Hurricanes, Halifax and More Blue Bags

All is well here in Mahone Bay, on a beautiful sunny Monday, but very windy day, post Irene. We holed up last night in a well protected anchorage, and thankfully, for this part of Canada the hurricane was a non- event-- very reminiscent of our experience a year ago with hurricane Earl. The following post was actually ready to go last Thursday, but for many reasons, technical (no internet!) and otherwise (just busy!) it was delayed. So here it is.

Rainbow over Chester

It would be so much easier if I blogged more often. Now I have too many photos to share, too many places to describe and without my calendar/ log, I wouldn’t even be able to tell you where we’ve been. Once past Lunenburg, distances between destinations are short and we’ve come and gone from some favorite spots several times. 

We’re in Halifax now, which we’ve rediscovered after our visit here three years ago and find we’re really enjoying the town, the vibrant waterfront and just being here. The difference in our attitudes is certainly in large part due to being in the center of things; this year Carry On is docked in a new, attractive area of the waterfront rather than sitting in the northwest arm of Halifax Harbour at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Club.The yacht club is two connecting buses away from the city, or a rental car is essential --and the slip prices are unreasonably high. The wake from passing ships, tugs, pilot boats and pleasure boats can be a little rough here, the dock power is less than what we require, but we’re making do and as they say, location is everything.

We’re relaxing between guests and happy that Hurricane Irene has not prevented our friends from coming this afternoon as planned. We’ve done some revision of our original plan, as we’ll need to hole up for a couple days and likely will do the trip back to Salem in two hops rather than one long 40 hour trip. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

At my last post we were in the Gold River on a Saturday night, a pretty spot for an evening, but without internet or a place to go ashore, we were underway early Sunday for Chester. We had a lovely day walking around this pretty small community, a summer place for generations of Americans, many from Connecticut and Philadelphia. Alas by sunset, the internet was iffy and the sky was clouding up. We woke to a gray morning and Paul had coffee while I walked. We looked for a solution to our internet problems and were directed to the Lido Pool, where the wifi service for the harbor is housed. After much discussion of potential problems, but no with solution, we dinghied back to the boat as the rain began to fall in earnest. Finally, late in the day the sun came out and we were treated to a spectacular rainbow.

Main Street, Mahone Bay

Trio of Church Spires, Mahone Bay

Waking up to what looked like more rain (no internet, therefore no weather forecast!) we decided to head back to Mahone Bay where our wifi reception was at least passable. What we thought might be one night there turned into three, as the wind howled and waves rolled up the harbor while thunder boomed and lightning crackled. We consoled ourselves with  pasta and chocolate over what seems to be the prevalent weather pattern this summer. It can make a person begin to feel crazy.

En route to Hubbards Cove we passed a long, low ledge sitting just barely out of the water. I commented to Paul how easy it would be to miss it in fog before modern navigation aids and asked its name. Since its name is Seal Ledge and I needed something to amuse myself, I got out the binoculars to have a look. Sure enough, there were 50 or 60 seals sunning themselves on Seal Ledge-- very aptly named!  Too far away for a photo, sadly.

We had long planned to visit the Hubbards Cove Farmers Market on Saturday morning and had made plans with Canadian friends from three years ago to meet for Friday night dinner there. We were slightly disappointed in the market, although we’re not quite sure why. We remembered two wonderful blue grass bands at our last visit and this Saturday featured a lone singer with a wimpy mandolin. And where was the young woman who sold the organic catnip toys that Bubba loved so much?

Rogue's Roost

We were anxious to get to Halifax on Sunday to be ready for our guest from Tokyo, so we left Hubbards Saturday morning after the market and splitting the trip in half, visited another new anchorage. We’d heard about Rogue’s Roost before and been warned not to go there on weekends to avoid the boom box crowd. We decided to go for it anyway, despite it being Saturday night. I have to say that Rogue’s Roost is one of the most spectacular anchorages we’ve ever seen. The rock formations all around us were magnificent and the terrain up the grass covered slopes was strewn with huge boulders, remnants of the glaciers that receded thousands of years ago. It was a beautiful evening with an almost full orange moon, a starry sky unmasked by city lights, and as we left early the next morning, the sunrise was reflected in the perfectly still water. 

Tucked In, Rogue's Roost

Our jet lagged guest arrived on schedule in Halifax Tuesday and promptly went to sleep after lunch. We had a full day Wednesday and visited the Citadel, had lunch and sampled the wares at a pub known for its Nova Scotian beers. Amazingly we were still alert enough to visit one of the more incredible used book stores we’ve ever seen.

Paul and I’d been to the Citadel three years ago, but somehow this year we accidentally arrived for the firing of guns and the noon bagpipe ceremony, the largest displays of the day. I was captivated by the hat of the guard in the entryway and asked him about his very tall and showy hat. I wasn’t sure whether it was fur or feathers, but he explained that the lower black part was ostrich feathers and the upper white part was feathers from an African Vulture. I’d hate to think he was fooling with me, so I took that at face value. It was a hot day and he assured me the hat was actually quite cool, only a little itchy sometimes. I can only imagine.

Fine Feathered Hat

We wanted to show our guest the anchorage at Rogue’s Roost, so we stopped there Thursday night and Friday made the trip back to Lunenburg, so he could experience this United Nations World Heritage Site and its unique waterfront. On Sunday we were back in Chester, this time to much nicer weather. We took a very long walk, spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out, reading the Times online and had dinner at a lovely inn in town.

As we still had things we wanted to see and do in Halifax, we left Chester early Monday morning, but the pitching and rolling, even with our stabilizers deployed, was severe. After four hours, we had all had ENOUGH and ducked back into Rogue’s Roost for shelter from the waves, wind and rain. Luckily the next morning was much calmer-- we left early and had an uneventful journey back to Halifax. Our voyages have often been interesting and beautiful at times, but sometimes uneventful is just the right note!

Just a few footnotes on the “blue bags”-- I got enough free samples at a Halifax waterfront event to carry me and my garbage all the way back to Massachusetts and more importantly, learned that their real benefit is that they are clear. I have been adhering to my own policy of recycle in one bag and combining the garbage and compost in another. As we were stuffing our garbage/ compost blue bag into a receptacle along the way, our guest, who is from the Netherlands, blithely informed me that if you mix the wrong things in Holland, your garbage is searched for your name and address and the offending items are mailed back to you along with a fine. Yikes. I will be dreading the next forwarded mail from Green Cove Springs!