ILENE THE BOAT: August 14 - 16 — Days 37 - 39 — Digby NS to Grand Manan Island, Lay Day and Back To The USA

We left Digby with a nice slack tide in the Gut, the only problem being the ferry at the dock which we passed. I tried to be a good citizen by calling to ask if we should wait for her to go out or go out ahead of her. The answer was that she would leave in five or ten minutes so we hurried to get past her, but then she stayed for 20 minutes — annoying.

We put up sails once through the rough spot in the Gut. Fog became a recurring visitor, as it did on the second passage in this report, occasionally very dense, sometimes better, with up to half a mile of visibility, and other times totally absent.

Again in good periods we were making seven knots with Main and jib, other times less. From hearing the ferry’s fog horn when she came out behind us headed to Saint John and “seeing” two fishing boats headed south along the coast of Nova Scotia, but only on AIS — no boats til a mile off Grand Manan.

Grand Manan, I always thought was a French name but I was only half right; it means Big Island, with only the first word from French, the second being a contraction of the Native American word for island, Mananuk. It is about 13 miles long and much closer to the Maine side of Fundy than the Nova Scotian side. So the shipping separation lanes to Saint John, each a mile wide and separated by a mile wide “median strip”, were crossed during our passage to Grand Manan. These lanes are designed to prevent collisions between incoming and outgoing freighters. We crossed the northbound lane in deep fog and the southbound in clear sunlight. The former was not very scary because such “big boys” transmit AIS and would show up big on our radar. This is the west coast of the big island from eight miles out. As we got closer we could see a lot of the coast of Maine and New Brunswick at its sides.

We were told to take any available yellow mooring in North Cove and there were several of them, and free. Fortunately, the strong winds, which later died out, were from the west so the island blocked the big waves. The blue-green boats in the next pic are in the employ of the nearby fish farming operations. The huge ferry dock is off screen to the left. Behind the crane on the raft in the foreground, you can just barely see a blue sailboat, which will come into this narrative later.

The lay day was not a very good one. Our hike to the north end was marred by a steady drizzle which also prevented the vistas from the island’s heights and by boggy trails through campgrounds with lovely big tents and living areas covered by suspended tarps that families had set up. Swallowtail Light House was mostly oconcealed by scaffolding to permit its resurfacing.
Then a long walk south for milk and bread, a mediocre lunch out and, after depositing Lene aboard I went in to fill three empty one gallon fresh water bottles. No water at the dock so I walked to the ferry office to use the sink in their men’s room. But a sign said “not potable.” What to do? The ladies in the office said to fill from the five gallon bottled water fountain. “Three gallons?” I asked. Yes was the reply but it ran dry after 2.5 and I was not about to complain. We have plenty, now.

But then the problem happened which provided opportunities for so many people to help me. All sailors love helping other sailors; for me, less so being the recipient of help. But I got a lot of help from many people in North Cove.

The dinghy outboard would not start. We do not have oars, just canoe paddles, which work if Lene is with me, but are very inefficient when alone. I hailed Mark of the beautiful light blue 47 foot Cambria sloop mentioned above, “Spirit of Tobomory” out of Toronto. I asked to use his tools, which he provided. He was rafted against an out of season fishing boat tied to the high concrete fishing dock. Mark provided tools but in the process of my adjusting things the spring sprung off, out and into the 30 foot deep frigid water. Now our only hope was a mechanic. Mark called Lene for me so she should not worry. He allowed me to photo the mechanism and sent the pics to Lene’s phone. A retired gentleman named George, watching from the fixed concrete dock high above, said he knew a great local Yamaha mechanic but could not recall his name or number. He offered to take me there in his truck. But it was blocked by two tractor trailers, one behind the other, on one side of the broad pier and two cranes on the other side, waiting to take the load, high sided four foot wide canvas bags of fish food for the nearby aquaculture factory farming operation onto the boat to take them there. But the boat was not there yet. Amazingly the drivers moved their trucks to free George’s pickup. He took me to the place he knew, but the secretary there said that Darryl (his phone is 506-662-3361 should you need such services) had left for the day but gave me his number to call in the morning. George drove me back. I got back on the dink and prepared to paddle out perhaps 150 yards to ILENE. But an aquafarming work boat was passing by and when hailed, towed me in the dink out to ILENE. I had a poor night’s sleep over anxiety about the next day.

We had previously asked George and a companion about the tides if we want to leave that day, and learned that 11 am was the time to leave (noon if we stayed another day).

The activities offered at Grand Manan, in addition to hiking (some long trails but they expect us to drive to and from the trailheads), electric bikes and whale watching tours. None of these had great appeal for us. There is an arts scene, but not for those without motor vehicles.

So Grand Manan provided less for us than we had expected.

We called Mark and he said we could raft up ILENE to his boat, but he planned to leave at 10:30.

We called Darryl who came ou to the dock while we moved our boat to it. He did not have the spring, which would have to be ordered, but explained that the mechanism involving the spring is designed to idiot proof the outboard to prevent people from starting it while in gear. He removed and gave me a part to be saved and reinstalled with the spring this fall. We tested the outboard and it works. He also taught me about the air valve on the gas tank and suggested a way to prevent water seeping into the squeeze bulb primer. He asked for $40 Canadian, worth $30US. We thanked him profusely and were off.

Here is “Spirit of Tobermory” on the way out.

The two passages from Digby to Maine represent our third crossing of the Bay of Fundy. The first was in 2017, across its mouth, from the southern tip of Nova Scotia to Mt. Desert Island on return from our cruise that summer. The second was from St. John to Digby across its northern end. This time it was a diagonal SWcourse leading back to Maine. The bold cliffs of the north and west sides of Grand Manan were obscured by fog at the beginning, but came into view.

The tide was wrong at first; we were too early. But as adverse tide slowed and was replaced by more favorable tide out speed picked up. We used Main and Genoa and turned off the diesel. The wind got lighter and we slowed gradually, to less than four knots before we furled and motored. We started with two alternative potential destinations in mind. Cutler, where we stoped while outbound was nearest. Roque Island came next, a favorite, but not this year. We went further to a “new” anchorage (for us) in Eastern Bay by Great Wass Island. Very close to The Cow Yard, where we stayed on the way out.

The green line I drew on at the right shows our route to and from The Cow Yard. The red line, north through narrow straight and clear Main Channel Way, is how we went in. A high pink smooth marble wall to starboard. Most of the area north of us in the cove where we anchored, is filled with a commercial fish farm, seen only in silhouette in the pretty, untouched sunset picture. And for our way out next day we plan to exit through wide but rock strewn Mud Hole Channel, further west. Here are views from ILENE on anchor with 60 feet of snubbed chain in 20 feet of water.