Mahone Bay

Position: 44°31’49″N 64°14’04″W

Dotted with islands and snug anchorages, Mahone Bay is Halifax’s sailing playground. A typical beginner’s tour starts with Chester and ends in Lunenburg with stops along the way.

CHESTER

Chester lies at the top of the bay and is famous for harboring vacationing Americans. Truth be told, that was enough for us to inflate Little Nell, our kayak, and avoid going into town. We anchored in Chandler’s Cove next to the golf course, mercifully far enough away that we couldn’t hear any of the foul language usually associated with the ancient game.

In its defense, Chester is home to a fleet of International One Designs, one of the world’s most entrancing sailboats. Labor Day weekend heralded Chester’s turn at hosting the North American Invitational IOD regatta and it was in full swing with fair winds, stout crews, and pretty red and white spinnakers for the downwind work.

Quaker Island sits at the mouth of Chester harbor and is easily recognizable because it’s the only island in the area completely devoid of trees. Instead a lone light tower sits atop the grassy hill, a short walk up from the horseshoe shaped beach where we landed Little Nell. Marlon, who has become quite the sailor, joined Carol and me for the trip over, enduring the small indignities of paddle splashes by burying his head in my lap.

Heckman Anchorage

By the time we had explored Quaker Island and collected a bag full of plastic rubbish from the beach, the wind had picked up to a steady 16 knots and Little Nell was quickly blown back to Aleta. With the winds coming out of the southwest, we decided that it was a great chance for some nearshore sailing practice.

Tacking and gybing aren’t really that common when you’re out cruising for long distances. Most of cruising is a form of set it and forget it, or at least adjust it only periodically. Beating between shoals and islands takes a little more work, especially in an area that’s wholly unfamiliar.

Aleta, with her full keel, likes to sail a good 60 degrees off the wind. She can pinch up and will even sail at 30 degrees off, but she takes a little encouragement. With that, we zigged and zagged up the bay and decided to investigate Heckman Anchorage on the recommendation of the cruising guide. We were glad we did.

Five other sailboats and three stinkpots had already arrived, but we had plenty of room for one more as the sailboats had rafted up together. A group of six sailors, along with three dogs, took a late evening turn in a dinghy and came over to admire Aleta.

Nell Follies

We woke fairly rested. Aleta had barely moved, tucked in as she was from the prevailing winds behind the heavily treed hillside ahead of her. With the change in the weather I had picked up a cold and was beginning to feel sorry for myself. Tai and Carol, on the other hand, were in fine fettle and decided to take our tender, Nell Quickly, out for a spin with her new 6 horse, four stroke, Yamaha outboard. First we had to reattach Nell’s transom (more on this later) which gave me a chance to practice my pop-riveting skills.

Fundamental to an outboard’s successful operation is gas. We are still getting used to our new engine and how far she will run on a tank. So, almost as soon as the ladies set off the engine died. Dead in the water. Out came the oars and hilarity ensued.

Initially, Carol tried paddling stern to the waves, which proved hard work. After a suitable pause, I radioed and said the generally recommended approach is to push the pointy end of the boat through the water first. Next they tried team rowing, each taking an oar, and wound up going in circles for a bit. Marlon, who had gone along in hope of a walk, barked and Carol took back both oars and eventually returned to Aleta for some refueling assistance (the spare gas can was already in Nell). The rest of the afternoon was pleasantly passed reading and resting as the explorers poked around the cove.

Lunenburg

Fog hung low over the islands as we pulled anchor in the flat calm of the morning. We made our way around the corner to Lunenburg, spending a bit of time revising our Canadian Aids to Navigation, which for the most part are very similar to American ones. Plus, they turn up in all the right places on our chartplotter. Our cruising guide encouraged us to anchor as far west as we could in Lunenburg Harbor. It didn’t mention that much of the harbor is covered in mooring balls. Still, we dropped our hook in 17’ of water and had enough swing room to avoid the other couple of cheapskates unwilling to pay a marina for their stay.

Amusements

From the photos in the previous post you can see the kind of quaint, colorful tourist town Lunenburg is these days. The Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic is a terrific way to see how it was 50 years ago when fishing was the mainstay industry. For centuries, right up to the 1960s, schooners carrying a dozen or more dories fished off the Grand Banks. Once there, the brightly colored dories would launch each morning with two crew and the slow process of hand-lining for cod would begin.

Each dory had four tubs. Each tub contained 500 hooks tied to a line. Once baited, the hooks and line were cast overboard. Sometimes stretching for a mile or more. After waiting a couple of hours and the fishermen started hauling in the fish. Once the dory was full, it was back to the ship to clean and salt the cod.

Eventually, the hold filled up with 475,000 pounds of fish. That usually took 8-10 weeks, mostly between May and October. It was a tough life. But as my guide pointed out, when you have a second or third grade education and your family has been fishing for generations, there weren’t many other ways to make a living.

Strolling Lunenburg

Elsewhere in town, each restaurant we stopped at had the most wonderful seafood – fresh mussels and scallops at comparatively reasonable prices. Homemade ice cream, craft brews, bookstores, an opera house, and a distillery, means that there’s plenty of things to keep you busy for a few days. Thanks to the very helpful ladies at North Sails we completed repairs to our aging jib.

September is reputedly consistently nice around here. October, with colder, harsher weather is on its way, and so we are heading southwards.

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