Day 19, July 6 -- Halifax to Malagash Cove -- 53.3 NM

Underway from 8:30 to 5 today. It was dead calm at the start while I raised the main. A few gusts as we headed down and out of the Northwest arm. We passed the tower commemorating the first democratic legislative body in the Americas, in about 1750,

a much-too-big Florida type house

and Horseshoe Light on McNab Island, guarding Halifax Harbor.

Wind gradually came up and we were able to sail with full sails at six knots and shut down the noisemaker. The wind built so we were making seven and more, but is was never a rough wind and the seas stayed down. Let's say that the kitties liked this passage, sleeping through most of it. Lene napped too; it was the kind of day at sea she needed. A bright sunny yet cool day, but not cold.

We passed the abandoned light (just a tower now) on Devils Island,

the south end of Long Island (about a mile long),

and north of tiny Egg Island.

We started with a plan: go to Owls Head, but with an option --  go further, if the wind permitted. I plotted courses to Owls Head (38.8 NM), Mason Cove in Tangier Harbor (46.9 NM), Bull Beach in Mushaboom Harbor (52.4 NM) and finally, Malagash Cove - via The Gates, in Sheet Harbor (53.3 NM). And we kept sailing as the wind waned. When it got useless and boat speed came down to 4.5 knots we motored the rest of the way, dropping anchor in 20 feet of water with snubbed chain.

Except for a freighter on the horizon as we left Halifax and two fishing boats that were miles away we saw no boats. Malagash Cove is huge, but we are the only boat here though there are three houses and we did hear the sound of pwer equipment in the afternoon. 

The interesting and exciting part of today's passage was its end, the passage through The Gates, which are narrower than they look. We took down all sails before The Gates to avoid being blown off course what with the late afternoon winds coming up to 20 knots.

It reminded me of our entry  into Roque Harbor in Maine in 2013. Here is a screen shot showing our track from Lene's iPad with iNavix. The dotted line is our track, with the blue triangle at the top, representing us on our anchor after threading our way through.

With the mileage made today, I'm thinking we can cut the distance from Halifax to St Peter into three legs, instead of four.