Duxbury bound

we are leaving Penobscot Bay this morning. we are antcipating a midmorning arrival in Duxbury tomorrow.

Halifax, NS -- Our Cruising Terminus

We're sitting at a dock in the heart of downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia, roughly 350 miles from Duxbury, 1000 miles from where we started our trip (in Charleston, SC) and 1400 miles from our furthest point south (Georgetown, Exuma).  Sadly, this is as far north and east as we'll make it on this trip; it's time to turn the bus around. 

We've covered a lot of ground since our last post, and we've seen some amazing things.  Along the way we had a very foggy cruise to Lunenberg, spending one night at deserted Cape Negro Island and another off the white sand beaches and dunes of Mouton.  We spent a long time in Lunenberg itself; a spectacular city chock full of incredibly well-preserved architecture, classic wooden boats, museums and a hard working waterfront.  No wonder the place has been designated a UNESCO world heritage site.  We made the most of our time there; so much so that it's hard to list everything we did.  But two things stand out, at least in my mind. 

The first was watching a few masters pouring molten brass at the LIFE foundry, which is housed in a group of ancient whale processing buildings at the head of the harbor.  While poking around there one afternoon, Betsy met the foundry's foreman, John, who offered us a tour of workshop that he's worked in for the last 39 years.  And then he offered to have the rest of us -- Celilo and Osprey and all the kids -- come back in the afternoon to watch him pour some brass.  We took him up on the offer and were treated to one of the coolest experiences we've had on this trip.  See the pictures below.  The foundry is a relatively small operation -- I believe only three or so people, including John, still pour metal there -- but they put out some wildly impressive stuff, from massive bronze propellers for commercial ships, to stuffing boxes (they were pouring a big one the day we watched), to ships bells, to wood stoves, to oar locks, to bookends, to bottle openers. 

The second thing we saw in Lunenburg which stands out in my mind is the christening and launch of a traditionally built wooden schooner.  This was a big deal in town, and people showed up from all around to hear the speeches and watch the launch.  Unfortunately, the schooner's sled got stuck on the rail about halfway down the ramp, and it took a truckload of people and ultimately a very large fishing boat to pull her the rest of the way into the water.  But everything turned out just fine in the end.

After Lunenberg, we spent a few days bouncing around the islands of Mahone Bay, enjoying the first fog-free weather of our Nova Scotia trip.  From there, we had a great sail over to Shut In Island, which in essence is a huge chunk of granite sticking out of the water near St. Margaret's Bay, about forty miles west of Halifax.  Its top is barren high ground, devoid of trees and littered with scores of huge boulders that the last ice sheet plopped down on its summit.  And it's covered -- and I do mean covered -- with blueberry bushes.  So many that we were able to pick about two full quarts of the smallest, ripest, tastiest berries we've found on this trip.  Bird led the berry picking brigade, as always.

From Shut In we had a foggy, windy and rainy sail over to Halifax.  Not too much fun.  We spend the first night at a rolly mooring just off the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, where we met some incredibly nice couple who helped us.  Yet again, the cruising community comes to the rescue.  Since then we've been tied up at a dock downtown.  It's a bit of a fishbowl here, but we're in the heart of the city, near museums, stores and restaurants; we've had a great time exploring the city and meeting some interesting folks.  It has been a great stay.

Our tentative plan is to start heading southwest on Wednesday, first to La Have, then to Shelbourne for a day or two, and then over to Maine somewhere.  And then, finally, back home to Duxbury.  Hard to believe this is all coming to an end soon.

Below are some catch-up pictures from Maine to Nova Scotia.  More to follow soon.

Hanging out on the rocks of Vinalhaven.

Checking out one of the many abandoned quarries on the island.

Exploring near Starboard Rock.

Trying to start a fire for a clambake, old school style -- just flint and and knife.

ICOs?  Nah, but something almost as good -- fresh steamers.

Ben, Win and Bird.

Yum.

Waiting for the pot(s) to boil . . . .

BEST. CLAMBAKE. EVER!

The boys and Roberta take a break during a short hike near Northeast Harbor, ME.

Mike, Johnny and I looking gritty from sanding the bottom of Osprey at Abel's boatyard in Somesville.

Somesville Harbor at high tide.

Exploring a beach on an island in Merchant Row.

Hiking up Cadillac Mountain on Mount Desert Island.

Win, Kaeo and Bird resting near the summit.

The view from the top.

Nat and Bets enjoying some sun on the way up Cadillac.

Betsy's fantastic squid dinner, using squid that the boys caught in Somesville one night.

Ben steering through the islands.

A rare view of Petit Manan, the foggiest place in the U.S.

Love these guys.  Kaeo says they move on land "like people stuck in sleeping bags."  I think he's right.

Hiking around amazing Mistake Island.

Heading up to Moose Peak Light on Mistake I.

The light.

Exploring the rocks around Mistake.

Running up the many nooks and crannies around the island.

At anchor off Mistake.  One of the prettiest places we've seen.

The fog starting to roll in.

Sunrise over the Bay of Fundy.

Celilo heading across the Bay of Fundy, on our way to Nova Scotia.  It remained this flat almost all day long.

Fishing boats in Yarmouth, NS.

Celilo at anchor off of Cape Negro Island during a brief respite from the fog. 

Foggy sheep on Cape Negro Island.

Strolling the beach in Mouton.

Climbing the dunes in Mouton.

More Mouton.

Schooner races in Lunenburg.

More schooners.  Check out the size difference between these two.

Good looking girl.

Osprey with Amistad in the background.

Another pretty girl.

A few schooners heading into spectacular Lunengerg, wing n' wing.

Osprey and Celilo anchored in Lunenberg Harbor.

Typical Lunenberg shot.

The Bluenose II, a replica of the storied original, getting a major refit.

The kids looking at a cod dory on the deck of a fishing schooner at the maritime museum.

One of the hundreds of beautiful wooden boats in town.

Great architecture, too.

Cod weather vane on a church steeple.

The Chere and Osprey kids enjoy some folk music with Mike and Roberta.

A plaque commemorating some of the fascinating history of Lunenburg.

Wish our post offices back home were this cool.

Betsy and Win return from a provisioning treck.

An old whale processing plant in Lunenberg, which has housed a foundry for many, many years.

Great old painted signs on the building.

Some of the molds still being used at the foundry.

Waiting for the pour at the foundry.  You can see the sand molds laid out in the foreground.

A hot bowl full of molten brass.

John and his son moving the bowl into position.

John stirring the bowl.

John pouring one of the molds.  Don't try this at home (John has being doing this, at this same foundry, for 39 years).

John and his son top off the molds.

Heading off to a cocktail drift through the harbor with Celilo and Osprey.

Osprey and Chere kids monkeying around.

One of the many fields reaching down to the waters of Mahone Bay, just east of Lunenburg.

Fascinating sedimentary rock formations around Long Island in Mahone Bay.

More of the same -- and some pretty green vegetation.

Osprey at one of our anchorages in Mahone Bay.

Johnny and Wendy wind their way through a tight cut between some islands.

Skipping rocks galore!

Beautiful rock beaches.

The view from the top of Long Island, looking northwest.

Another birthday cake on Chere.

The kids using their birthday party kazoos . . . .

Blowing out the candles on my 42nd.

Dream house along the coast of NS.

Osprey looking pretty in a light breeze, sailing just off of Tancook Island in Mahone Bay

A lobster boat waiting out the off season on Tancook Island.

One of many balancing rocks at the top of spectacular Shut In Island.

Everyone at the top of Shut In.

Blueberries!

More blueberries.  We picked enough for each boat to make blueberry buckle.

Nat taking a break from the picking.  Johnny looks out in the background.

Family shot at the top of the island.

Chere anchored just of the coast in deep water.

The Chere and Osprey kids piled on a rock near one of the island's summits.