Days 41-42, July 28-29 -- Johnstown Harbor to St Peter and Lay Day There -- 11 NM

The wind was the same as on the last passage -- 20 to 30 knots apparent and on our nose. We beat half way under small jib and reefed main, but doused sails and motored back through the narrow inlet, where we took a mooring. The Lakes' season is in full swing and St. Peters marina is much more crowded than it was some three weeks ago, but just as friendly. We took a walk to town where the hardware store actually had the small short flat head phillips bolts needed to hold the swim platform door on its hinges. We took Bennett to see the canal, its lock, and the lighthouse, but this time went further out on the Atlantic beach where the colors of the rocks were so various and the driftwood so dramatic.

We had dinner at the Bras D'or Inn again, though this time there were six in our party. We were with Bennett and were joined by three Canadians: Michael, on his 35 foot C and C, and his two guests, Sally and Ian. Their young 49 foot Jenneau raised deck salon is in Florida. All three are from Winnipeg, which I'd never thought to be a sailing center. But I learned that Lake Winnepeg has the same square mileage as all of England and they are all experienced sailors. Mike crewed on a Saga 43 for an 8000 mile passage from South Africa to the Caribbean. Sally and Ian have just given up their land base in Winnepeg. Their travels, since last we met Michael here in St. Peters, was outside, in the Atlantic  to Sydney, before reentering the Lakes at their northern end and coming south through them to here. Good food and good companions.

After dinner we attended the last of three hours of the "Kitchen Party", a diverse group of about a dozen musicians who sat in a circle in the marina's kitchen and one at a time, around their circle, chose and played and sang a song which the others (and audience members) joined. Guitars, accordion harmonica, fiddle, recorder, a box drum; Sea shantys, folk songs, celtic tunes and pop tunes of the 50's. They were in their 50's to 70's, played for themselves and each other (audience less souls than the musicians) and the fun they had jamming was infectious.
In the morning Susan and Tom of Gypsy Soul finally came over and had the sweet potato-mango-blueberry pancakes with bacon that we had promised them way back in Shelburne. We dinked Bennett ashore and said farewell. He and Harriett may sail their Ohana from the Harlem up to Cape Cod in the final days of our cruise in September.
It was a  chores day: watering, fueling, cleaning, laundry, provisioning and cooking in anticipation for our departure from these lovely lakes.

A good weather window is forecast with good winds from the north and northeast, and we plan to make the most of it, leaving as soon as the locks open at eight in the morning and going as far as we can, and possibly overnight to Halifax in one day instead of four that we used coming up. It would mean missing some choice spots, especially the highly recommended Liscomb Lodge, but we don't get reprieves from the strong steady SW winds often around here so we have to make the most of it. Next time: Liscomb, unless the weather changes.

Day 40, July 27 -- Eskasoni to Johnstown Harbor -- 18 NM

Well this morning was sunny and spent it on the Cultural Journey; we did not get underway until the early afternoon.  There were two bits of excitement during the passage.
The first was departing the dock. I released three of the lines and Bennett held us on with only the stern line as the wind was from our bow and slightly pushing us from the port side, onto the dock. I sat on the dock and pushed with my feet to direct the bow away from the dock. The only problem was that I waited a quarter of a second too long to jump up and jump on. Bennett later pointed out, correctly, that I'm not as young as i used to be. In any event, the boat was now fully detached from land and I was ashore! Lene reversed to stop our forward motion and let the wind push the boat back toward the dock until I could push off again and jump aboard, but I almost fell off backwards in jumping to the boat and Bennett saved me. Scary thankfully but neither boat nor man was scratched.
We threaded our way out through the islands by following our track in and then confronted winds of 25 to 30 knots from the direction we wanted to go and cold grey weather, the worst weather we have had in the Lakes, including seas of more than three feet. From the western end of the West Bay to Eskasoni in the East Bay the wind had 30 plus miles to build up the seas. We put up the reefed main and small jib and started tacking. But with that much wind and waves all pushing us back, though our tacking headings were 90 degrees apart, our course over ground tracks showed a much more compressed accordion pattern.
Then came the second of today's excitements. I looked back. "Its gone!" Our dinghy was not attached. We had to go back and try to find it. I thought of calling the Coast Guard, but first we turned back to look. I also dreaded calling my insurance company. With the wind as rough as it was, we should have hoisted the dink on its davit bar. And I should have done a better job of attaching it to its cleat. Five minutes later I spotted it, floating away with the wind. Lucky it is a RIB with a rather deep "V" planing keel, which, when sideways to the wind, slowed its progress down wind. We sailed back to her and then doused sails and used the engine to maneuver close to and downwind of her. I grabbed the dink from the top with the boat hook, which Bennett took and held while I used the other boat hook to grab the painter from under her bow, which I more carefully reattached to its cleat.  All three of us were warmed by such an immense feeling of relief and gratitude to whatever higher power is looking out for us.
After she was all tied up and we motored directly to the waypoint off Johnstown Harbor, which was literally directly into the wind. With the tacking and the detour we went a lot further than the nominal 18 miles. A long, slow, cold, grey, boring, motor passage with a rather easy entrance, with iNavix. The first anchorage, just to starboard after entry, but it was off a lee shore so we motored another .7 miles deeper into the harbor.
We anchored in fifteen feet of water under a windward shore with 60 feet of snubbed chain. We enjoyed one of the best meals of the cruise. I made a cocktail sauce and a mustard sauce and Bennett cracked all of the crab claws and we sucked down with pleasure all of sweet succulent meat of the many
 claws which had defrosted, as the bulk of our dinner. The wind was vastly diminished in the harbor, the waves nonexistent, and the predicted rain did not materialize. in the morning a beautiful place all around.

Day 39, July 26 -- Crammond Islands to Eskasoni -- 29 NM

We could have gone to Eskasoni before the Crammonds but the passage between them, either way, would be the longest of our passages in the Lakes, between its east and west bays. I chose the visit Crammonds first so that we could go east for this passage, with the expected prevailing southwesterlies behind us. But no wind today so we motored most of the way.

Elkasoni is an Indian Reservation on the north shore of East Bay, sheltered by The Indian Islands, an archipelago of small islands with a sinuous passage threaded through them with two spots of skinny water that Lene, operating the chart plotter navigated us through by instructions to me: "ten degrees to port," etc.  She made a perfect approach to fishing dock where no help was available. Bennett and I jumped off, secured the boat and put out our fenderboard to protect ILENE's hull from the rough dock face.
We had signed up to take the "Cultural Journey" the next day, a very interesting docent led tour of Goat Island (the east-west island in the NE corner nearest to our dock).

Bobbie was our guide assisted by others at each of the stations at which various aspects of the lives of the Mi'kmaq tribe of Native Americans.  we learned that by treaty rights the Mi'kmaqs are dual citizens of both the US and Canada.


We smudged, danced, made (and ate)bread on sticks,

sewed beads,

made "Bookmarks" and learned of the shelters, clothing hunting and tools of the tribe and then were given tea and bread. All this for $35 Canadian, at the senior rate. The tribe is fervently Roman Catholic and their celebration in July at Chappel Island, where we began our trip on the Lakes about three weeks ago is in honor of Saint Anne's Day, their adopted patron saint. Participation in the Cultural Journey waived the $10 daily dockage fee. Lene feared staying at an unprotected dock. A gang of kids was swimming nearby. She would have preferred anchoring in 18 feet of water in the harbor to the eight feet at the dock. But we are lucky that we docked.

The tribe's projects are supported by equal grants from the Provincial and Federal Governments. The tribe puts in the last 1/3 of the needed funds largely from its off shore commercial fishing industry. We learned this from Ken who opened the large modern building adjacent to the dock. This is not a very good picture, shot from Goat Island,  but ILENE is to the left and the office is too the right.

It houses the offices of the fishing operations and a considerable marine biology laboratory studying ways to restore the oyster industry which was eradicated by a disease accidentally imported from the Delaware River. He let us use the restrooms and dispose of our accumulated trash. He was proud of his work and introduced us to Dave, who supervises 40 tribal factory workers who process the larger claws of snow crabs. He drove us on a tour around the reservation and told us how much he admires the character of his employees and the progress they are making.  He also told us how much he misses his boat, which he sold a few years ago Bennett and I also took a tour of the plant, and came away with a bag of the most delectable frozen crab claws. Everyone we met in Eskasoni was so darned nice and friendly and generous.
Witty bade a bolt for freedom hiding in a large clump of bushes, but betrayed by the LED light on his collar.
The people here were so nice to us. One young mad came over and gave Lene a quality walking stick that his father had made. Another pointed out to us a rare sight he had never seen before: nine bald eagles floating together on as updraft above our heads. I wanted to visit Eskasoni only because it was the only place in the East Bay of the southern lake that seemed interesting. We received so much more from this visit.

Day 38, July 25 -- Maskells Harbor to the Crammond Islands -- 22 NM

It rained all morning with a forecast for clearing in the afternoon so we left at 11:30 and sailed, with the wind behind us, almost all of the way, under reefed main and headsail, except when raising and lowering the main and while passing the bridge.

There we furled the jib and hauled the main amidships to depower it and used the engine to have better control. We departed from the planned course so as to keep the wind about 140 degrees from the bow, on starboard until near the south coast of the south lake before jibing for the north entrance to the anchorage. Bennett enjoying a day of sailing.

The Crammonds are two islands, lying next to each other in a NS orientation in the western end of the southern lake. We did not follow the iNavix chartplotter closely enough and touched bottom on the way in sliding across the shallow spot. This was not the fault of the plotter but of the driver. We anchored with eighty feet of snubbed chain in 25 feet of water in the favored south east corner at about 3:45. About an hour later a second boat came in and anchored, it seemed, in the northwest corner. It looked like a Beneteau and was Canadian flagged.

Half an hour later we dinked over to say hello to the new neighbors, Bennett being a fellow Beneteau owner. It was Jim and Paula from the Armdale YC in Halifax aboard "Mairin." As soon as we got close Jim said "We are aground!" I asked if he had an anchor with a line rode, rather than chain, and he did. We took it and 100 feet of line in our dink, drove to various degrees off the port bow, and dropped it. But the first two tries failed: the anchor did not set and the windlass pulled the anchor to the boat instead of of pulling the boat to the anchor. We suggested setting a sail to heel the boat and they put out the main but while it heeled the boat, it was not far enough to break the bond between the keel and the bottom. When Jim gunned the engine, the boat pivoted a bit left and right but was still stuck. Bennett went aboard to help. The third time, between windlass and engine, Mairin got off. Bennett stayed aboard and I drove Lene back to to ILENE because she was cold and to start dinner,
In the morning the Mairin people dinked over to thank us with a bottle of wine and their information.

We chatted a while, they toured ILENE, and then Bennett and I followed them to the nearby sandy beach for a swim.

They followed us out of the anchorage, closely and uneventfully.
They felt foolish and I told them that we had kedged off in Malagawatch Harbor about a week before. I also told them of the time when a claming boat dragged us off the sand in the Chesapeake back in 2006. Knowing from our hailing port, New York City, that our wakes would likely never cross again, the clammer said: "You'll do the same for me next time." It is called "Paying it forward." The fact that sailors take such pleasure in being able to help each other is one of the aspects of sailing that makes me so pleased and proud to be a member of the sailing community.

Day 37, July 24 -- Baddeck Back to Maskells Harbor Again -- 5 NM

This day did not go as planned and, as you shall read, I'm not complaining. With four large bags of groceries, a stranger gave us a ride back to the marina. Baddeck people are friendly.

I had planned to visit the Highlands Cultural Center at Iona, about a half hour's walk from an anchorage behind a seawall at the western end of the bridge across Barra Passage, which connects the two big lakes. But neither Bennett nor Lene had visited the Bell Museum in Baddeck so we figured that even if we got to Iona much too late in the afternoon to visit the Cultural Center that day, we could go the next morning.  Next: lobster sandwiches (similar to what we call lobster rolls, except they make them on good white bread instead of those little hot dog buns).

We were off in the early afternoon for a pleasant sail with reefed main and small jib and I checked the weather forecast. The Iona anchorage, according to the cruising guide, is "good except for winds with a northerly component." With winds forecast starting WNW and ending ENE,we changed our plans enroute and Iona will have to be a destination for our next Nova Scotia cruise.  We chose to put in at Maskells Harbor again. We had only been there once, Bennett had never been there and Maskells is a beautiful place.

What a surprisingly pleasant day we had, and very different from our last visit. We took the mooring at the far end of the unnamed NE cove

and saw how big and well maintained it is. We were less than a hundred feet from shore on three sides but in 25 feet of water.



The cove is formed by a sand bar.

The folks from Romana and Deliverance during our prior visit here had told us of a hike and we saw a small raft serving as a dock near a boathouse. Bennett and I dinked ashore. The path was actually a rocky steep unpaved road rising from water's edge to quite an elevation and ended when it met another road. Rather by accident we turned right and continued for some distance, northerly, enjoying the views and the wildflowers. We came to a house with a big black dog outside, Katie, barking her head off while vigorously wagging her tail. A lady came out and quieted the dog and we talked. Her father acquired the home and land more than 60 years  ago. She summers here and lives in Oyster Bay in the other seasons. The views across the "Great Bras D'Or", which is what they call the southern arm of the northern lake, were breathtakingly beautiful.

In this picture we can see, at the left, the south shore of the south lake above the shoreline hills.













Here is a view of the entrance to Maskells Harbor from elevation.

Diana said she and Sergei had to take Katie down to the lake for a swim. We invited them to come aboard for some wine but a recent medical problem involving her legs currently prevents the dock to dinghy to boat transfers.

Bennett and I continued north for a while to a crest  and then turned back. After passing her house we met Diana and Sergei, who were driving back up to the house with Katie running along. She invited us, and Ilene, for wine at her house. I called Lene and told her to pack wine and cheese. Our new friends drove us back to the landing, I dinked out to get Lene and we drove back to the house and nibbled and imbibed.

The house was built in 1880 with several additions since then. It has many rooms is quaint and rustic in addition to being historic and lovely and computer equipped. It is powered mostly by solar and propane but has wood burning stoves and fireplaces. Diana's walls had photos of herself on racing boats and she mentioned that she had raced the Halifax Race. Lene is currently reading a biography of Queen Victoria and noticed a photo of people who looked like British royalty. Diana replied that her greatgrandmother and grandmother had been ladies in waiting to Queens Victoria and Mary, respectively. Sergei is Diana's cousin and retired as the Librarian of the Serbian Collection at the New York Public Library, where I volunteer. I just finished reading a biography of Catherine the Great and asked if he was Russian. Yes, White Russian -- his family had fled following the death of the last Tsar. I mentioned "Pale Fire" by Nabakov, a fellow White Russian, whose course in Modern European literature i took at Cornell:  "Yes, he was my cousin."

 They asked if we could stay for dinner, and we ended up cooking it, of Diana's provisions, following her instructions. A very unusual, different and enjoyable evening. Diana maintains a guest book in which visitors can write their thoughts about their visits and we each made entries.

After walking back to ILENE, we reread the cruising guide which states that Diana's Father, "one of the early summer residents of this area ... was responsible for getting the name 'Boulaceet' changed to Maskells Harbor." The guide thanked Diana by name and other residents in the area, for their generosity to visiting cruisers.

A wonderful and different day. Here is a view of the house from ILENE after exiting the Harbor.

Days 35-36, July 22-23 -- Round Trip from Baddeck to Indian Cove in Washabuck River -- 14 NM

After gassing and returning the Jeep Renegade, some provisioning and scoring some souvenirs, we set off for our night's destination, a vacant cove in the Washabuck, (which, I believe, has nothing to do with money laundering). The passage was a beat on starboard in 30 to 35 knots of apparent wind with just the small jib. We were heeled considerably but despite all that wind, the seas, though flecked with whitecaps, were not greater than about 18 inches high. Roughest passage in the Bras Dor Lakes.

Eighty feet of snubbed chain between our bow and the hook. and a peaceful night of solitude

except for the period of torrential rain. Why can't humankind use our God given brains to figure out a way to always make the rain fall during the night. The return trip, after pumping ot the dink, involved less wind and a pleasant

beamy port reach.

Then boat cleaning and laundry and provisioning. We also scored some lovely small hand crafted butcher block boards but for serving, not for cutting.

Days 33-34, July 20-21 -- A Two Day Road Trip on the Cabot Trail -- Zero Nautical Miles

Our friend Bill, who we first met in Maine and later in the Caribbean and in North Carolina, is the person who first told me about sailing to Nova Scotia's Bras D'or Lakes. His advice is always good and his latest tip: "Don't miss the Cabot Trail. It is about 187 miles along much of the coasts of the eastern half of Cape Breton. We drove this road counterclockwise, to be one lane closer to the sea and so the passenger had the better view. There are about fifteen long road blocks caused by construction to improve the road. We stayed overnight in Dingwall at a B and B called Channel Breezes, with a full breakfast served by our hosts. Unfortunately they were booked in the house but were able to offer us accommodations in an RV parked out back.

The road signs on the first day, along the Atlantic, are in English and Gaelic, and the Scottish heritage is everywhere. The second day, along the Gulf of St. Lawrence, they are only in English and the place names are largely French.

The sight and smell of conifers was everywhere with many wild flowers including white and red clover, beach roses, red plants that looked like flocks, tiny purple flowers that hugged the ground, white Queen Anne's Lace, yellow buttercups and daises, flowers that looked like dandelion except smaller, with several blossoms on a single taller stem, and this beautiful weed that looks like a thistle (a Scottish symbol) except it is smaller and thornless!

Perhaps my college roommate, Stan, a retired geneticist whose first love is botany, can provide the answer.

The rest of this post is pictures. First at Cape Smokey, elevation 600 feet,

then at the Middle Head Trail just past the Keltic Lodge at Ingonish, looking back at Cabot Head and elsewhere

Green Cove, which is really red, looking back at both Ingonish and Cabot Head.

Our favorite, out on White Point,

seen here from Dingwall.

Our trailer home:

Pleasant Bay

Lone Sheiling, a recreated Scottish peasant's hut

and Skyline trail, where we hiked the hour out with Steven and Melanie from Halifax

and where you can see Cheticamp Island.

During the hike out to the point is was very foggy

and then it rained but it cleared when we arrived.

We showered and attended "Murder at The Baddeck Inn" a late 70's farce put on by Theater Baddeck. Two full days ashore, but with lots of looks at the sea. 

The crew welcomed us home but asked that we not leave them alone again.

Days 31-32, July 18-19 -- Round Trip from Baddeck to Maskells Harbor -- 10NM

Maskells is only five NM from Baddeck but we jibed our way there and tacked our way back, using genoa only in moderate air. ILENE was heeled and Lene was happy.

In fact, on the way back we went the long way around, through Baddeck's western entrance, to prolong the sail.

I had bothered two friends and arranged for a technician to come look at our inverter, which had stopped working. Not a critical piece of equipment unless you consider our vacuum cleaner an essential appliance. Columbus didn't have one. Anyway, I discovered the cause: I had shut off the "Ship's Power" breaker! This did not affect any other electrical functions we use except the vacuum cleaner (and the heat gun used to soften rubber hoses to get them off and on their metal or plastic hard attachment ports.) I was able to cancel the service call.

At Maskells we made friends with Dave and Jane on  s/v "Romana", a very seaworthy and spacious older Corbin yacht, a brand that I was not familiar with, and  Al and Alta of s/v "Deliverance, a smaller Beneteau with a distinctive red swoosh on its freeboard. Nice folks; well they are sailors. after all -- from the north seaward coast of Cape Breton. They were rafted to each other on a mooring which the owner of the land in that area makes available, first come, first served, at no cost. We anchored and the place is big and deep. We were in 25 feet, no risk of grounding. Another extremely quiet night. Our new friends' boats at dawn. ?They had invited us for happy hour the evening before and we gave them a tour of ILENE after breakfast.

  Deliverance had left early for Baddeck on a grocery run and we saw and hailed them as they were leaving with their provisions.
As we left we shot Maskells' lighthouse,

and the entrance, between the two headlands, from a distance.

Maskells is the exception to the rule I reported earlier about the answer to the question: "What is your favorite anchorage?" Several folks said Maskells.
Here is the view on our paper chart and in the cruising guide.

We were in the NW cove, said to be the favored spot. There were five boats all in all, three in the cove.

Back at Baddeck, blogging, shopping, and planning for both a two day road trip and the arrival of our friend, Bennett, from New York. He will sail with us for five days, while we hit some new spots on our way back to St. Peters.

Days 29 & 30, July 16 &17 -- Cassells Cove to Baddeck and Layday --19 NM

A bit overcast which turned sunny in the afternoon. An easy passage today, after exiting the Cove after another calm night anchored in 14 of its 18 feet of water. I showed Lene how to raise anchor, so next time she can do it. It is more complicated than it sounds on ILENE with snubber removal, deck wash and securing the anchor once it is up.
Using the computer to stay on the track we made when we came in -- in the center of the deepest part, where the chart said that should have been much more water -- we passed harmlessly over the eight foot spot. Once out we sailed under Genoa alone at about four knots on a beam and then a broad reach to the Barra Strait, connecting the two lakes, and up the Strait to the bridges. The white church atop Hectors Point, the Strait's SW headland, (toward the right in this picture)  will look beautiful with a blue sky behind it.

 The railroad bridge is permanently open after the demise of the railroads. We furled sail as is requested and motored through the opening of the adjacent roadway bridge, seen here from two miles away.

The bridge tender asked us to switch to Channel 10 and took care of us, raising the drawbridge from both sides to let us pass, for which we thanked him on Sunday morning. There is tidal current in the Strait and it was with us, about a knot. We passed both Iona and Maskells Harbor, to port, both of which we plan to visit soon. I'll get the pictures on the way back. But wind was diminished in the Strait and from astern so we motored the rest of the way to Baddeck.

Baddock is the northernmost point of this cruise and of s/v ILENE's life at least for this summer. It was our intended destination and it a beautiful small harbor created by nearby Kidston Island off the north coast of the lake. We have put 815 NM under our keel to get here.

But unlike every other place we have visited so far, without reservations we could not get a mooring. We circled for about half an hour and finally the people at the Bras d'Or YC helped us onto the central town dock, where we spent two nights, protected from its pilings by a fenderboard that some kind person had left behind. $50 per night. In Mr. Dunlop's photo (which was a mural at the local coop food market) we are on the long side of the dock near its red roofed manager's building. We are right next to the Bras D'or YC

Both ILENE's are looking good and are happy.

At the end of our dock we saw s/v "Amoeba", a schooner taking tourists on harbor rides with up to five sails flying.

A pretty sight. We were asked to look out for her by our friends, Bill and Sandy they also knew the schooner from when she operates the same business in the winter in the Caribbean. Same boat but sorry Bill, the son in law is operating her now. Also, across the way from us was Mark and Liz's s/v "SavingGrace", a Saga 43 that is two years younger than ILENE.

Mark and Liz are Canadians, from Toronto but live aboard and we got together for dinner

and a sweet potato-mango pancake breakfast and to discuss our mutual similar boats and our differing adventures,

The "No Room At The Inn" problem caused  us to reorder our plans for the next few days. We had planned to rent a car for two days to drive The Cabot Trail, a big coastal loop of beautiful scenery -- leaving the cats with lots of food and water and access to both inside and out; they can handle it. But docks are not suitable for this because they afford to many opportunities for the mischief makers to get themselves into trouble and we wanted them securely on a mooring rather than our anchor. After the two days on land, we had planned to visit a few more nearby nearly vacant coves. Also, no car rental was available until Thursday and hotel accommodations for our one night on land were also difficult to come by. So we swapped the time for the nearby coves and made reservations for a mooring and a car rental back at Baddeck starting Thursday morning.

Alexander Graham Bell a Scottish immigrant to the US, loved this area and built a large home on the big hill overlooking the area on 335 acres that his family still owns and occupies in the summer called Beinn Brhreagh, Scottish for "Beautiful Hill," viewable only from the water.

The Canadian Government operates a large modern museum about him,

which tells his life and has several theaters for videos and a very open look throughout -- it is very not crowded. He started with his family business of audiology and became a teacher of the deaf where he met his wife, a student there, and he devoted himself to philanthropy including especially the deaf. The museum's focus was on his Baddeck activities and other inventions besides the telephone. These included structural use of tetrahedrons, flight (motorized and by kite) and more that a century before the recent Americas Cup was raced on hyrdofoils, the building of huge propeller driven hydrofoils intended for use by the navy. in WWI.

he also was concerned with the greenhouse effect, a century before his time.

We will be back in a couple of days.