MODAKI: July 29 and 30, 2013 Ballantynes Cove - Havre Boucher

we were surprised to see our sailing friend Al Fraser on Deliverance, coming in to Ballantynes Cove, we met Al in Pictou, and he gave us very good advice for Bras d'Or Lakes and Iles-de-la -Madelaine, hey Al text us at 519-379-0544 or email us at modaki@rogers.com ......... we want to keep in touch with you !!

OK we left Ballantynes Cove knowing it was 10-15 on the nose, and building later ... the Skipper and I had 2nd thoughts ... there is a reason that there is no pictures of the porpoises and the pilot whales, the Northern Gannets diving to catch their morning snack .. and the Black Back Gulls that are so beautiful .

.. this is why we zing zag back and forth ... okay we get so far and think .. we made a mistake the wind has picked up and it is too late to turn back ... the 5 hour trip, felt like a 10 hour trip ... we were soaked with salt water, and just wishing the day would come to an end !!

In Havre Boucher, a new anchorage for us ... mud bottom and we held on the first try and the wind was up so we really dug in ..

this is a big harbour and there is only one other boat, in our area there would we 15 or so boats

it was misty and raining a bit and we were full of salt every were , it is hard to clean anything with out fresh water ..

we hung life jackets in side after dark, but the air was still damp

no way of drying everything ..

July 30, we left the anchorage at 6:30 am and headed to the Canso Locks, ahead was a bank of fog .. we put on the radar, just thinking it was a bank of fog ... ??

okay this is the area that you always see the pilot whales, and we did a fews weeks ago, when we saw 50 to 100 feeding on the Mackerel

okay no whales and soon no land either , we radioed the Canso Lock to say we were one mile away ... we were slowly motoring to the lock .. thank goodness we had a track from a few weeks ago, and we know what was ahead of us ...

getting close to the lock .. we asked the lock master about the fog .. and he said "oh ya lots of fog"

entering the lock ... we had to radio, because we could not see the green light to go into the lock

we asked if we could wrap our middle line around the steps, so we did not have to stand off, MODAKI, does not like to stand off .. good with the lock masters ... hummmmmmm

still tons of fog, bridge open .. where do we venture into ?? skipper ??

after this we were completely engulfed in fog, we could not steer our self, we could follow our other times thru this passage, but we over corrected and just about went in circles ... had to get auto out and he had a better hand than us ... this is the 3rd time that this has happen to us .. one was going into Toudaussa, Quebec ... (and first with Jamie and Martha Nicol coming home from the North Channel)

..... oh no HALIFAX, Nova Scotia is coming soon !!!

okay before this picture ,... we got to Port Hawkberry about 3/4 hour after the locks, in the fog, at 8am, we filled with fuel and waited until noon to see if it would lift, and then we headed out, and we got to the bouy and said no way, we can't see anything and don't know the area ... lets stay put ..

at dock we can do many projects .. the skipper installed a fan for me, my skipper does know electrical works, and he carries extras on board, this will help with the mold problem we are having in this humid environment.