Friday, July 20, 2012

Sitting and Waiting, Waiting and Sitting

Yesterday we left PEI and headed to Pictou, Nova Scotia.  When the winds get up to about 20kts the seas start to get uncomfortable unless you happen to be sheltered by land, and yesterday's ride was right on the boarder line.  I'm increasingly understanding why there is so little recreational boating around here.  Not only is the season short, but the weather further eats away at the season leaving very few really pleasant boating days.  Speaking of sparse recreational boating, we actually sighted another boat today while underway.  Other than Ke'Ola Kai and Adirondack, it's the first boat we've encountered at sea since leaving Quebec City.  It's an amazingly sharp contrast with boating in New England.

Our whole trip paralleled PEI, but we quickly cut over to the mainland side to get a better angle on the waves, and that yielded an acceptable wallow for about 75% of the trip.  The main connection between PEI and the mainland is the Confederation Bridge which was just built in the late 90's.  It's about 12 miles long and is quite the sight.  Before that, all travel was via ferry.

Lighthouse with Confederation Bridge in Background
The New Brunswick/Nova Scotia boarder is right near where the bridge lands on the mainland, so a short way into our journey we crossed into Nova Scotia, our 5th and last Province in the trip.  We've now visited Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, PEI, and Nova Scotia.

It was a long day, but we finally made it to Pictou and anchored right near one of the (maybe the only) remaining ferry lines out to the eastern most end of PEI.  It's a reasonably well protected spot, and a few evening storms rolling through were a preview of weather for the next day, today.

Pictou Ferry Terminal with Storm Clouds

Approaching Ferry and Storm

Early this morning, probably around 4:00, the wind kicked up again to 20-25kts as predicted, and our little bay kicked up a lot of chop, but it's still manageable.  It's supposed to continue until late this morning then subside slightly, so we are waiting to see what happens.  The wind direction will leave us with a side sea the whole trip, so unless things calm down, we'll just sit it out today.

From here, we've decided it's time to head home, and we are not going to visit the Bras d'Or lakes and Cape Breton.  It's been a long trip, and a learning experience for both of us to see how long we can cruise before getting itchy, missing the kids, missing home, etc.    A month is the longest we've ever been away before, and at the end of both of those trips we were ready to go home.  We've been at this for 2 months now, and we are both looking forward to getting home.  I see other cruisers who pack up their lives for 1, 2, 5, even 10 years and go cruising, but we couldn't do that.  Fortunately Maine, Nova Scotia, and Cape Breton are very reachable from home and will definitely be part of a future trip where we can take the time to enjoy them properly.

2 comments:

  1. There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home... I'm clicking my ruby red slippers for you!

    (Sent from someone who lives for adventure, followed by the exquisite joy of re-finding ones own bed!)

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  2. What a great virtual trip. I'm exhausted!! Glad you're making your way back home - safe travels.

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