumble many miles away. Terry called the Cat's skipper to let them know that we were on route to Yarmouth; he assured us that we were clear of his route.
We will leave NS either August 27 with plans to cross back over to Maine with entrance into either Southwest Harbor or Portland. We will collect mail in Portland and begin our sail back to NJ for arrival late September and then onward to the Chesapeake to hang out for hurricane season and then into the Caribbean.
We look forward to checking our web page to read guestbook checkin messages; we are thrilled to see that we have over 550 visitors to date checking our page.
By the way, we now have our onboard boat email system working so that we do not have to access the internet to read email; you can send us an email at: KC2GPH@winlink.org. In fact, our zeldahr49@yahoo.com email address will now forward email to the winlink.org address. Terry and I are both licensed amateur Generals; this enables us to dial into frequencies that connect us to onshore ham operators who have the equipment to receive and send our email. Keep in touch! Unfortunately, we cannot access/surf the internet via ham radio; not yet anyway; a capability in the future I am sure.
We have been successful in talking with Raoul Rabiner (RYC) on amateur at 4:00pm on 7.230 MHz. Terry's efforts at 8:00 pm on single sideband radio have not been very successful. However, if any of you have your amateur (ham) radio licenses, check in with the Mobile Maritime Net on 14.300 MHz and ask for traffic for either of us (Terry KC2GHA or Marie KC2GPH) at 8:15pm.
Once again, RADIO CONTACT INFO: Our call signs are KC2GPH (Marie) and KC2GHA (Terry). We talk on amateur at 1600 hours at 7.230 MHz. Terry is on SSB at 2000 hours. 451,452,453 from 2000-2005 - 651,652,653 from 2005-2010 - 851,852 from 2010-2015. He also tunes into 14.300 (ham) from about 8:15-8:30 pm for traffic to our boat. Love to hear from you.