August 8, 2014 … Digby to Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia

this is "s/v Walkabout " … Randy, (in front) and Ryan … Randy and Carmen, live near Annapolis, USA and live aboard their 45 ft Dufor  … and Ryan and Elizabeth  crew aboard when ever they can …

they too are here for the Bahamian Boat Reuniuon at Dunroman Campsite, owned by Janis and Cam Albright … 

as we are leaving Digby the ferry to St. John New Brunswick is loading passengers

no wind and motoring up the Annapolis River

Joe and I just remarked that this was the first time in the last few weeks that we have not had to have radar on … then all of a sudden

radar came on and fog came in behind us

it soon cleared

this is Port Royal Historical Site, we visited it a few days later

Annapolis Royal as seen from the water

the red brick building belongs to Joe's mom's friend, Elizabeth and Arthur … 

we are coming in on the rising tide and the new dinghy dock and steps are just about flat

note the water floating these boats ….

our 3 hour trip for the day

our friend Janis, made arrangements for Modaki and Walkabout to tie up to the fishermen's bouys , it was the first for us … bow tied on and

this is the stern line tied … Randy from Walkabout came over in his dinghy to help with the stern line … not as easy as one would think to hook on to

these are the boats that were floating when we came in … the tide goes up or down in this area one foot in 10 minutes ….

and the tides when we were here was 30 ft

we visited some local shops .. lots of folk art

the houses are so well maintained and painted .. the flower beds also were at their prime

this is Modaki on the left and Walkabout on the right … we are about 1/3 mile from the dinghy dock

another beautiful home and it is for sale

you just never know who  you will meet this far away from home … Peter and Shelly Everett from our yacht club back home in Owen Sound, found us wondering down the main street … they were here to celebrate Peter's mom's 90 birthday, in a few days … and she stays 6 months out of the year at our friends campsite .. Dunroman … a small world for sure

this is close to low tide, higher than a 3 story building

there is lots of suds in the river

this sure made Modaki and the dinghy dirty

here we are tied bow and stern, this gets more boats in a small area,  ……  if they were on mooring balls, tied bow only, they would swing in a very large circle at low tide

this is what we found on our sea glass adventure … there was a lot of glass, but it was not worn, because of all the mud and not a stoney shore

Walkabout in front of the only Tidal Power Plant in North America

August 7, 2014 ….. Digby, Nova Scotia

we decided to spend another night in Digby, there was a scallop festival happening and the opening was tonight … also it is always interesting to see what a place looks like at low tide …

these floating docks run up and down the steel pillars …

after visiting some local artist that set up booths on the water front, we headed to the nearest beach to look for sea glass … this is a scallop shell

these are periwinkles, so cute little guys, it was hard to miss stepping on them

this is close to low tide, see the sandbar just about 30 feet beside Modaki, we had no idea it was there 

the tides here were about 25 ft, on this day .. it is getting closer to the full moon, and most extreme tides

this is the fuel dock at low tide … see the fuel pump in the top and centre of the picture

supper, fresh scallops, yellow beans and salad … so good

to be continued ….

August 6, 2014 -- Briar Island (West Point) to Digby, Nova Scotia

this is one of the lobster boats that is not in use for other fishing on the off season .. the lobster season in this area is around the last week in November until May 1

here we are again tied up to a very large fishing boat, inside the harbour

there is lots of neat old buildings, this one is a used book store, all cedar shakes

this was outside the harbour, but had a great view of the bay

we stopped in to see Tom and Kelly Albright, the brother of Cam, that we are heading up to Annapolis Royal to see and attend the Bahamian Boat Reunion Party

this is frozen halibut and haddock, these young fishermen are grinding it up to be used as shark bait, for the Shark Fishing Event next weekend … the lad on the right caught the largest shark last year, it was 465 lbs … they said that the small sharks they just tag and release … I was not aware that there was sharks in this area …. later we found out that a Great White Shark was spotted at Grand Manan Island, a few days ago

it was another foggy day, then the next minute it was gone

another view of the harbour

tide going down

we were waiting for it to drop so we had the out going tide to pass thru Grand Passage, then catch the in coming tide to get to Digby  .. on this day the tide was around 18 ft.

the ferry again, it did the round trip in 15 minutes, that day

we are leaving and the fog came back in again

the fog was so thick again, all we say was the chart plotter, with radar to guide us the 7 hours to Digby

these are our new binoculars, water proof and floatable … the other ones fogged up and became useless

just before this fog patch surrounded us again we saw at 40 ft Humpback Whale, feeding, about 1/8 mile from us … we are hoping to see some more soon

we had a boost of 3 knots in this area due to the incoming tide up the Bay of Fundy

we are coming in the Digby Gut, here and the fog was starting to lift

an old abandoned fishing port, we met a pod of about 30 porpoises feeding and coming out of the gut … it looks like they go against the tide to eat, where as we go with the tide to get a boost in speed

this is the ferry dock for the crossing to St. John, New Brunswick

our trip for the day  7 hours in fog

Joe getting the dinghy blown up, for we will need it at our next stop

the fishing boats, some draggers, scallop, herring, haddock, and lobster boats

August 5, 2014 … Yarmouth to Brier Island .. home of Joshua Slocum, first man to sail around the world

okay when you spend all day in the fog  .. day after day  ..things get a wee bit  stinky …there is no way to dry anything from the salt air , bath towels , wash cloths, dish cloths, clothes .. OMG

some times the inside of our boat is a maze between foul weather gear to dish clothes …  oh well

Joe  …….

 make sure you open the hatch a bit before making coffee, so the steam vents out and not in the cabin …  

these guys were unloading herring, these were small and it was being chopped up and frozen for lobster bait .. 

the largest gulls we have ever seen, waiting for a fish to flop there way

this is the Portland to Yarmouth Ferry, it was so big .. thank goodness we did not have the right tide to leave the harbour  at this time … a monster ship

well Modaki left at 1pm to get the out going tide .. it was dense fog .. nerve racking …  we were in the river and going about 3 knots  .. I on helm and Joe chart plotter and radar .. no visibility  .. we saw land ahead, which was wrong .. suddenly 5 US boats appeared out of the fog , that was the mass we saw, then out of the river and head to  Brier Island …  I for sure love to be at sea .. I hate the landings and escapings of land …  

again we were in fog for 6 hours until we saw Briar Island .. then

this is the ferry from Briar Island to the next Island, sorry forgot name … it blew its horn cause he saw us wondering about in the fog .. we went thru the small channel between Peter Island and Brier Island … Joe on Chart Plotter and Navionics on  I-Pad , and I on the helm in dense fog …  our wording to steer is go green  or go red …  it was not a happy site coming into this harbour …  the mooring balls that we were to attach to was near the fish farm …   finding the fish farm was one thing  .. then when we found them it was to find the mooring balls …  … the fog as only about 2 boat lengths  … we found a bouy, but it was for the lobster cars, and it had no way to attach and had lines every where that would sure foul our prop  … we said we had to go into the fishing port and catch the first boat we could find and tie to it …   so I put down fenders and lines on both sides of our boat  …  so the first boat in side the harbour was the Coast Guard … not a good tie up to …. next was 3 fishing boats tied together … so we called it home ..   later to find out we were in the home of a Whale Watching Cruise  Boat spot … they understood why we landed here and were not upset ...    it was a long day and  …

our 6 1/2 hour motor in dense fog and dense fog arriving too

of course this picture has to show no fog in the harbour .. but look past Coast Guard Boat …

Modaki and fishing boat

we are so small against this boat

good night Briar Island and Modaki crew …

pooped after a long day of fog

…to be continued