We are now back in Trinidad,
and are feeling we let our readers down over the last six months by not posting
during the summer. Sooooo, let's catch
up.
We reported on our visit with
Maurice and Sue in Ontario on the way back home, and we talked a little about
recommissioning the cottage for the season.
We took two other trips as
well, both of duration only 6 days, and both by car. The first was a trip to our smallest
province, Prince Edward Island. Eight
hours of driving took us to a Bill and Lynn Cabel's cottage, where we spent two
days with them and Tina and Scott Kennah. It was great to spend a significant
piece of time with these four after many years of "catch as catch
can". From there, we travelled to
the Souris Ferry Terminal to meet two Caribbean sailors - Paula and Brian of
s/v Magique. Magique has been in the Caribbean since 2007;
soon after a harrowing rescue and recovery just north of Bermuda, after the
rudder split and fell off the shaft, engine mounts failed, and the boat had a
tussle with a LNG supertanker. At the
ferry terminal, we loaded their gear and bicycles onto our car and drove onto a
large, rather luxurious ferry for a 5-hour crossing to the Magdaleines, where
we stayed in a chalet and bicycled around.
The Magdaleine Islands are a low-profile set of islands connected by sand
dunes that are north of Prince Edward Islands and are part of Quebec. Although all are French-speaking, they know
that since the collapse of the cod fishery their well-being relies on tourism -
so all are happy to see us no matter how little of the language we speak. The culture was unique, as was the arts - no
"Made in Indonesia" stickers here.
The only art we purchased were some ceramic tiles and some blown glass
pieces. It was also great to spend time
with Paula and Brian. As you know,
people who sail always seem to find something to discuss. Of course, the wine and goodies the French
provide is always fun!
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| Lynn, Dawn, Tina, Scott, Laurie & Bill at the Cabel's cottage in PEI |
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| Paula and Dawn biking the Magdaline Islands |
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The second trip was in
September. We drove to Cape Breton,
again 8 hours away, and visited Fortress Louisburg, a French fortress community
that was overrun by the English twice in the 18th century - each time requiring
a major force and a 6-week siege.
One-fifth of the Fortress has been reconstructed using Canadian federal
funding to represent the fortress as it was in 1744, just before the first
siege. With staff in appropriate costume
available to explain the artifacts and the history, it was quite
interesting. The second day of our trip
had us well underground in a coal-mining museum; bent over in a 4-foot space
having the experience explained to us by a short 70-year old miner. (Dawn was one of the few who could stand up
at various points.)
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| Laurie helping the boys pull in the big one! |
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| Laurie at the gate of the Fortress Louisbourg in Cape Breton |
From there, we visited
Caribbean sailors Catherine and Peter from s/v "Charlotte D"; a teal
blue/turquoise (Dawn says - I would have said green), high-sided ketch. They can be found anywhere in the leewards or
windwards, as the two of them don't seem to mind passages of 2-3 days. Their summer home is absolutely rudimentary,
along the shores of the Bras d'Or Lake, encompassing an ancient railroad caboose,
a little glassed in sunporch, a partly reconstructed tiny stationhouse, a very
tiny antique travel trailer that might not travel, and a woodworking shop with
a tiny greenhouse attached.
Although Peter is 68, and
Catherine is just a little younger, these two don't do anything easily. As there is no septic tank nor wastewater
services, the caboose has a composting toilet - the "proceeds" of
which goes into their other giant compost bins to expand their raised-bed
gardens. They travel over an hour to get
to a laundromat. Peter is expanding the
tiny stationhouse with hemlock boards cut from a tree he and his lumberman
picked out of the forest. Presently, he
does other chores as he waits for the wood to dry enough to be squared up in
his workshop. Catherine wanted to knit a
sweater last year, so she started by picking out a sheep and shearing it,
before dying, combing, spinning, and whatever else was required. The interesting thing is these people have
the resources to live any way they wish - this is their preferred
lifestyle. Peter was a professor of
physiology, and Catherine was a specialist of some sort in the health care
business.
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| Peter & Laurie taking a rest |
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| Dawn & Catherine on the hike in Cape Breton |
We stayed inside the travel
trailer for the two nights of the visit quite cozily. Catherine and Peter actually sleep in the
rafters of the porch, where there is 4 feet of headroom at the peak; but only
after climbing up a ladder made by slats between the exposed wall studs. Lots to talk about, and an excellent visit.
A highlight was a trip around
the Bras d'Or Lake to Baddeck, where we toured the Alexander Graham Bell
museum. It is easy to forget that Bell
had many inventions and provided other improvements to technology after he got
our telephones working. One large hanger
at the museum pays tribute to the work done on the Bell estate to understand
hydrofoils and their potential worth to the armed forces and others. This was significant to us as, two days
before, we had accidentally stumbled on the match races of the America's Cup on
a television station. Oracle Team USA
beat Fly Emirates Team New Zealand after around 20 races on the inner harbour
of San Francisco, on 72 foot catamarans with fixed wing mains, furling jibs and
Code Zeros, and foiled daggers. Race
speeds on the 10 mile course varied between ~20 and ~45 knots. By the end of the series, both teams had
learned how to keep the boats up on the hydraulic actuated foiled daggers for
more than 70% of each race. Bell would
have loved it!
We also went on a steep hike
to a beautiful waterfall behind Baddeck.
Peter wore a 30 pound back pack, just to get used to the weight. These two intend to hike 60 miles of the
Appalachian Trail in six days; on their way south to return to the boat. Tough, appreciative people, working down the
adventurous side of their "bucket list".
From there, we took up an
invitation to visit another pair of Caribbean sailors, Michele and Al from
Dartmouth, of the s/v Tarantella, a Hunter 44.
Their lifestyle is just short of being completely opposite of Catherine
and Peter: Their house is in a stylish,
middle-class neighbourhood, and contains five bedrooms and three baths. They have two large dining rooms and our stay
was pretty much in luxury. Their idea
of a good time seems to be to acquire something at a fantastic bargain, and
they are forever looking for such deals.
They took us out on Halifax Harbour in a 32 foot trawler-style power
boat that Al had acquired for next to nothing in amazing but honest
circumstances.
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| Michele & Al on their trawler on the water along Halifax |
The weather in New Brunswick
over the summer, has set records for wetness, and our little cottage just never
had a beach, as Grand Lake stayed well over a metre over the norm. We launched our Hobie 21, but only sailed her
a few times. The beach only reappeared in
mid-September. Our lot is predominately
driveway and blueberries, but I often have to cut the grass on the large
driveway, but not this year. The
dampness allowed moss to crowd out the grass.
I built a nice wood shed, and harvested trees on our little lot to fill
it for firewood for future heat.
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| Tidy little woodshed. The ramp flips up to become the door! It also holds our bicycles! |
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| Beautiful fall day on Grand Lake! |
Of course we enjoyed time
with all our friends and family members who we miss all winter. There were parties, pig roasts, dinners, and
other get-togethers. We'll highlight
only one. The day after Halloween, we
got together with a fairly big crowd for a "Pastafarian" party. It is complicated for those not aware, but
the best way to understand the whole experience is to go to Wikipedia and look
up the "Church of The Flying Spaghetti Monster" (FSM). At any rate, people showed up either dressed
as a pirate (the honorary dress of a disciple of the FSM, or with a colander on
your head (to honour the makeup of the deity); and we eat various pasta
dishes. People in costume act
differently, and seem to have more fun than others.
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| The Pastifarian Party is about to begin! |
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| Pirates everywhere |
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| Dawn and pirate Hugh guarding the pasta dishes |
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| Scoundrel Doug and Nasty Laurie downing rum... |
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| Lorraine showing off the boat she sailed over on |
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| Judy, Lorraine & Sea -- wenches for sure |
We have been on the boat for
just a few days, and have been able to put things back together with very few
setbacks. Hopefully things will continue
like this, and we'll be splashed without incident a week from Monday.
Our plans are to sail
northerly along the Caribbean island chain and to haul out way up north in
Virgin Gorda, so it should be a more interesting season for us.
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| Travel plans for winter 2013 & 14. All plans written in sand at low tide. |
Looking forward to feeling the water under our keel come Monday, Dec. 2nd!
