Position           44:16.47N 068:19.27W

Date                0850 (Canadian Atlantic) Friday 2 August July 2013

                        0750 (EDT)

Passage Run – 164.5nm – 166nm over the ground in 24 hrs 20 mins

We spent a very pleasant three days in Shelburne which allowed time for some shopping, a cycle outing and a meal at the excellent Charlotte Lane Restaurant.  Dick and Linda with Second Chance were moored next to us so we had friends with which to play.

Just a few photos to try and show what a delightful place Shelburne is:

The marina viewed from the yacht club balcony.  Definitely a berth with a view.

Looking the other way from across the bay

And the Mate was a happy bunny when she had a treble dachshund fix.

This pack (mob) were out for their morning walk and appeared on the pontoon.  Apparently they like looking at boats (do not ask!).  You are looking at two Canadian champions and the third is a US and Canadian champion.  Three wonderfully behaved and friendly full sized wire haireds.

Back to boating.

The weather went through a day of blowing hard from the west, not good for a passage to Maine, but a Thursday departure looked to give us the best chance of a sail, without waiting for another week. Thus on Thursday morning just before nine we said goodbye to Shelburne and sailed down the harbour about 20 minutes behind Second Chance and another US boat, Weather Gauge.

The clear skies and sunshine lasted all of 30 minutes and by 0900 we had entered thick fog. A summary of the hours from the log tells more about the trip than anything else:

Motoring                     17 hours of which 5 hours were good motor sailing at low RPM

Fog                              10 hours

Rain and mist              4 hours

Clear visibility             10 hours

A combination of radar and AIS, both Second Chance and Weather Gauge having AIS transmitters, allowed us to keep tabs on each other and to avoid any inter yacht incidents which was as well as we were within 2 miles of each other all of the way across and we crossed paths within 100m and in the fog with Weather Gauge twice.  A minor excitement was caused when we were the middle boat of the three and a fishing boat first seen on radar by Second Chance came out of the fog doing 10 knots or so and crossed our stern with 50 m to spare.  All three of us knew it was there but we were the only ‘lucky’ ones to see it.

The arrival in Dysart’s Great Harbor Marina, Southwest Harbor, was a very damp affair but the reception was good as we reversed in between dolphins (posts) to come stern to and alongside a finger pontoon.  The Customs and Border Protection guys duly appeared and officially allowed us back into the USA without any issues and as it was still pouring with rain it was an excellent day to stay inside and recover from the overnight trip.

In the evening we went out with Dick and Linda to the Fiddlers Rest Restaurant and had a very companionable evening.  A good end to our Nova Scotia trip.