BACK IN NOVA SCOTIA

We're not quite home to River Bourgeois on Cape Breton Island but we're very close with a stop at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. We had a great 21 day trip north this spring in relatively light winds and no problems. We decided to put a new motor in Easy Go and we found the one we wanted right here in Nova Scotia along with everything we needed to get the job done. Not an easy decision with all the motorless miles we have achieved, however, getting in and out of Bourgeois Inlet with its strong tidal stream will now be easier and allow day trips while we are home. We are looking forward to getting to some of the places that proved difficult previously. There is also that slippery slope of what we can power with the new energy source. A new radio and AIS Transiever are on the list along with some LED navigation lights. We're not getting rid of the kerosene lights and the yuloh. We like the redundancy they offer and for long passages we won't need to run an engine to generate power for batteries. We planned this as a hybrid type of boat for the future.

Leaving the Caribbean for the colder climes of Canada is always a hard decision. We left early enough to miss the first Tropical Cyclones of the season but late enough to miss the last of the Nor'Easters that tend to come out of nowhere once we are north of Cape Hatteras. The last of the goodbyes from the Caribbean came from a couple of humpback whales. One on either side of Easy Go they serenaded us with their beautiful vocalizations while we bid the island of Barbuda goodbye. We have never had this happen before and it was a moving occurrence.

We had our usual escorts of sharks that mutilated our fishing baits. We had no success catching fish coming north which may be in part contributed to the Chinese Fishing boats that we encountered with their driftnets as we came north outside of the territorial waters of any country.

In the area of the Gulf Stream we had great luminescence in the ocean waters for several nights. A vist from a pod of dolphins was so incredible that I had to wake Kathy so she could see this rare opportunity. Each dolphin was lit up so that every detail was visible and they left long sparkling trails as they played in the bow wave and around the boat. We could see them approaching Easy Go from quite a long distance. The animators ad Disney haven't even come close to producing something as spectacular.

Once on the continental shelf off Nova Scotia we encountered huge, I mean really huge ocean sunfish. We had one just to port that was at least one third the size of Easy Go. It would have been a serious bump if we had struck this slow moving and very strange looking fish. It was nice to see sword fish swimming nearby with their telltale dorsal and tails skimming the top of the water. We would not feel at home if we had not seen familiar whales. At the edge of the continental shelf there can be a strong tide rip that is frequented by whales. We were not disappointed this year when a large solitary Blue Whale blew nearby and welcomed us home.


Coming into Lunenburg we met the lobster fleet out harvesting the last of this years bounty. We wove our way through the floats without incident and came to anchor under sail just as the morning winds died away. After clearing Immigration and Customs we went ashore to meet old friends and catch up on local news.

Looking forward to heading back to River Bourgeois soon and seeing home for the first time in more than eight months.