2 Sep 15

The wind stayed calm all night and we slept peacefully. I was awake at 06:30, and as it was still calm, we decided to take advantage of calm seas and head off to our next stop: Shelter Cove; anchor was aweigh by 07:45 (although it came up very muddy and took a while to clean up the mess). We finished the Inside Passage within an hour and headed offshore more or less SW of Mushaboom Bay. The seas were flat all morning, with the wind less than WSW 10. We were at the turn-off for Shelter Cove by 10:50 and it was still flat (forecast was SW 15-20 in the afternoon), so we decided to push on to Jeddore Harbour, only another 27 miles; ETA 14:30). A tug passed by in the opposite direction; the first vessel we have seen in the last 3 days. We toyed with the idea of pushing on to Halifax (at 11:30, it looked like we could be tied up in the Halifax Waterfront Marina by 18:00), but by 13:00, the wind was SW 15 and the seas were starting to build rapidly, so that idea got scratched pretty fast (by 13:00, ETA Halifax was looking more like 20:30, well after dark - not to mention happy hour). At 14:00, passing Egg Island to starboard, we turned off to the west toward the entry to Jeddore, but by then the wind was steady at SW 18, gusting to 23 and the sea was a nasty, steep, short-period at 1.0 - 1.5 m high; to top it off, we were fighting about 0.5 - 1.0 kn of foul current. The last 8.5 miles to the entry to the harbour took nearly 2 hours. Once we were inside, no problemo, but it was ugly there for a while. We went up to the head of the Jeddore Harbour, only to find Sea Rover Marina shuttered up and closed, apparently for good. This marina only opened in 2012 and apparently fell on hard times. So, we anchored nearby in the bay at 15:30 and settled in for the night. Still, it was a good day’s run: 52 miles in 8.5 hours. If the forecast plays out (and I have to admit that today’s was pretty accurate), we will run on into Halifax tomorrow, but I think it will be a very early start.

http://youtu.be/XQkRu2VLy-8 

44-46.373’N, 063-02.241’W

3 Sep 15

We were up at 05:30 to listen to the marine forecast, in anticipation of running down to Halifax. However, the buoy at Halifax entrance was registering SW 14, which meant the seas would have been up all night (the weather report had them at 1 -2 m), so we went back to bed. It looks like tomorrow will be better for heading outside to Halifax; the wind is supposed to go N/NE overnight. We finally got back up at 09:00, had a leisurely breakfast and did a bit of cleanup on the boat. I also put two coats of varnish (Le Tonkinois) on both toe-rails; looking good.