Position           44:28.26N 063:45.38W

Date                1110 (Canadian Atlantic) Tuesday 23 July 2013

Passage Run – 0.8nm – 0.54 as the crow flew in 30mins (door to door)

We were not sure where to go today, the consensus was to go 10nm up into St Margaret’s Bay but there was the challenge of Rogues Roost temptingly in view.  As we were preparing to up anchor the top of the mast that we had seen over the island inside the Roost the previous evening started to move and seeing it leave and realising that it was 15m gave us the confidence to give it a shot, very slowly and with the bow thruster ready, just in case.

The chart for the day’s epic voyage gives a good idea of the issue.  Depths are rather charmingly in fathoms (1fathom = 6ft or 1.83m).

The actual depth all of the way in was not a problem; we never had less than 4m under the keel.  The problem is the flat topped rock lying between the depths 3 and 2’3 marked on the chart.  The Pilot claims that this dries.  When we went in, just after high water it was just submerged with a large patch of bladder wrack floating on top.  I am sure that the gap between it and Roost Island to the south is actually wider than it felt.  We will survey this at low water from the dinghy.  The Pilot Book says leave the southern shore rock a boats length to starboard; this sounds good until you realise that the author’s boat(length) is only 30 foot.

Once inside we realised that the hype was valid.  It is a wonderful enclosed anchorage surrounded by boulders and vegetation.  There was one small yacht already on a mooring at the head of the cove and a vacant large white mooring buoy.  The skipper of the moored yacht said that the white buoy was laid by the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron and we assume that the 15m yacht that we had seen leaving must have used it.  So there we sit until someone more entitled arrives and in which case we will anchor.

The weather rapidly deteriorated as the forecast had predicted so we may well stay here until the sun shines again.  It is definitely our sort of place.  It has given me the opportunity to catch up on the blog and the Mate to experiment with her yoghurt maker.  Photographs to follow when it stops raining.