USA cruise Newport to Boston: 8th to 15th June – 175 miles
Boston to Shelburne passage: 16th to 18th June – 280 miles
Canada cruise Shelburne to Newfoundland: 19th June to 2nd July – 725 miles
It’s July 2nd and we are moored at the Government Wharf in Quirpon Harbour at the top end of Newfoundland. It is cold -under 10 degrees, the mist is down and we can see icebergs out there. Tomorrow at 06.00 the four boats in our ‘ARCtic’ fleet (Ayama, Exody, Hugur and Lily – a Dutch Amel 54 owned by Ron and Ineke) will set sail for Qaqortoq, Greenland 650 miles away.
In the last month we have taken in Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket and Boston in USA and then Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island en route to Newfoundland.
We are becoming slowly acclimatised now to the cooler sailing and the more unpredictable weather. We have enjoyed finally seeing some three-dimensional geography with the mountainous south west of Newfoundland and also the increased volume of wildlife, particularly whales in the fertile waters of the Labrador current meeting the Gulf Stream. They were everywhere in our final approach here yesterday, 1st July, 98 miles motoring from Port au Choix. Blowing, breaching, tail-flipping, one within a boatslength – exciting stuff. We had also sighted our first iceberg by late afternoon and several were in range as we made our final approach to Quirpon Harbour weaving through the reefs in brisk winds around 20.00.
Boat heater running full pelt against the low of 7 degrees, we were soon bedded down. Morning brought a large (road) tanker to the dock before 09.00 to refill our diesel tanks. Stefan of Ayama sorted a car loan from a local and organised a shuttle for the eight of us, first to the grocery and then to the Viking Village and Museum. Amazing to see, read, hear and feel how these folk came across the Atlantic over 1000 years ago in open boats to seek out the resources of what they called Vinland. Our stop at L’anse aux Meadows being their staging post en route to New Brunswick primarily for butternut and grapes. We finished the day with an excellent meal at the one local restaurant and then regrouped on Hugur to share passage plans, weather interpretations and iceberg maps or our orthcoming passage.
Hugur kindly gave us a miniature Thor, sacrifices to whom we are told might help assure us of a safe onward passage.
Here are the logs covering the cruises and passages as posted to our immediate families over the last month.
June 16th : Sailing away from the USA
Its 20.30 and the sun has just set astern in the Gulf of Maine as we head almost due east for Shelburne, Nova Scotia, 220 miles away. We are in international waters once again. The sea is flat, the headwind light, the moon near full, the skies clear and we have been motoring most of the time since leaving Boston, 65 miles ago at 10 this morning. Ayama is pacing us half a mile away to starboard and Hugur twenty miles behind. We are now thankfully clear of watching out for the multiple lobster and fishing floats we have been dodging since Newport. But we’ve only seen two shark fins and no whales as yet as we crossed the special habitat protection zone off Boston.
Since the last log we have been in Newport, Rhode Is., Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, and Cape Cod before arriving in Boston on Tuesday 14th. Our outboard engine packed up in Martha’s Vineyard and then to make matters more interesting our main engine stopped in an unholy escape of steam ten miles off Cape Cod. So, we’ve had a busy maintenance schedule whilst also making time to enjoy these historic New England places.
Like Annapolis, Newport is another major US yachting centre. We were anchored in the one designated zone separate from the mass of moorings, quite a dinghy hike from town. We found the newly refurbished yachting centre facilities, a huge choice of eateries (delicious lobster sandwiches and salads), pubs and mainly clothing shops – new sailing shoes bought for Marian. Spending four nights here (4th to 7th June), we walked the vividly contrasting cliff walk, fine lawns and mansions to starboard and crashing Atlantic waves to port, saw the church where JFK married Jackie, viewed the magnificent mansions from street-side – some in a scottish baronial style, several now taken over as a university. We found and bought a few essentials in the tiny chandlery. The mist rolled in densely a couple of times reminding us that we are already in the north!
The 41 mile passage to Martha’s Vineyard on 8th June was exhiliarating as we rode the tide through Buzzard’s Bay then between the islands of Nashawena and Pasque, emerging into the sound then inside the reef, passing elegant beach houses, rounding the corner into Vineyard Haven – all under sail and in company with Ayama and Hugur. The anchorage is outside the breakwater though reasonably protected. So many of the moored boats were wooden, I wondered whether they put a surcharge on GRP ones! We were late ashore and everything was closing – this is a dry and thus quiet town so not much happening! The other two left in the morning whilst we stayed to tackle our incalcitrant outboard – the one that had until then always started first time every time for two years perhaps lulling us into a false sense of security. Suspecting dirty fuel (again!), I eventually found a fault after the fourth dismantling of the carburettor. A small breach in the fuel diaphragm was temporarily fixed with an elastoplast which has held out now for well over a week.
Changing the original plan to transit the Cape Cod canal in favour of a stop at Nantucket, we sailed most of the 28 miles to join the others at the immaculately maintained Boat Basin right in the centre of the picturesque town- all clapboard or cedar shingles – few painted, most naturally an attractive grey. Like everywhere the slips (berths) are virtually empty as we are ahead of the US season by a couple of weeks. But the town is busy with tourists.
Saturday 11th, we were up early to shower and provision at the handy Stop’n Shop before door-stepping the small chandlery for their 8 am opening. All three boats were away before nine for the 70 mile trek around the outside of the long beach-lined ‘hook’ of Cape Cod. The tides lifted us by over two knots through Pollock Rip and onward as we motorsailed north then west taking turns to watch out for and dodge the frequent lobster pots. Provincetown sits at the head of the natural harbour. Here the Mayflower Pilgrims landed in 1620. Here we made our way in under well-reefed sail having tacked in the last ten miles after we urgently stopped the engine when it spewed hot steam into the cabin! Our friends ahead were standing by in two dinghies to help us moor under sail in the last of the evening light. In the end Exody handily drifted down and Marian snappily picked up a vacant ball in the near empty mooring field. The engine problem was soon fixed by replacing a large diameter perished hose for which I had been wise enough to carry a spare.
We used the marina launch service for trips ashore Sunday and Monday, taking in a climb up the Pilgrim memorial tower and the associated museums, enjoying the food, galleries and the quaint atmosphere. Provincetown is a holiday destination of choice for the LGBT community and also has a long history as an artistic venue.
Staying a third night to wait for the headwinds to reduce, Exody and Ayama set off for Boston on the morning of Tuesday 14th, motoring the whole way in steadily reducing wind and seas. The approach to the City – with the skyline seen from miles away is between small offlying islands before the channel passes close by Logan Airport and on into Boatwater Marina where we had booked mooring balls right next to the central Long Wharf ferry terminal from where many day trips also operate. Easy access, great facilities, calm nights and great views from the cockpit. Trains and boats and planes everywhere! We are right next to the Central Business District and everything is walkable. Tuesday night we dined out on splendid seafood, meeting up with ARC yellowshirt Jake coincidentally laying over there. After early laundry then sight seeing on Wednesday, we trekked out by bus and foot to the West Marine in Woburn 12 miles away to collect our ordered bilge pump, returning by Uber taxi. We met David on Moonbeam of Argyll, a fine 46 ft ketch he had not long bought from the former manager of Ardfern Marina and had shipped across the Atlantic. We were entertained Wednesday night by the arrival in the river of an LPG tanker escorted by multiple military and police vessels and helicopters- ushering away all vessels in the way and carefully guarding what is presumably a high risk potential terrorist target.
Exody was first to leave on Thursday morning after showers and stocking up at the excellent Golden Goose minimarket.
June 25th : Canada – Whales, Loyalists, Lobsters
This morning’s brilliant sunrise over a smooth windless sea was barely six hours after sunset – both long lingering affairs, the sun showing itself nearly two hours after first light on the north east horizon. Exody is two thirds through the 170 mile passage from Halifax to the fresh water Bras D’Or lake in Cape Breton Island. Our course is just north of due east along the low-lying relatively featureless south coast of Nova Scotia. The geographical expectation of some mountains and hills raised by the intricate coast lines here are realised only in two dimensions!
We had arrived in Canada a week ago today, last Saturday morning 18th June, after two quiet and calm days at sea, motor-sailing the whole of the 284 miles from Boston. Spotted several whales en route, blowing, surfacing but not breaching. None close enough to photograph. Exody also collected yellow dust on all forward facing surfaces- later learnt to be pollen- also seen in kind of slicks on the flat sea- no wonder Marian is sneezing more than usual.
Marian’s dawn watch had brought us up the attractive wooded fjord to moor off the quiet town of Shelburne at the Yacht Club Marina. Following the required phone call on arrival, Border Protection turned up to courteously though firmly clear us in. We came alongside for this and took the opportunity to re-fuel, re-water and hose down everything.
The cold bite of the night air that had us inaugurate Exody’s heater for the season was soon forgotten in the early summer sunshine- shorts and teeshirts were soon back out. We missed the farmers market but found the yacht club showers and explored the compact historic waterfront, carefully preserved with several museums (fishing, boatbuilding etc)
Here Union Jack’s outnumbered Canadian flags flown from gardens and homes – for this town’s and indeed all of Nova Scotia’s recent heritage is hinged on the British.
We ate a fine dinner at a recommended Cafe, nearly missing the booking as we met up with interesting folk at the bar. Colin and Lou of Pelerin an Ovni 435 – Colin writes for AAC (Attainable Adventure Cruising- google it). Also Clive and Angela of Cosmic Dancer V a Sweden Yachts 38 that has spent several seasons in the far north and is next heading for the Great Lakes then overland by truck to the north Pacific.
After two nights, we left early Monday 20th for the 74 miles to Lunenburg, sailing more than half the distance passing close to the offlying islands and shore. Occasional large waterside houses interrupted the otherwise apparently undisturbed pinewoods, beaches and headlands.
A perfect natural harbour bounded on one side by a golf course and the other by brightly coloured restored buildings, waterfront piers and a mix of fishing, pleasure and historic craft. This Unesco World Heritage site , Lunenburg, could be the Tobermory of Nova Scotia! The province has many of our names replicated – we have passed the River Clyde and New Glasgow for example and seen Loch Lomond on a map.
Amongst the gift shops, lobster eateries and more pragmatic food and pharmacy shops we discovered that nowhere here sells SIM cards but the search gave us a good walking tour of the town. The mist, or should it be fog, rolled in and away several times, sometimes bringing visibility to less than a quarter mile.
And so it was when we left early Wednesday 22nd for the completely fogbound 45 miles to the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Club at -( or rather near!) the city of Halifax- population 300,000- same as Iceland. We motored with our eyes glued to the radar the whole way heading from buoy to buoy – hearing but not seeing a tug and tow passing less than a quarter mile away. The fog lifted as we approached yet another natural harbour, our mooring being in the North Western Arm – a good 15 minutes drive from town. A very professionally managed club with launch service, laundry and good food at their bar. We all met up for convivial drinks and bar meal with Ron and Ineke from Dutch Amel 54 Lily who will join our ARCtic group for the sail to northern Europe.
We hired a car jointly with Ayama for trips to the well stocked chandlery, outdoor clothing outlets, groceries (finding even a small supermarket overwhelming) and of course a SIM card shop. Halifax a large city by our recent standards. We visited Hugur at the other marina in Dartmouth and lunched at a micro-brewery.
Friday 24th we were alongside the yacht club to refuel, do the laundry and make final vain efforts to trace a small parcel of outboard spares I had ordered to be sent there. Ayama and Hugur left early in the day, Exody and Lily a little later by about noon. Fortunate to be able to sail the first six hours but the wind left with the daylight as we motorsailed through the night within sight and AIS distance of Lily a few miles behind.
July 1st – Mountains, Snow, Whales, Puffins
Lunchtime Friday 1st July and we are motoring along the south edge of the Strait of Belle Isle in a flat calm and varying visibility (down to less than a quarter mile), eyes peeled for icebergs or, more critically, bergy bits or growlers – the more dangerous smaller pieces. The rain has stopped and the chilly early morning temperature of 10 has risen to 14. The cabin is a cosy 24 with the Eberspacher heater working full-on and the damp clothes drying. We have seen several more whales, humpbacks blowing, surfacing and tail flapping. For the second day in a row the four boats of our fleet have set off at 04.30 to take two long daylight bites at the 175 mile passage from Bonne Bay to L’Anse aux Meadows at the very northern tip of Newfoundland. This will be our spring off point for Greenland. A visit to it’s unique Viking Village and Museum is mission-critical to our Swedish and Icelandic sailing buddies.
Since last Saturday we have enjoyed the delights of Cape Breton Island’s Bras D’Or lake- not freshwater after all by the way, and made the 250 mile passage across to Newfoundland before working our way up it’s western coast in the Gulf of St Lawrence.
Exody locked in at St Peter’s Canal at the south entrance to the lake on Saturday 25th having motored the rest of the way in from Halifax – 167 miles in total. We chatted for an hour with the cheery and informative lock keeper, enjoying the midday sunshine whilst awaiting Lily a few miles behind. Recollections and similarities to Crinan and Caledonian canals. After negotiating the winding buoyed channel between pretty wooded islands, we sailed across the lake and in through the very narrow entrance to anchor in the almost circular and completely landlocked Little Harbour where we found the restaurant closed. The German yacht-owning proprietors however allowed us to use their garden for our DIY traditional Swedish midsummer celebrations carefully orchestrated by Anna and Stefan of Ayama – a fun evening! Sunday 26th we motored the 22 miles to anchor at delightful Baddeck – a small town, yachting centre, and home to Alexander Graham Bell. A small friendly marina, chandlery and moorings here with folk busy getting boats ready for the upcoming season. Clapboard seaside houses with their own moorings, jetties and boatsheds – ideal! We gathered at the Yacht Club to compare notes on ice charts, weather and routing before turning in for an early night, still nursing the after effects of Aquavit, whisky etc from the night before!
With a 250 mile passage to make Newfoundland, we decided to leave mid afternoon Monday for two nights at sea and an early morning arrival. Lily did similar, Ayama and Hugur opting for an earlier start and just one night at sea. It was a dreich day but calm so I spent the first couple of hours cleaning off the ‘Intracostal Smile’ – ie brown marks from US waters – from Exody. We had time to shower, do laundry and explore the shops for some last minute warm gear, and fresh supplies. The anchor was up by 15.00 not long after Lily and we motored the 20 miles up to the tidal Narrows that form the northern exit from the Bras D’Or lake. Once again like much of the US and Canadian seaboard we have seen, many fine summer houses nestled amongst the woods, above the beaches and on the rocky outcrops. We passed Bird Islands (read Treshnish) complete with puffin sightings and were treated to the sun set over the western highlands – as the relatively mountainous north of Cape Breton is known.
The evening brought wind from astern and we were soon making good way under sail. The seas in the Cabot Strait that branches off from the St Lawrence to the south of Newfoundland were confused giving us a very lumpy ride through the first night. The wind increased to well over 20 knots and by morning we were down to double reefed main only. During Tuesday the conditions steadily improved and the wind came round enough for us to fly the genny some of the time. Wednesday morning we could have been sailing along the south coast of Mull as we closed the steep mountainous coastline of south west Newfoundland and the deep fjord like Bonne Bay. It had been a cold night at 14 degrees but there was a blast of a warm southwest wind and by the time we were tied up alongside Ayama at the Woody Point Government Wharf just half an hour later at 08.15, it was 19 degrees. We are in the middle of the Gros Morne National Park. Ayama had made it by nightfall, Hugur at 23.00 and Lily 04.30. No sooner were we tied up before the heavens opened and the mist rolled in but it lifted a little later allowing us a good walk ashore convening in the Merchant Warehouse and returning by the lighthouse and shoreside fishermans shacks, pockets of snow on the hills, mist hanging in layers.
Already north of the potential ice-line, the plan was to start early Thursday for the 80 miles north to Port au Choix. Away by 04.30, we managed to sail a bit, then motorsail out of the fjord and up the increasingly low-lying coast. The fog rolled in densely as we picked our way by GPS and radar between the unseen reef and Pointe Riche Peninsula, finally revealing itself surprisingly close as we turned into the narrow buoyed channel past Querre Island. This busy fishing port had space for us at the public wharf and we rafted alongside Hugur in the pouring rain at about 17.00 – four hours of daylight to spare. No ice seen for the day. Birthday drinks for Kristofer on Hugur then to the Anchor Cafe for local seafood. Here Stefan had the waitress organise our fuel delivery 100 miles north for Saturday.
Today Friday 1st, it was another 04.30 start,departing in fairly dense fog, this time to make 98 miles in 17 hours of daylight, up close to the coast, Labrador still 40 miles away but narrowing toward the 12 mile wide Strait of Belle Isle. Then on eastward across the ‘top’ of Newfoundland to the recommended Government Wharf fuel rendezvous at Quirpon.
Cruising and liming 