Staying another day here in Yarmouth hoping the promised front will deplete the fog enough for us to take the scenic route through Schooner Passage in the Tusket Islands tomorrow. If the fog is still here, we will make a straight run with the current down and around Cape Sable Island. It is imperative that we time the current since it runs as high as 4-5 kts around the southern Nova Scotia coast. Once past Cape Sable Island, we have been assured that the fog and the big currents will be gone. It's about a 40 nm run and, fortunately, the time that the current runs in our favor is from mid morning until mid afternoon. We can easily maintain 6 kt through the water, and even if the current provides only 1 kt of lift we will be in good shape.

Rain early this morning indicated the front was passing so we made a leisurly departure from Liverpool/Brooklyn expecting winds to fill from the west and dissipate the fog.

Well...we came to realize that fog is a tenatious substance and we motor-sailed along. Amazing how the horizontal visibilty can be less that a quarter of a mile but one still needs sunglasses because the vertical optical depth is quite small.

As we entered Lunenberg Bay, things improved and we entered the harbor looking for dock space. Two possibilities were the Scotia Trawler dock and moorings or the Atlantic Maritime Museum dockside. Well, when talking to both of these facilities originally, the concept of a sailing vessel docking seemed to be an entirely unheard of idea! Eventually however, Mike, the accommodating manager of the restaurant at the museum, got the whole deal straightened out. We tied up to the museum's wharf.

Schneider boarded a bus for Yarmouth and then the ferry for Portland. Sandy & I strolled about the town enough to confirm that we needed to spend more time on the return trip in August.

We waited for the museum workday to begin so we could use the facilities and arrange for a return of a key Mike kindly provided. We left the dock shortly after nine headed for the Scotia Trawler gas dock and, after the usual delays, we topped off and finally got to moving near 10:30 a.m.

There was no fog on the outside!!

On the other hand there was no wind to sail in either. What breeze developed was astern and we motored and motor-sailed until around 4:30 p.m. when we were close to entering the Halifax approach off Sambro Shoal. Then the wind picked up to 15-18 kt and, since we had to turn 30° north, in a more favorable direction. We put up both sails and, for the next couple of hours, had a terrific, vigorous sail on a beam, then a close reach, into Halifax harbor. Winds 20 - 30 kts and a strange harbor made arrival in Halifax exciting, but we were also quite happy to hear the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron had space available.

Living the yacht club life! The Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, the oldest yacht club in all of North America, was sufficiently impressed with the cut of Infrared's jib that we are on a floating dock, not a mooring, a mere 100 meters from the clubhouse bar.

The club is a few miles from of Halifax's center city so we hopped a bus and visited the town this afternoon. This is a very attractive city!

We spent a few hours as tourists at the Halifax Citadel, the largest of a number of forts around this city and on the hightest point. From the history we learned at the fort, Halifax was a significant British stronghold during their struggles with the French over who would own Canada, and also with the Americans during the revolution when there was some thought by our side, and also by some Nova Scotians, about making Canada part of the USA. Hence all the forts.

We expect to dine tonight at the RNSYS, but look forward to spending much more time in Halifax, itself, this weekend.

The club is hosting a rally of Nonsuch yachts this weekend. Since I look upon these as some of the ugliest boats invented, I will be curious to possibly meet some of the owners to find out what they were thinking when they wrote a check for such a creation.

Spending the day doing some chores like trying to change the oil in the Yanmar. Why those zany Japanese engineers refuse to simply put an oil pan drain plug in the damned thing is beyond me. Bought a cheap hand pump at WalMart but all it did was make a big mess.

We went to the Binnacle, a most complete small marine store, where I bought another pump for another try at the oil change. Also purchased another eight charts to fill in gaps in my already extensive inventory.

We will venture into town for a rollicking Saturday night (or, at least, for dinner) shortly.

Still at the RNSYS, which is not a bad thing. Still working on accomplishing the oil change, which is a very bad thing! Eventually, it was done, but I will not be doing this again any time soon. It will be left to professionals, with a proper pump for sucking the old oil from the pan.

Finn arrived today after a relatively uneventful flight by way of Toronto. He will be on board for the next week or so when we will be in the Bras D'Or Lakes at Badddeck.

We had been planning on leaving Halifax tomorrow morning, but the weather looks sufficiently threatening that we will likely stay another day and take off on Wednesday.

The weather was too ugly to take off, so we are remaining in Halifax another day.

We went back into downtown this afternoon, ate some lunch and wandered about. Occasionally it was rainy but not horrible enough to prohibit some sightseeing.

Sandy and I ate at the yacht club after shopping at Sears, Walmart, and the liquor store on the way back to the boat.

We departed Halifax this morning around 10:30 a.m. giving the morning fog time to lift. The wind did not cooperate very much so it was motor sailing once again.

The sea state was a bit bumpy with ocean rollers pushing us around so we were happy to pull into Owl's Head Bay at the entrance to Ship's Harbor. This is about 40 nm from Halifax and seemed to be a favorable place to anchor.

As we pulled into a place called Owl's Head Harbor on the chart, we saw a few moorings, most of which were unoccupied. Obviously there was no harbormaster, so we pulled up one of the moorings figuring that we were staying on the boat anyway, and if the owner showed up we would move. No one showed up and it was a great place to stay.

The cruising guide and a number of other cruisers had pointed out that Liscomb Harbor was the best spot for an overnight between Halifax and St. Peters, particularly since it is located about half way between the two. But, the other reason it is not to be missed is the Liscomb Lodge.

Had it not been for the supplementary maps in the cruising guide, we never would have had the temerity to navigate the river for 5 nm to the inn. It was very interesting motoring up a progressively narrowing river to find a great spot that it turned out to be.

The lodge is owned by the Province of Nova Scotia and has a small, but unoccupied, dock where we tied up. It also had dock side fuel and an excellent restaurant. It also has Chester Rudolf, the dockmaster, who is reason enough to come to the lodge.

Sandy had decided that she was sufficiently damp and chilly that a room at the lodge was a must. So we ate plank seared salmon in the restaurant and slept in a real bed. We will definitely stop here for a few days on the way back.

This was the best day weather wise that we have had in Canada. Favorable (but not perfect winds) had us sailing for about five hours. It was a close to beam reach on south winds of 6-10 kts and, under these conditions, Infrared can do better than 6 kt.

We were is bit late leaving the lodge so time began to run a little tight since we wanted to go through Andrew Passage to get to Canso. These passages are routes through the islands and shoals that have two main attractions. They are often short cuts of course, but best of all, they are sheltered from the sea swells that can get tiresome when there is the usual south-southwesterly wind. They have the additional feature of great scenery, having close up views of the islands and the violently breaking surf over the shoals. Needless to say, good piloting is a must. One needs the right charts and good visibility, and GPS is huge!

We entered Andrew Passage about 7:00 p.m. and it was spectacular. Late day lighting and the clear skies made it perfect. We arrived in Canso just before sunset and found the marina mentioned in the guides.

According to all reports, Canso is not doing well economically. The fish processing plant is barely operating and there is simply nothing else to provide jobs. There were nasty labor disputes several years ago, during which some visiting yachts were vandalized, so the town has a very bad reputation in the boating world. Unfortunately, other than a quite satisfactory marina, there are no other ammenities. The only restaurant closed last year, and the only bar in town is a pretty sorry sight.

We were greeted at the dock by the dockmaster and, what we have found to be, the customary group of older folks who gather to socialize at the marina. There is no shortage of hospitality here in Nova Scotia, and Canso is right in line with the program. The boys were steaming snow crabs and insisted that we help ourselves to them. They said they felt bad that the restaurant had closed!

Woke up this morning to pouring rain. That's not an exaggeration: it was pouring! It was too nasty to head out so we are staying over, expecting much improved conditions tomorrow.

The rains cleared overnight and the morning was sunny and breezy. Those were perfect conditions for sailing so off we went to Cape Breton. This was the best sailing day we have had so far; bright sunshine, a 6-10 kt wind on our beam, and near perfect sea state. We flew the asymmetrical spinnaker most of the way while dueling with a Dutch yacht that eventually edged us out for first to the canal.

The entrance to the Bras D'Or Lake is a canal at St. Peters. There is one lock and a swinging bridge and it was quite the picturesque experience. We found the St. Peters Marina just inside the lake and pulled into an almost new floating pier with all the ammenities. We will stay at least until Tuesday and head toward Baddeck if the weather cooperates.

We stayed in St. Peters yesterday (Monday) and also for today. There will be a frontal passage tonight or tomorrow morning so we decided to wait out the showers & thunderstorms. It's not a very difficult decision, this is a nice place to hang out.

With bright sunshine, but brisk wind, we took a walking tour of St Peters. A car isn't a requirement; the town isn't that big. They have a walking path on the old railroad bed along the ocean waterfront (as opposed to the lakefront) which is both scenic and unpopulated. Then, down to the canal, through which we had entered St. Peters, and watched some folks catch small mackrel (or however those fish spell their name) from the shore. We ate at the Bras D'Or Inn, one of the better spots we have found. Good seafood and very good German dishes.

Today we went for a day sail up toward the big lake. There is no question why people who have sailed here rave about it. It is indescribably beautiful. We sailed around islands, inlets, and close-in shore for two hours up and two hours back. Although there are some isolated, and, in some cases, quite grand homes, it is mostly dense forested land. We saw no moose or bear although it is definitely the landscape where it wouldn't be a surprise if one appeared. The sailing was perfect; at one point we had a double reef in the main and a furled head sail and still did a steady 6.8 kt on the 18-24 kt wind.

We will likely leave tomorrow when the weather has passed. There is a stop on the way to Baddeck, called the Cape Breton Smokehouse. It appears to be a lodge with a dock and ,of course, a smokehouse. We are ahead of schedule to meet Kyle in Baddeck next Monday so such added attractions can be seen!

Day before yesterday (Wednesday) we left St. Peters and headed up through St. Peters Bay to the actual Bras D'Or Lake. We were planning on stopping overnight at the Smokehouse in Little Harbor, a distance of only about 18 nm so we didn't need an early start.

The showers moved through around dawn, so by 11:00 a.m. the sun returned and we set off with a nice north-northwest breeze and clear blue skies. We hoisted sail immediately to sail again through the islands out to the lake. By the time we reached the lake, the wind had picked up to 15-18 kt and we were close hauled and, even with the spectra cruising sails, a double reef in the main and a reefed head sail, Infrared was plowing up the lake at a steady 7.2 kt. I don't think the boat can go any faster, that's the theoretical terminal velocity for a 36 ft waterline! Infrared must really like salt water, I can't make that kind of speed in the Bay.

Unfortunately, that brisk wind was almost dead on the nose for our destination. But, since we had plenty of time, we tacked back and forth to get to Little Harbor. The Smokehouse has a dock but not enough water for us, so we threw the anchor overboard and inflated the dingy. The restaurant is run by some German folks and the smoked salmon was terrific. Other menu items were so-so. It is a mystery, however, how such place can make any money. We were there at the height of the tourist season and there were at most 15 other people in the place. The building is a huge, new log structure that was exactly what one would think of as a luxurious lodge in the north woods. But where are the revenues?

We pulled up anchor Thursday morning and started out for Baddeck. The winds were very light but on a favorable point of sail so we shut off the diesel and were able to sail at 4.5 kts in a 4.8 kt wind, very pleasant. The wind died about 3 nm from Barre Straight where there is a draw bridge and a narrow opening. We paused for lunch in the calm, and no sooner had we chomped into the sandwiches than we saw the wind moving down the lake. Within 15 minutes, we were back up to 12-15 kt wind, again on the nose. We sailed up to Barre Straight, dropped the sails to motor under the bridge.

In the narrows, the wind and wave conditions were becoming more severe. Breaking 3-6 ft waves rolling into us and 18-20 kts of wind made the passage through the 30 meter wide bridge span an attention getter. It's only about 9 nm from the bridge to Baddeck and we motored, slogging along with water constantly over the bow and wind and waves retarding our SOG to 2.5-3.5 kt. Eventually we entered the harbor at Baddeck and tied up to a noisy floating dock at the Baddeck Yacht Club.

The dockmaster is also the bartender and after two minutes of instruction about the facilities, we spend the next half hour at the bar talking to some of the local guys, one of whom was a coal miner in Sydney. We got the local take on the region.

We will stay here until Tuesday or so. Kyle and Abbie are to arrive Monday for the jump to New Foundland. By then we will know all the good places to eat and drink!

We are spending some leisurely time in Baddeck. We walked around town a bit yesterday and spent the afternoon reading, napping (Sandy), and doing boat chores (Bob). I went swimming to check the zincs and do some hull cleaning. I have seen no one else over the age of twelve swimming in Nova Scotia!

The weather on Friday was perfect for the entire day. Blue sky and air temperatures in the upper 70's to maybe the low 80's.

There are only two real bars in Baddeck, but the one at the Baddeck Yacht Club has the best view in the harbor, and it's close by. We went for cocktails and then on to the Yellow Cello Cafe for dinner last night.

Today we expect to look around some more, but anticipate another low key day.

Yesterday afternoon we visited the Alexander Graham Bell Museum here in Baddeck. It seems that he spent most of his time here with his family after that telephone business really took off. He got into the whole idea of sound and speech, leading to telephony, when he became involved in teaching deaf people how to speak early in his adult life.

We met up with the crew of Nessie out of Halifax, Steve and Sarah Marie, for drinks and dinner. Drinks at the Canadian Legion Hall, one of the two bars in town, then dinner at the Lobster Suppers, a place with a limited menu but all you can eat mussels and clam chowder with either planked salmon or lobster. What a deal!

Today we are to pick up a rent-a-car. Now this may not be a sure think, there is a pretty casual business attitude up here in the Canadian north. Anyway, our plan is to drive up the Cabot Trail on the top of Cape Breton Island and see some moose and other scenery.

Kyle and Abbie arrived yesterday. We met them at the airport in Sydney in the rent-a-van and then briefly visited downtown Sydney and chatted with some folks at the Royal Cape Breton Yacht Club. It looked like a good place to stop if we end up in Sydney.

Rain and considerations with the current have kept us in Baddeck today. Tomorrow we leave for Newfoundland. We are considering the possibility of heading directly to St. Pierre and Miquelon if the weather and sea state are not awful. Otherwise, it's up the coast to Neils Harbor and then off to Port aux Basque.

We arrived in the western-most extension of France late on Thursday. The wind and sea conditions looked to be favorable and the fact that we had a crew of four made the 200 nm crossing reasonable on the way up rather than on the way back (as I had shown on the annimated itinerary). St. Pierre et Miquelon are a collection of islands that remain actual French territory. This is a result of a long history of conflict and treaty agreements over fishing rights in these waters. At present, the fishing industry is essentially down the drain so it is truly a strange arrangement.

Our sail took a total of 36 hours, having left Baddeck at 0830 Wednesday and arriving in St. Pierre at 2030 Thursday. It was a very interesting crossing. We had wind from every possible direction varying on a time scale of a few hours. For a while it was sunny, calm and quite warm, then it cooled off, then by evening the fog rolled in. The entire overnight part of the trip was in dense fog, so much that it was occasionally difficult to see beyond the bow rail. Radar picked up only one other vessel which never closed within 3 nm, so the foggy night was more boring than scary.

Thursday morning, the fog lifted enough that we could turn off the radar and the wind picked up and we sailed the entire day; eventually with a double reef in the main and a 50% reef on the head sail. It was excellent sailing.

We arrived in St. Pierre after the customs office had closed so with the yellow quarantine flag and the French tri-color up, we tied up at the customs dock and figured to wait until the morning to clear customs. After about an hour, a customs official came speeding up (in the French manner of driving) to the dock and we were cleared within a few minutes. The next morning, we moved over to the town marina and lucked into a choice spot.

Friday and today we are exploring the town and the island. We have discovered, not very much to our surprise, that the food is the best we have had since leaving the US.

Kyle and Abbie are to fly out to Sydney, NS, tomorrow so Sandy and I will set out for Newfoundland on Tuesday morning, weather allowing and after provisioning on Monday. We will essentially follow the track on the annimation, but in reverse, leaving Newfoundland from Port aux Basque in a couple of weeks.

I don't expect much in the way of computer access along the south coast of Newfoundland, so the next update may be a while in coming.

Kyle and Abbie left for the airport yesterday so it's just a crew of two from here on out.

We are provisioning food and diesel, doing laundry, and some other miscellaneous tasks today, but departure tomorrow looks questionable. A gale warning is in effect for the Cabot Straits and winds by noon tomorrow are expected to top 35 kt from the south. While that is not horrible, we will have to decide whether to hang out here or make for Fortune, Newfoundland, a smaller town with less to do than here. When posting this, I will get a look at the weather myself.

We have eaten in all the restaurants in town except for one where another sailor reported a hostile welcome. This might be the biggest motivation to move out, although we don't have high expectations for Newfoundland cuisine.

WE MADE IT TO NEWFOUNDLAND!

After waiting out gales on Tuesday and inpenetrable fog on Wednesday, we set off today for Fortune, NF, a distance of about 25 nm. Edgar, the Dutch sailor, left about the same time (11:00 a.m.) bound for the same port so we had a bit of a competition on the crossing. Winds were somewhat variable but mostly from the SE and we had a good broad reach with the spinnaker for a couple of hours. Once in the lee of the Burin Penninsula, the wind died and the current induced tide was enough to slow us down to SOG of 4.5 kts.

We pulled up to the customs dock and dialed the CANPASS number and were cleared in minutes; Edgar was subjected to duties on wine. Some other folks whom we met, Ken Penny and Lily B. Cole from Marystown, NF, on a 21' sloop arrived earlier in the day and were thoroughly searched by their own Canadian customs who confiscated some sausage!

After looking around Fortune for a half hour or so, we met up with Edgar and proceeded to Charlie's Bar looking for Newfoundland beer and found some. Also made the aquaintance of Screech!, a home grown Newfoundland rum.

We found a car to rent and decided to make an overland trip to St. Johns, NF. Ken Penny and Lily Cole insisted that we come by for a traditional Newfoundland dinner, an invitation we certainly were not going to pass up.

Lily is a fantastic cook and we learned a great deal about regional food and other customs.

We spend the night at Cole and Penny's in Marystown and continued along to St. Johns this morning. Sandy had managed to book a room at a small hotel right in downtown. It wasn't fancy, but worked just fine.

We were tourists and drank some local brew and ate such things as cod tongues, which are local favorite.

Back to Fortune tomorrow and heading west along the south coast on Monday.

After spending Sunday morning in St. Johns, we drove back to Fortune during the afternoon. It's about 200 miles and we took our time looking for moose in the tundra regions. We spotted a cow and a calf grazing at the edge of a stand of trees, but that's all we were able to see. It continues to be surprising how little wildlife we see considering the huge expanse of wild land.

We sailed from Fortune this morning with good wind and sunshine going between Plate Island and Brunette Island (for those keeping score on their home charts). Since we made good time we entered Bonne Bay and cruised around a bit sightseeing. The land is magnificantly beautiful with cliffs down to the water in many places and steep hills where there are not cliffs. We landed in McCallum which was recommended as a place where one could appreciate life in a fishing outport fifty or a hundred years ago.

As an outport, McCallum is an example of the many villages set up during the heyday of the cod industry when European fleets fished these waters. The villages were populated year round and they cleaned, dried, and salted the cod for shipment back to Europe. Later they were the homes of local fishermen. But the country is so rugged that there are no roads into these places. Villages like McCallum were, and still are, serviced by sea and, in emergency, by helicopter.

We tied up to the public dock (or "government wharf" as the locals say) and met the dockmaster, Terry. He was very helpful, but since his wife was away for medical treatment in St. Johns, he had time on his hands and the new people were a curiousity. A few others came by to see the "yacht". We walked about the town and stopped by what Terry had said was the main tourist attraction, the church. It is quite an experience being in a village where there are no cars or trucks and the streets are really walkways. They do have a few four wheel ATV's and snowmobiles for moving loads, but none were evident during our stay. It was quiet.

The clouds and fog returned this morning but there was enough visibility to move on. We headed out westward for Francoise, another outport recommended for it's beauty.

We didn't see much while sailing because of the low cloudiness and fog. It is interesting that here there is usually wind with fog whereas we are used to fog produced as a product of stillness.

Another interesting item is that we were told, and found to be true, that GPS positions are not the same as map coordinates. Evidently there are errors in the early surveys of these waters that are the basis for the charts and there have been no corrections made.

So here was the adventure for the day. Find the entrance to Francoise Bay in fog allowing no more than 300 m visibility and with unreliable GPS! This is where a good radar unit is monstrously helpful. I was able to get close with the questionable charts and then used the radar to identify the headlands. Those charts said there was a fog horn at the bay entrance. We listened but heard nothing. But we moved ahead anyway, with the chart plotter showing us plowing into the coast but radar saying there was an opening. We were later told that the fog horn stopped working a while back and the authorities decided to discontinue servicing it. When we finally docked, the chartplotter had us a mile to the east in the middle of a mountain!

We moved to a mooring for the night after taking on water and diesel, and walking around a bit.

We spent the morning touring Francoise including a walk up to the pond above the waterfall. The land looks just like the high altitude areas of Colorado, with tundra, lakes, streams, and rugged cliffs and mountains.

Francoise (or "France-way", as the locals say) had the same walkways, instead of roads, as McCallum and the homes, while certainly quite modest, were very well kept and neat. I was told that currently cod would fetch $0.75 (Canadian)/lb at the dock (going to $0.85/lb in September) and one fisherman I talked to was very proud that his licence was being increased to allow him 20,000 lbs next year. Doing the math, that's a gross income of $17,000 Canadian which is somewhere around $12,000 US!

Just west of Francoise is Aviron Bay where there is a locally touted waterfall at the head of a dramatic steeply walled fjord. That was our next stop and the locals were right! After slowly making our way up the bay enjoying the scenery, we entered the pond where the waterfall cascades several hundred feet down a hanging valley. We stayed for lunch and moved out, sailing to Grey River.

The outport in Grey River is Jert's Cove which is built on an alluvial fan, quite obviously since it's the only relatively flat spot. We paused long enough to find the store closed and the mosquitos plentiful and plenty hungry so we went up the river to anchor in Southeast Arm. It was a very nice cove with a brook entering the bay and tree lined mountains all around.

From Grey River, we found light winds offshore so it was motoring to the Ramea Islands. This is a collection of islands about 15 nm off the south coast where there is a sizable fishing village (sizable for this area, anyway) of about 1800 people. We stopped at the ferry dock long enough to be an attraction to the local adolescents who seem to be looking for just about anything new and different. They did tell us every detail of the town's attractions but we couldn't stay. After lunch, we motored through the rest of the islands and on to Burgeo.

The Sailing Directions and the Sailing Guide were sufficiently inexact that it took some time to locate a dock. Eventually it was at the abandoned fish processing plant. We then walked through the spread out town looking for the real public wharf. It turned out to be up a very narrow cove, but just beyond the Coast Guard Lifeboat Station so it looked like we could find the 6.5 ft we needed - but not until tomorrow.

We had intended to sail to Grand Bruit today, but the early morning radar showed showers and thunderstorms along the way and the fog was thick, too. Sunday looked better, so we stayed over at Gillett's Motel another day.

At a leisurely pace, we went to the grocery store for food provisions and, in typical Newfoundland fashion, the manager of the Burgeo Foodland, Gordon Ingraham, insisted that he drive us to the boat! Previously, the supervisor of the fish dock had seen us along the road and picked us up. Small town life definitely has some nice perks.

There isn't a big choice of restaurant facilities here. Last night we ate at Joy's Place, so tonight we ate at the motel dining room. Newfoundland food is pretty simple fare, having already had pan fried cod and cod tongues multiple times, we opted for hamburgers.

Finally left Burgeo, sailing almost the whole distance (~30 nm) under sunny skies. Remember, this is a part of the region where the charts and GPS don't match up and, furthermore, the navigation aids on the charts are sometimes out of date. Thus, the final approach to a strange harbor can be a deliberate, if not exciting, process even in favorable conditions. In the case of Grand Bruit (pronounced "Grand Brit"), there is a rock called The Smoker which appears prominently on the chart and is to be left to starboard, but took some head scratching and squinting to find; and one does need to find it before it finds you!

It was certainly worth it though as Grand Bruit turned out to be a marvelous place with uniformly friendly, happy people who were (or certainly did a great job of acting) glad to see us. We were greeted at the dock by a small group of folks waiting for the afternoon ferry, among whom was Peter Jensen who was positively the perfect host, giving us immediate information on tieing up the boat and just about everything else we needed to know. Then to add to that, Peter insisted we come to dinner! Well, we weren't going to refuse food and drink after sailing all day, so off we went to his and his wife's (Ruth Ann) home. A great evening!

Later that night, upon returning to the wharf, the boat's lines needed to be adjusted for the tidal change. While doing this, I managed to trip over a trailer hitch in the dark and my nose and forehead met the concrete with a thud. It was ugly. Sandy patched me up and I awoke the next day with nasty scabs and abrasions. Keep in mind that Grand Bruit is a small town (summer population ~60, year-round ~30), so by the next afternoon, I was known around town as "the guy from the yacht who banged his head on the wharf".

Today was a day to rest up. Sandy stayed on the boat for most of the foggy day and I ambled a bit around to view the sights.

Grand Bruit is another of the outport towns on the south coast of Newfoundland where there are no vehicles other that a few ATV's for summer hauling and snowmobiles for winter time. This town is especially scenic with meticulously kept small houses around the harbor and rugged terrain behind. A waterfall in the center of all this is quite dramatic.

Folks here say that moose and caribou are common sights just a short distance from the head of the waterfall, but we could not find a single bit of wildlife in a country side looking like it ought to be teeming with animals.

Planned to leave today, but dense fog held on until mid-afternoon so we decided to stay another day. It was really not a hard decision - this is a very easy place to like.

We reluctantly departed Grand Bruit late in the morning and sailed for a good two to three hours before the wind turned on our nose and picked up to 15-18 kt. In these waters, this kind of wind can mean 4 - 6 foot seas, which we found also rolling on the nose. So the last couple of hours were a slog under motor into Rose Blanche.

Rose Blanche was an outport until 1962 when a road was completed, connecting it to Port aux Basque. There are cars and a few hundred people and nowhere near as nice a setting as other places we stopped.

We tied up at the public wharf among fishing boats, taking the last good spot. Supper was at the Friendly Fishermen Restaurant where we ate the usual, and in this case, very good Newfie fare - cod, halibut, and more cod, all served with home made french fries.

We got away earlier than usual today, hoping to beat the afternoon NW winds and lumpy sea state. A good plan it was as we motored on flat water past the Rose Blanche shoals and turned westward.

Winds in the morning were light and astern so I decided to hoist the spinnaker to dry it out. We had been keeping it on the foredeck to save space below, but in the nasty, slogging conditions of yesterday, it had worked its was out of the bag and tried to go overboard. We retrived it, but it was completely soaked, so it needed some drying.

I hoisted the spinnaker and found that there was enough of a breeze to push the boat at three knots, and with the flat water, it was so pleasant we turned to motor off and sailed with only the spinnaker for a couple of hours. Eventually the wind did shift to a close reach and the sea state started coming up so down went the spinnaker and on went the motor since winds were only 4-8 kts and the seas were already 4-5 feet. We just wanted to get to port soon.

We entered Port aux Basque about 2:30 p.m. and tied up at the public wharf. At least there are showers and water at the dock, but the dockmaster had to drive me in his truck to get diesel fuel for the boat. Not many sailboats are here (two others) but the ferrys from Nova Scotia are most impressive when they enter and leave.

The forecast is for big winds tonight and tomorrow morning. If the wind diminished to 20 kt or less by noon we will probably head out for Neil's Harbor in Nova Scotia, about 67 nm. Otherwise, we will wait here for favorable conditions to cross the famed Cabot Straits.

Way too much wind for us today, NW and gusting to 35 kt, so it was a day in Port aux Basque.

After a leisurly start to the day, I walked up to the Port aux Basque traffic control center. Since this is a major ferry terminal and it's entry channel isn't that big, there is a 24/7 traffic control center run by the Canadian Coast Guard. We were advised to call when we entered the control area, and I did, although I found out that only vessels >30 meters are required to do so. Anyway, the traffic controllers knew me, or at least Infrared, when I visited and they were very accommodating.

As a digression, I have to note that the Canadian Coast Guard is extremely approachable, certainly in comparison to our US Coast Guard. One can call the Canadian CG fo advice about current and tide information, they will quote the latest weather reports over the phone and, in general, actually try to be helpful. This in stark contrast to our own USCG, whose usual response to yachtsmen has something to do with your early demise or worse.

After returning to the dock, I happened across a sailor that we had met in St. Pierre. Michel (never did get a last name) lives in St. Pierre and had single handed a 32' Jeanneau, arriving in Port aux Basque late the previous evening. We all hoisted a few vin rouge and aperitifs on his boat and went to dinner. Michel was planning to leave the next day for the Magdelene Islands, about 95 nm east.

The gales of yesterday died last night in Port aux Basque, as expected, but we had a choice of departing today with the prospect of a 15 kt SSW wind on our nose or waiting another day and leaving on the advancing edge of a nor'easter winds. Respecting the reputation of the Cabot Straits we decided to leave at 5:00 a.m. and take advantage of the morning calm and motor through the head winds to follow.

That was the plan, here's how it worked out. As soon as we passed the headlands of Port aux Basque, there was a rolling 4-6 foot sea from the west and no wind. Well, this wasn't horrible, since the waves were far enough apart that we motored up and down rather than crashing into waves. Later in the morning, the winds picked up and, as expected, were southwesterly and on our nose. This slowed us down since the little Yanmar had to push against a headwind and the waves. It became a splashing slog with 40 nm to go.

Nature is not always uncooperative however, and winds shifted more southeasterly and we put up the sails. We can brag that we SAILED the last third of the feared Cabot Straits. It was certainly ocean sailing, with winds increasing to 15, then to 22 kt, on a close reach with 6 foot seas. That meant plenty of water on deck and eventually a second reef in the main and a drastically shortened head sail, but it was great! (Sandy might have another opinion ??)

We pulled into Neil's Harbor after 13 hours and found a spot on the wharf. Neil doesn't have a big harbor, so we were once again fortunate to find a protected spot. All other boats here are fishing boats, no sailing boats in sight. While we were tieing up, there was a constant parade of local folks coming out on the wharf to say how they admired the boat and the way we came screaming into the harbor doused the sails and pulled up to their wharf. It seems that every one watches the water and we (perhaps any sail boat) were an impressive sight. What a welcome!

That big nor'eater was by now kicking up northeasterly winds that were on shore and we were on the lee side of the wharf for the night. It was a rocking night with winds topping 40 kt and huge seas crashing on shore, but we were tucked away in Neil's Harbor - whew!

Having arrived here, it marks our start on the return home. By my estimate, it's 1100 nm sailing miles to get from here to Baltimore. We hope to be back before the snow falls!

This was definitely a day to wait out the weather. The storm blew throughout the night and most of the day. Even tied up to the wharf, Infrared had a roll. We weren't going anywhere.

During a lull in the rain, we walked about a bit and when we returned to the wharf, a couple of the local fishermen were down to check on their boats and they thought we should move Infrared because the wind had now shifted to the west. There wasn't a space until they moved one of the fishing boats to give us a spot on the leeward side to tie up - the best sort of hospitality!

Getting to Baddeck was not without it's interesting moments, however. We left Neil's Harbor early and had a good 20 nm sail down the east coast of Cape Breton. Noting that this is still the Cabot Straits, we shouldn't have been surprised that these waters still had a final punch. As we neared the entry to the Bras D'Or Lakes, the wind died for a brief period and then came back...back with strength. In no time, we were putting a second reef in the mail and pulling in the headsail and moving under motor into 20-25 kt winds directly on the nose. This kicked up a nice 3-5 foot lumpy sea so it became a very wet ride.

Upon actually getting into the upper access to the Bras D'Or Lakes, the wind funneling down the channel picked up to 30-36 kt and still directly on the nose. Furthermore, I had planned to run with the potentially formidable current on this part of the passage so we had a strong wind working against a strong current, the perfect combination for turbulent, nasty sea conditions. I suppose the Cabot Straits needed to keep its reputation in tact! It was an ugly afternoon. The wind and sea conditions slowed us down to 4-4.5 kt and water over the bow was frequent.

Finally we made Baddeck and the marine center was a welcome sight. This is evidently well past the high point of the season here, so there was plenty of room on the floating piers and no wait for the showers. While dropping the main sail we found a rip in the leach, obviously due to the pounding the sail took. Not all luck is bad however, the marine center knew of a person in town who does sail repair and she can see to it right away.

Now it definitely feels like we have begun the homeward stage of the trip. Baddeck is the first port that we have returned to going south/west.

We need to wait for the main sail to be repaired, so we are here for the day. That's not so bad since there are things like grocery stores, restaurants, and internet access here.

Assuming the main is done, we will travel to St. Peters tomorrow.

With the main sail repaired on schedule, we left this morning for St. Peters. We got away as soon as the marina office opened up and we could settle up, leaving early to try to pass the Barra Straits before the afternoon winds kicked up. We had a rough time on the way up in this stretch of water. It separates the two major parts of the lakes and is narrow enough to effectively funnel the wind to a brisk blow.

There was bright sunshine, blue skies, and a north wind on our stern that was strong enough to push Infrared along at speeds up to 7 kt. The latter part of the route through St Peters Bay is particularly nice winding among thickly forested islands and narrow channels, ending up at the marina.

We hope to leave Cape Breton tomorrow, heading across Chedabucto Bay for either Canso, or, if possible, through the Andrew Passage to Tor Bay.

We covered some ground since leaving St. Peter's last Thursday when we set out across Chedabucto Bay in light wind and motored to Andrew Passage and by-passing Canso. We had a pleasant break for some lunch in the passage and found a nice wind once we got out to the ocean, so nice that we passed Tor Bay and sailed to Fishermans Harbor to throw out the anchor for the night.

On Friday, we exited the anchorage in a light morning breeze but found another favorable wind toward noon and sailed briskly into Owl's Head Bay in Ships Harbor for the night. The Canadian Marine Weather broadcast (which has been quite good all along) predicted a frontal passage near midnight with north winds, possibly gale force, thereafter. I chose a cove in the bay that was very narrow, but faced north hoping that the forecast wind direction was correct. Right on schedule, shortly after midnight, the wind came strongly out of the north and blew above 30 knots for the rest of the night. I got up a number of times to check, but the anchor held just fine and the shelter of the cove meant no significant wave action. It is so nice when a plan works out!

Our course heading to get to Halifax was just about 270° magnetic which is WSW true, so the forecast for north winds blowing at 20-30 kt was not bad news, particularly since it would also be offshore keeping the sea state down. We didn't get to 30 kt, but 15-25 was the range and we blew into Halifax covering 40 nm in 5.5 hours, a fantastic average speed for Infrared of 7.2 knots for the entire leg!

The only down side was that a 50 ft cutter flagged to New Zealand had been dogging us for two days and we had held them off until we screwed up flaking a reef and then got badly knocked on the final approach to Northwest Arm in Halifax Harbor. The big boat passed us with less than a mile to go.

Once again, we tied up at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, absolutely a marvelous place to be on a yacht.

On Sunday, my sister, Beth, and brother-in-law, Bob Shear, flew in on Bob's plane for an overnight visit. Since Bob had done the Marblehead to Halifax race a number of times, he knew the area, but Beth had not spent any time here so it was a brief but nice visit for all of us. They took off near noon Monday, so we went touring in our rent-a-car.

We drove over to the Bay of Fundy at Minas Basin to see the tidal range and we were not disappointed. Fortunately, as a time saving feature, we arrived at low tide so we could appreciate how far out the tide actually goes.

Later on we drove across the peninsula to Chester to see if the yacht club there was a desirable destination for the first day sail out of Halifax. It is a beautiful, obviously up-scale area, but we ain't goin' there (as the expression goes).

Because of the holiday weekend, things were closed both Sunday and Monday, so today is provisioning day. Tommorow we hope to make our way to Lununberg and then take advantage of what look to be favorable winds to get around Cape Sable by Saturday morning.

Wednesday we exited Halifax at first light since we expected to eventually have an unfavorable wind from W-SW and we hoped to get as far as possible during the early hours when the winds are generally light. Good idea, but the bad news was that as soon as we got out of Halifax harbor the winds were 10-15 knots, but the good news was that it wasn't on our nose, but on a close reach. We sailed through the Sambro Channel (another of those routes through the islands, rocks, ledges, and shoals...but more scenic and sheltered) to Pennant Point and on to Lunenburg arriving in mid-afternoon having made great speed under sail.

Lunenburg is a scenic place that still operates as a ship repair center, but it is mostly a tourist town. We had been here on the way east so a couple of hours walking around and dinner were enough and we left for Lockeport, again at first light, and again were were favored by winds that carried us there under sail in good time.

Lockeport is a little east of Shelburne and is considered to be less desirable than Shelburne. We certainly found this to be untrue, Lockeport has a very sheltered harbor not as far from the coast (i.e. far from the highway) as Shelburne and Lockport has at least as many ammenities as Shelburne. It has a marina with floating docks, fuel, showers, laundry, restuarant, hardware store, and a liquor store at the end of the wharf!

It wasn't necessary to leave Lockeport early since we were headed for Cape Sable. This is the southern-most point of Nova Scotia and, as our cruising guide describes, is considered to be the local equivilant of Cape Horn! It is famous for very turbulent waters, waves, winds, tidal rips, and any other nasty thing the water can provide. This is largely due to the big current variations associated with the well known Bay of Fundy tides. Currents can run above 5 kt around the Cape and along the coast to Yarmouth, so we needed to time our passage with the late afternoon current swing.

The timing was perfect, except for one thing. About 12 nm from the Cape the winds turned on our nose and blew up to 22-30 kt. Noting that this was happening 12 nm from the Cape and things could likely get much worse from here, we looked for a bail-out option and found Port La Tour. Already well bounced and soaked with water over the bow, we turned and sailed through a tricky rocky entry to a nicely sheltered fishing boat harbor where we threw out the anchor and watched a host of seals cavort just outside the breakwater...but we still had to round Cape Sable.

To catch the current around Cape Sable to Yarmouth, we hauled up anchor this morning at 4:45 a.m. to make our way out of this rocky harbor in the dark. Although moving cautiously and slowly, I still managed to misjudge a marker in the dark and we bumped Whale Rock. I immediately recalled that an entire armada of the British Navy was obliterated on the rocks by a similar misjudgement, but since Sandy hadn't even stumbled on the foredeck, we knew the impact was inconsequential, only embarassing.

The rest was easy. There was very light wind and happily flat seas and the current propelled us around the Cape at speeds sometimes above 9 kt on through scenic Schooner Passage and into Yarmouth. A piece of cake!

Sunday was a day to goof off. We visited the famed schooner Bluenose II that was visiting here in Yarmouth. It's like a bigger Pride of Baltimore. Then we repaired to a bar to see if the tennis match was on television. We arrived a bit early so saw some football for the first time this season and then watched Pete Sampras (the greatest tennis player of all time!) beat Andre Agassi.

A strong wind blowing right up the harbor had Infrared bouncing enough on the floating dock that it promised to be a bumpy, noisy night on the boat. Considering that, we took a room at the hotel in town for the night. Being in Canada, it was very reasonable, far less than the dockage fee at Atlantic City for the boat only!

We will leave Yarmouth later this afternoon for the transit to Bar Harbor, ME. It's about 95 nm so it will take something between 16 and 20 hours. We are leaving late afternoon and will sail overnight so that we arrive in daylight. Once in Bar Harbor, it looks like we might need to find a secure spot to wait out Gustav.

We departed Yarmouth about 4:30 p.m. on Monday and arrived in Bar Harbor about 9:30 a.m. ADT Tuesday morning, so it took about 17 hours to cover the 95 nm. Initially the winds were quite light so we motored along with the main sail up to supress the swell induced rocking. Near midnight the wind did come up as forecast, but as too often seems to be the case, it was on the nose or close to it. Thus, it was a motor sail the whole way, but not unpleasant since the wind never blew for more than a few minutes above 15 kt and the sea state was well behaved.

We tied up at the municipal wharf in Bar Harbor since it is the largest town on Mt. Desert Island and also because we needed to clear U.S. Customs and Bar Harbor is a port on entry. I had been advised by Customs in Portland when we left the U.S. that it was worth the $25 charge to apply for a "User Fee Decal" which registers the yacht with Customs. It seems to have been a good idea since we were able to clear Customs over the phone.

Tropical storm, Gustav, was the topic of conversation in the harbormaster's office and he was concerned that the storm generated swell and the eventual blow would mean that we couldn't stay on his wharf for longer than Tuesday night. We thought about that and then went on board for a nap to recover from the long night of sailing.

Later that afternoon, we were able to arrange dockside accommodations in Northeast Harbor. This is also on Mt. Desert Island, but on the opposite side from Bar Harbor. It is a famously sheltered (as well as famously famous) place so we pulled out of Bar Harbor for the 15 nm trek around the island. What a trip. We started out in beautiful warm summer sailing conditions, then a drop of 10°F and increased wind created chilly conditions, then complete calm as we managed to find a dead spot in the complex wind field, then 25 kt winds on the nose (naturally) so we double reefed the main, then winds down to 12 kt, then to calm by the time we reached Northeast Harbor. All this in a 15 nm trip that took less than three hours! Maybe this was the sort of thing that got Gilligan into trouble.

So far this morning, Gustav has not arrived. It is cloudy, but the forecast is for rain and wind developing this afternoon and for strong winds tomorrow. This shouldn't be a problem for us. We are in a very sheltered spot and two days ought to make a nice stay on Mt. Desert Island.

Today, we are waiting out a frontal passage that is likely to produce some much needed rain for drought-stricken Maine and has already generated winds higher than my sailing comfort level. We arrived yesterday and managed to get a prime spot at the town dock.

Our arrival yesterday was the result of an unscheduled stop over in Mt. Desert Island's Southwest Harbor to repair another rip in the main sail. We should have known; it was Friday, the thirteenth, when we pulled out of Northeast harbor near noon hoping for a leisurely sail to Stonington. Immediately after raising sail, the wind blew up to 30 kt and in the process of putting the second reef in, I spotted a tear at the leech between the upper battons. Down with the sail immediately but, as luck would have it, we were just outside Southwest Harbor where there are marina facilities aplenty and a sailmaker. What luck! The sail was repaired by 4:30 p.m. but we stayed the night anyway.

Early Saturday, we left Southwest Harbor and enjoyed a smooth sail with a 15 kt following wind through Casco Passage, through Deer Island Passage bypassing Stonington, and across Penobscot Bay to Camden. The wind eventually died and we motored the final hour or so into the harbor.

Camden is a very compact and crowded harbor. There are plenty of moorings (at least a hundred) but only a few dockside spots. The town is scenic and very typically "Maine" with old, substantial brick buildings mostly housing tourist related businesses now. While we wait out the storm, we expect to wander around some more this afternoon.

The plan is to leave early tomorrow (Monday) for Boothbay or thereabouts depending on how early the storm subsides. We then hope to make Portland Tuesday afternoon.

This part of Maine got more than an inch of rain last night and this morning. That's good news for Maine, but not-so-good news for Infrared. We were unable to leave this morning since a short distance ahead is Muscle Ridge Channel, a stretch not to be negotiated in poor visibility.

The front appears to be moving very slowly at best and at worst, it may be stalled. If things improve by early afternoon, we hope to try for Tenants Harbor, only 17 nm away, and beyond Muscle Ridge Channel. Otherwise, we will leave Camden in the morning.

We left Camden shortly after noon on Monday as the front drifted eastward and made excellent time sailing down Penobscot Bay and through Muscle Ridge Channel. We arrived at the turn off for Tenants Harbor about three in the afternoon and decided to try for Boothbay Harbor. The crucial part was being able to traverse another passage before daylight faded. In addition to being totally unfamiliar with the area, there are two problems: one is that most of the navigation aids and markers are unlighted, and the other is the density of lobster pots that are impossible to see in the dark. We barely made it; the last glimmer of twilight had us inching our way to a mooring in Boothbay Harbor with Sandy on the bow with a flashlight!

We wanted to get on to Portland, so it was an early departure from Boothbay. We never set foot on land, but it looked nice from the water.

Tuesday, in Portland, we encountered the exodus of mega-yachts headed for southern waters. Although we were able to get slip space at DeMillo's again, we couldn't get to the gas dock. They deemed my need for possibly 10 gallons of diesel to be insignificant compared to the fuel intake of the 100 foot motor yachts requiring "thousands of gallons"! I fueled by jerry can, just like in Newfoundland.

Wednesday morning we left Portland around 8 a.m. and had a good motor-sail, then sail to Isle of Shoals. When the wind picked up, it was a broad reach so we flew the spinnaker for a couple of hours until the wind went forward to close reach. We sailed up to Gosport Harbor, where we had stopped on the way out, and pulled up one of the free moorings. The forecast had the winds veering to southwesterly on Thursday and blowing up to 20 knots. That meant the prospect of slogging through 4-6 foot seas with wind on the nose into Marblehead, so we opted for an early start to cover as much water as possible before the winds peaked in the afternoon.

We were moving out of Gosport Harbor when the sun came up at 6:40 a.m. and sailed a nice close reach 22 nm down to Cape Ann. At that point, we turned into the wind to set a course for Marblehead. Fortunately, the winds were only in the 10-12 kt range so the slog wasn't too bad. We arrived at the Boston Yacht Club dock about 1 p.m., got a mooring assignment, packed up, and moved to my sister's guest quarters in the garage (it's a really nice garage!). I just checked the Isle of Shoals buoy and, indeed, the wind at 4 p.m. was blowing from the south at 20 kt, so I think our early start paid off.

We will be here through the weekend and probably won't leave until next Wednesday or Thursday.

On this first day of autumn, I am struck by the fact that Infrared left Baltimore two full weeks before summer started!

We are still in Marblehead, but expecting to leave on Wednesday, or Thursday at the latest. We are having the main sail serviced again since we saw some fraying at the upper batten pockets. The Doyle sail loft and service center are right here in town, so it's a convienient thing to do. This has been a wearing journey for that formerly bullet-proof woven spectra sail!

So, today makes a total of four trips to a sail loft on this journey. The task at hand was to find a replacement for the upper main sail batten that blew out as we were entering the Cape Cod Canal yesterday.

We had left Marblehead on Wednesday and sailed to Provincetown, MA, on the tip of Cape Cod. I had stopped there with Geoff Berlin and Paul Sykes on the way out and Sandy deserved the opportunity to see for herself the majesty of Provincetown!

The weather service had been saying since the weekend that things would deteriorate toward the end of the week and I wanted to make Newport by Friday; a good place to be pinned down by weather for a few days. By Wednesday, it began to look like trouble would arrive on Friday as Isadore, an enhanced nor'easter, promised heavy rain and gale force winds. Fortunately, when leaving Provincetown Thursday morning, we had a steady northeast wind at our backs and an amazingly fortunate timing of the current in the canal and Buzzards Bay. With that and threatening weather bearing down, we decided to blast our way into Newport and arrived near 10 p.m. having covered some 80+ nm in 13 hours. But minus a batten.

The final four hours were the interesting part. With darkness coming on, the wind picked up to 20-25 kt and it rained steadily and occasionally heavily. Although we had been into Newport before, entering in the dark was certainly attention getting. We pulled up to the Newport Resort Hotel and Marina and now await the main thrust of the storm.

Tonight the winds are expected to gust to 40 kt or more with heavy rain. I have opted to stay in the marina rather than taking a mooring since we have an apparently well sheltered spot. Since there aren't many boats here, I am able to tie up with plenty of space to a number of secure pilings. We will see.

We survived the overnight gales with no more than a bit of lost sleep with the noise of water slapping the hull and the urge to check the lines. By this afternoon the winds were down to 10-15 kt so we went for fuel and plan to leave tomorrow, heading eastward through Long Island Sound. We hope to be in Old Saybrook tomorrow night and to City Island, NY one or two days later.

We did, indeed, leave Newport last Sunday and made our way, mainly motor sailing, to (Bill?) Clinton Harbor, CT. We had a good day, covering about 70 nm and getting there in daylight; not an insignificant consideration now that the days are so short. We had gotten up at 5:30 a.m. and were moving on the water as the sun came up just before 7:00 a.m. A big factor, I thought, would be the current at the Race in Long Island Sound where the tables claimed currents as high as 3-4 kt. We arrived on time and found virtually no current either helping or hurting us.

(Hillary?) Clinton Harbor was just a stop over so we didn't see much of anything which was just about the total of what the dock master said there was to see thereabouts. Another sunrise departure had us on the way to City Island.

The cruising guide and other sources had led me to believe that City Island was something of a sailing center for NYC. Well, that's not the case. There are marinas catering to the power boating folks (most of whom seemed to have 25 year old Bayliners) and we stayed at a spot called the North Minneford Yacht Club, which is adjacent to the South Minneford Yacht Club. Both are really businesses not yacht clubs as one normally pictures one. At least they had clean heads and showers!

We spent Tuesday visiting the local district for supplies and then took the bus and subway into Manhatten; not an bad trip from City Island aboard the Green Line 6 train (but it's better to get the express).

Tuesday, in Manhattan, we saw the following:

1. City Hall (but no time to visit old Hopkins aquaintance, Michael Bloomberg)
2. World Trade Center site (muslims selling hot dogs at the site...no kidding!)
3. Wall Street (complained about the bear market annoying my retirement portfolio, they agreed to remedy the problem...so buy!)
4. 42^nd St. (it is cleaned up...a lot!)
5. Time Square, W. 48^th St. (music district, purchased new trumpet and piano music for Doug)
6. CBS "Black Rock" (looked for Mel Karmazin but apparently just missed him)
7. Fifth Avenue (Sandy has no money so it was a short visit)
8. The Plaza Hotel (booted out of Oak Bar...no shorts allowed after noon. BTW I think I was the only male over eight wearing shorts in NYC)
9. Central Park
10. Restaurant Henri Cipriani (they never heard of Al Cipriani so we didn't eat there!)

Wednesday night anchored at Sandy Hook turned out to be a rocking time. We were located just west of the tip of the hook in a spot sheltered from north, east, and south winds, so naturally the wind picked up around midnight from the west. It was a good blow rocking Infrared and slapping the hull for good measure, it was tough to sleep, so we were a little late getting started Thursday morning, eventually rounding the hook at 8 a.m.

It is a little more the an even 100 nm from Sandy Hook to Cape May, so at an average boat speed of 6-6.5 kt we expected a 15-18 hour passage. The morning was a mix of motoring, sailing, and motor-sailing but eventually the wind went almost completely calm in the afternoon. After sundown, however, the wind picked up from the northeast giving us a following wind and sea state making the last four to five hours a moving experience. Hazy conditions and no moon made it very dark, and with the 25+ kt winds and 6+ foot seas, there was no shortage of excitement.

I wrestled the main down outside the Cape May entrance buoy at 12:30 a.m. and we tied up at the marina at 1:30 a.m.

Today we will leave midday to go under the bridges at low tide and the timing looks excellent for catching a good ride on the current up Delaware Bay to the C & D Canal.

We are back!

Friday night we arrived in Chesapeake City about 10 p.m. having ridden a favorable current and another following wind up the Delaware Bay. It was very hazy and with the many shoals requiring that we travel in the shipping channel, the radar was on the entire time. It was especially interesting after sunset, finding the markers, seeing the big ships, and locating the canal entrance since the chart plotter said it didn't cover that region! Oh, well, that's why we still keep up our chart reading skills.

We left the wharf at Chesapeake City around 8:30 a.m., just before the current was to turn in our favor so we could take maximum advantage of the push down the northern bay. The wind stayed on our nose until early afternoon, when we were able to raise sail on a close reach just south of Poole's Island. Shortly thereafter, Dark Crystal appeared bearing down on us! I don't know whether Kyle was looking for us or just keeping an eye out, but with all the sailboats on the water, it was amazing to cross paths. They greeted us, welcoming us home, and went on to Tolchester for an NPSA outing.

We tied up at Tidewater Yacht Service Center's new floating dock at 5 p.m. ending a trip that began on June 9!