Back to the US

I know, I know...I'm a bad blogger! It's way beyond time I finish up on our summer travels. This episode will cover our remaining stops in Canada before we arrive in Maine. Once again I'll try and let the pictures do the talking.

We left off in Summerside on PEI. This is where we began to notice the big tide swings this area is known for. While the shore is fairly flat the difference is still impressive.

Tide In

Tide Out!

This is definitely an area to stay in the marked channel. Since the weather was going to keep us here for several days we rented a car to tour the island. Jill and I agreed that it's a place we could return for a vacation in the future. Once the winds calmed down we made our way further down the island to the "big city" of Charlottetown. We were less impressed with this area but were once again pinned here due to high winds. We did manage some brewery visits and both of us got kilts...what were we thinking??

Once we left Charlottetown we stopped at the lovely town of Montague for our last stop on PEI. This was a small town where we could have enjoyed a few days however approaching weather dictated we move across the straight the next day.

Montague

Our next stop was Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. This is a beautiful island with a large lake in the center. The south end where we entered is controlled by a lock while the north end is open to the Atlantic. Our first stop was the town of Saint Peter's. We have found that many towns in the Maritimes have marinas that aren't used to 50' boats. We were always able to find a spot but sometimes is was unusual. Here we were on the fuel dock which worked great for our boat.

Next we headed up the Bras d'Or (Bra-door) lake to the town of Baddeck. It was regatta weekend so we could only get 2 nights. Again on the town pier.

Baddeck is another lovely town with great restaurants, and inviting yacht club and the Alexander Graham Bell Museum . I had no idea about Bell's influence in this area so the museum was very interesting to us.

Bell Museum

As you approach the town by water you can see his house on the hillside which is still owned by the family and not open to visitors.

Next we went back to St. Peter's for a couple of days to wait for calm weather to cross over to the main island of Nova Scotia. While there we walked up to see the annual canal swim which the locals enjoy. I say locals because there is no way I'm getting in water in the low 60's! In the video below you can hear the wind howling which will keep us in port for a couple of days.

We next traveled along the south coast of Nova Scotia where we anchored for a night before heading to Halifax. It was very well protected in an area of small islands.

I typically leave the chart plotter on for a bit after we anchor to be sure we're not dragging. This is when I noticed something exciting...

25,000 Miles!

It's actually 26,000 miles since we didn't add the electronics until we brought the boat 1000 miles home to Cincinnati the first year. I'll do a wrap up in a future blog with all of this years exciting totals... We were treated to a nice full moon and a quite night at anchor.

Next stop was the town of Halifax and it's busy harbor. It's definitely a "head on a swivel" transit but worth it to be right in town. Here's a short video to give you an idea...

We again took advantage of the Hop-on, Hop-off bus to see the sites around town. One stop is a cemetery where some of the Titanic victims are buried. It was interesting to see that some of the remains have been identified after originally being just a number. I later found out the DNA testing is still ongoing as methods improve.

We also visited the Maritime Museum which has a small but interesting Titanic exhibit (see, it's not all breweries!). The museum has a deck chair from the ship on exhibit...

...as well as a replica which people would sit in for a picture with the deck in the background. It struck me as a bit creepy!

Halifax is a town I could have spent more time in but it was time to move on.

Next was Lunenburg which is a quaint fishing/tourist village that was having their annual music festival while we were there. It also has a couple of breweries...

As we moved along the coast we had another stop or 2 before our last anchorage in Canada for this year. It was another nice well protected stop and a calm night...too calm! The next morning we awoke to our only foggy travel day of the trip. We'd actually expected more. This one was a good one and we never saw land until we got to the town of Yarmouth even though we were weaving our way through islands. Thank goodness for radar and AIS!

Todays view

We spent a couple of nights in Yarmouth and it's here that we saw the biggest tide swings of the trip. These are the famous Bay of Fundy tides we'd always heard about. Below are 2 shots of the fuel dock.

High Tide

Low Tide

The difference is amazing! The picture below was taken the night before we left and you can see the large Cat ferry that crosses daily to Bar Harbor in Maine.

We were underway early the next morning as it was over a hundred miles across to the US and the days were getting shorter! I'd never seen an AIS Icon with little jet streams behind it but this is what the fast ferry looks like.

It was kinda sad to be passed by the ferry in both directions before we ever got to land!

We were blessed to have a very calm crossing and by late afternoon we were seeing Mt. Desert Island in Maine. Not long after that our first lobster pots...

It was just about sunset when we got docked in Southwest Harbor but it was a great crossing! Now, lets find some of those lobsters....

Heading South

After leaving Sainte-Anne-des-Monts we passed our northern most point and began heading south. Being above 49* is quite an accomplishment for a pleasure boat on the east coast.

As we traveled along the Gaspe' Peninsula we passed the northern most point of the Appalachian mountains.

And some truley impressive and rugged cliffs.

And more picturesque lighthouses.

Our next several stops were in fishing villages. Some had floating docks but most had large walls which took some creative line handling. The first was Rivie're'-au-Renard which is a very busy commercial fishing port.

After rounding the Gaspe' we passed by the famous Pierce' Rock.

After one last stop in Quebec we crossed over to New Brunswick and the town of Caraquet. There was no room in the marina and we were again on a wall in the fishing port. This pier is also very popular with the locals who come out to fish or just cruise the jetty.

One thing about this stretch of the trip is that we are now on larger and mostly unprotected bodies of water. We have to me very careful on route planning as winds are often higher than forecast. The following is an idea of less than perfect conditions crossing the Northumberland Strait. After the crossing we are now in Summerside on Prince Edward Island, our 4th Provence on this trip. The landscape is very different and the soil is very red.

We're going to spend a few days here to let the weather calm down. It's a nice little town with lot's of activity around the waterfront. On Friday night there is a very popular car show.

And Saturday afternoons the local brewery hosts a Ceilidh (Kay-Lee) which is also very popular. One last thing of note is that yesterday was the 12th anniversary of our taking the helm of Chasing 80! Of course we toasted her with some little beers!

PS: For some reason when starting this post it opened in Edit mode. Hopefully the formating isn't too messed up. I tried to include a couple of links about the Perce' rock and the Ceilidh but it appears they don't work.

Whales and Seals and....

 ...Penguins can FLY!!!! 

We knew we would see many new things on this years trip but we had no idea we would see penguins! We began seeing these small duck like birds below Quebec city but they are very shy and will dive and swim away or fly off on short stubby wings after beating the water for several yards to get airborne. I told Jill that they look like penguins with black backs. white chests and short wings. Sure enough, after some research we found that they are indeed penguins and can indeed fly! You can also take a cruise to see them.

We were also able to sight seals.

But the star of the trip and by far Jills favorite has been the Beluga whales.

We also saw what we believe was a Minke whale but did not get a picture.

The highlight stop on this section has been the town of Taddousac and cruising the length of the Seguenay Fjord. The scenery in this section if very rugged and picturesque (when it's not foggy). We are still in an area of large tidal changes as you can see in the following pictures.

Chasing 80 at low tide.

Same area as seen from the boat at high tide.

We traveled up the Fjord to the town of Le Baie and the scenery was amazing.

Tour boat below Our Lady of the Saguenay

Closer picture

We saw several spectacular waterfalls which are called chutes in this area.

I thought the scenery was great but I think Jill was less impressed without the Belugas...

As we have traveled this section of the St Lawrence we have seen many ski areas...

And lighthouses...

Turn left here for Taddousac

And humongous churches....

Sometimes we even saw churches and lighthouses....

So that's it for this quick update. We are currently in Ste-Anne-des-Monts for an extra day to let the water calm down after a very windy day yesterday. We are definitely in a part of Quebec where it is harder to find an English translator but we're getting by with Google translate and pointing at the menu...
 

Quebec City

 We left our last update with our stay in Montreal, Quebec. Before we left there was one last event, the Formula 1 race. As I took a video of our marina the race took over the audio...volume up!

 

Our second stay in Montreal was as enjoyable as the first but it's time to move on. We left on a perfect weather day but had decided to cut the trip to Quebec city into 2 days instead of 4 as planned. Cold weather and rain was in the forecast. It was easy to travel longer days as we had a nice push headed down river.

So Long Montreal.

Not much photo worthy along the way as we made 2 days of about 80 miles each. We arrived in Quebec City a day before the temps dropped and the rain set in...

 Our stay in Quebec City was longer than planned as we got in 2 days early and had to wait for a favorable tide to leave. On a slower boat like ours it's important to leave 2 hours before high tide to have a nice push going down river. The tide range was almost 18 feet while we were there and the marina basin is protected by a lock to enter and exit.

Once again we were treated to a marina in the heart of town.

We were within an easy walk to shopping and the old town of Quebec. Where Montreal felt like an international city, Quebec feels more European and French in particular. It's charming and wonderful to visit, just different. While French is the primary language we were able to get by easily once we parly-vood a bit of anglaise. 

After a couple of days of rain we were able to get out and explore the city.

Where's Waldo?

The old town has a very nice walking area with shops and restaurants. Also a nice square around a church.

Notre Dame

Above the old town is the fort that protected the city (not well) and more shopping and eating areas. The area has a prominade overlooking the river and lower town as well as the famous Fairmont Le Château Frontenac

We spent our last day taking a bus out to the Montmorency Falls which most boaters see from the river but it's impressive to be there and hear the roar.

Above.

We chose not to do the Zip Line...

We also had a treat towards the end of our stay as the RCAF Snowbirds did a fly-by of the city. This is the Canadian version of the Blue Angles or Thunderbirds in the US.

So after 10 days it's time to head on down the river. We're leaving the city's and heading into the small towns and wide open expanses of the St. Lawrence.

Good By Quebec.

The last pictures is the falls as we head down the river. Quite impressive but you don't hear the roar!

Until next time...