29 Aug 15

Never before in the course of my long and eventful life have I been thrice awakened in the night by the call of the loon …. until last night. I have a new appreciation for the term “crazy as a loon”. It was calm all night and when we awoke, the glass was up to 1013 mb, and still calm. We got underway toward Harbor Island Cove about 09:00. The coast of mainland Nova Scotia is much lower and somewhat flatter than that to which we have grown accustomed over the last couple of months; more like northern Maine, although the pine trees are even more stunted and scrubby. And very rocky! Fortunately, it is unlike Maine in one significant respect: NO lobster pots - navigation is so much easier if all you have to worry about is rocks that will rip the bottom out of your boat. As forecast, the wind was WSW/SW 15 - 20 (i.e., right on the nose). It was quite lumpy outside, but the Admiral bit down on a bullet and we pounded through it; total distance for the day was 45 N-m, but we got about 8 miles of sheltered cruising behind Goose Island, and of course the last 7 miles up the St. Marys River was sheltered and very pleasant. We actually sailed about half way up the river until the wind dropped off to practically nothing. We had the anchor down before 17:00 about 1/2 mile south of historic Sherbrooke (“oh, I wish I was in Sherbrooke now”). Since we passed by (and did not stop in) Harbor Island Cove to get to Sherbrooke, we are now two days ahead of our schedule for making Halifax. While we were enjoying dinner and the sunset, Donny Fraser, lifetime resident and boating ambassador for Sherbrooke, stopped by for a chat and to offer his assistance if we needed anything in town, which was very nice and right neighborly.  

http://youtu.be/qzrO-Kduc-I

45-07.895’N, 061-58.988’W

30 Aug 15

We crashed before 22:00 last night (big Saturday night, huh?), so we were up just after 06:00 to watch a cool, partly cloudy, but beautiful dawn. After breakfast, we picked up the anchor and moved the boat a few yards to the town floating dock (on the recommendation of Donny Fraser, from last night) and went up to visit historic Sherbrooke. This is a beautifully restored town, done up as it was in its heyday of the 1890s. Most of the houses are in their original position and only a few had to be restored. There are folks walking around in period costume to explain the history of the town and how they did things back in the day. During a chat with the ladies at the information center, I was dismayed to discover that Sherbrooke was not incorporated until 1815 (i.e., well after 1778), which puts into question the entire story of “Barrett’s Privateers” and the sorry history of the “Antelope” sloop; further research is required. Dinner aboard and afterwards, we walked back up into town to take advantage of Beanie’s Bistro’s free WiFi. Forecast looks good for tomorrow’s short run to Liscomb.