Charlottetown, PEI

Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Tue 7 Aug 2007 12:52
46:13.753N  63:07.426W
 
We had a nice mostly sail, partly motor from Summerside to Charlottetown on Saturday (8/4/07).  Just as we arrived in the Charlottetown harbor, a storm was brewing, and looking very nasty.  As we semi-frantically (ok, I was semi-frantic, Don was fine) radioed the yacht club, and when they didn't answer, the marina, to inquire about dockage for the night, the storm hit.  We clocked the winds at 43 knots [non-boater translation: ~50 mph] which was a bit scary.  No problem though - we just pointed the boat into the wind and kept the motor going enough to basically keep us in the same position in the harbor until the storm blew over.  Shew!  That was another first for this trip - the highest winds we've seen so far (although pretty short-lived at only 5 or 10 minutes in duration).  The wind seemed like nothing when it calmed down to 30 knots after hitting 43.  I think that's the trick to this sailing thing.  Every time we experience something remotely scary (scary for me, Don is more like a rock and doesn't seem to scare), the next time the same circumstances occur, it's no big deal.
 
After the storm passed, we were able to contact the Charlottetown yacht club and secured a space on the outer wall for the night.  As we pulled up to the wall, there were about 15 fishermen hanging out on the dock.  They helped us in, which was great, and once we got settled, we noticed that the big pile of stuff on the dock wasn't fishing gear, but empty cases of beer - about 8 of them.  Apparently it was fishermen party day at the yacht club (it was Saturday, after all).   Whrn we left to go to dinner, the partiers vowed to look after our boat for us.  We left the boat feeling pretty secure (really) that the partiers would guard our boat well.
 
We stayed in Charlottetown only one night - all the excitement with the storm (and the three additional storms that followed it later that evening) and the partiers was enough for us and we headed out to Pictou, Nova Scotia early on Sunday morning.
 
Once again I forgot to take the camera into town and therefore we have no pictures of Charlottetown.  This is too bad since the town really is quaint - most of the buildings were built in the 1800's and many are still in good shape and/or in the process of being renovated.  We had an excellent dinner at the Merchantman Pub - highly recommended for anyone that visits PEI in the future (Bill M. - they had cod and lots of it!).
Anne