It’s COLD in Canada

the start of the canal

check out the sky

lots of lighthouses (and rocks)

We left Cape Cod (Onset) at 05:00 to travel the Canal with the current, and made good time through   the Canal and across Cape Cod Bay, then headed out into the Ocean.  Lots of fishermen in the Canal, not sure I would eat the fish they caught, but apparently they did.

Before leaving, we double and triple checked our weather for the next 48 hours, we filed our sail plan with the Canadian Coast Guard, and we notified each member of our SPOT team over the phone that we were leaving.  The longest MB and I have ever gone is overnight, and we are always exhausted after an overnight trip; this leg requires two nights, and two and a half days.  We spoke at length with cruisers who have travelled 13 days and nights in a boat our size, and after combining all the stories, the best solution for us would be 3 hour shifts, with radar and plotter left turned on, and the person on duty could go below and rest for a maximum of 10 minutes with an egg timer held in hand.  (Thanks ‘Solution’ for that suggestion).

When MB was on duty, she sat at the helm with eyes wide open, staring at the electronics, compass, and water.  When I was on duty, I would get up every 10 minutes, look around, then crawl back under my blankey and hold my egg timer.

In Cape Cod Bay, there were hundreds of boats whale watching, when a whale stuck his head up, a hundred boats would roar over to that spot, and the whale disappeared.  We saw some, but they didn’t stay up.  One hundred miles off the coast of Provincetown, about six Right Whales came up and gave me a private show, absolutely fascinating.  They are like Dolphins, hard to get a picture of but amazing to watch.  I did manage to get a video of part of the show, check out the sidebar under “videos”.

We’ve all heard the saying “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight…………etc”, well, look at this night sky offshore.

A hundred miles offshore, there were also birds.  One large one, looked like some type of eagle, flew by the boat, turned around and came back and flew around the top of the mast, looked like he wanted to land and rest, but when he saw the windicator spinning and the anmeter whirring, decided to turn around and resume course.  There were seagulls, and lots of small birds, MB thought they were ‘Sooty Terns’ but I can’t verify that.  They are a long way from shore.  Remember from the Dry Tortugas, the young Sooty Tern flies 5,000 miles and never touches ground.

We had a full moon with cloud cover both nights, but when it came out, the sight was fabulous.  Wind was light, and although the sails were out, we needed the engine running to get the 5 knots we required.

As we approached the Canadian line, the sky changed from the New England cloud and rain, and was clear, sunny, and still yet colder.

We arrived at Shelburne just as the wind was becoming nasty, we docked, called and cleared customs (had to wait while they drove 2 ½ hours to arrive), they were very courteous, professional, thorough, and unlike US Coast Guard boarding’s, they were friendly.  So friendly that my first mate broke my rule of “offer nothing unless they ask” and when they appeared finished without going over our list of goods, MB said “here is a list of goods we have on board”.  They smiled at her and said they liked her, and then both flashed me a dirty look.  We had a good time, and removed our yellow quarantine flag.

Now we sit in Shelburne and wait for the winds to die, and get the North out of the forecast, and we will probably do an overnighter past Halifax and head straight to the Canso Causeway, then home.

WOW, can you believe all this?  Not sure I do yet.

Love to everyone,

Joe & Mary Beth Amelia
S/V “Pot ‘O’ Gold”