Swallow Tail

We made it to Canada! 🇨🇦

I remember Noel saying, about sailing the Canadian coast, everything was big— big currents, big tides, big swells. She was absolutely right.

The morning started out calm, with no wind. We were riding the high tide current so we were making great speed—7-8 knots just with the motor. Around noon the wind picked up, so we put sails up while the wind (out of the SW) was 10-12 kts and still building. We were making 8 knots by sails and current alone! It rapidly built to 18-23 knots. We reefed both the mainsail and jib. At the north end of Grand Manan, there is a place where two very strong currents come together and crash into each other. It was very strange— we could see the water ahead looking like it was waves hitting a beach, but we knew there was plenty of depth. It was very noisy, too, like being on a beach during a big storm. We made it through the stretch, about 50 yards across, without any problem (but I did stand right next to David while we went through it!). Eventually, we had to round the north head of Grand Manan, losing the favorable wind direction, and needed to go into the harbor, so we dropped the sails and motored in.

We were told by Customs to find a mooring, then to call in. All the moorings except one were in very rough water. We took the one that was in calm water, tucked behind some docks. It clearly had not been used in a long time. There were about 10 lines tangled about it, all covered with seaweed that looked like bright green lettuce. I grabbed one of the lines (slimy seaweed, algae, and all) and made it fast, and we took the dinghy to shore to call into Customs. Afterwards we decided to move the boat to one of the outer moorings because it looked like we were too close to the breakwater and we just weren’t sure about the mooring. The pennants (lines to attach the mooring to the boat) on the next mooring were a new polyester, very thin and light, and not easy to slide onto a boat hook. It felt like I was trying to catch a tiny line in Gulliver’s ocean!!

We decided that between the strong currents, big tides (20’, compared to Boston’s 10’), strong winds (still blowing), and tiny pennants, that it is hard work getting into Canada.

Once the boat was settled, we went back to land to explore, but there isn’t much to see. It is a nice island community, with a drugstore and a few restaurants which seem to be closed when you want them. Their biggest export here is “dulse,” a seaweed that they dry and sell as a snack. I tried it. 😝

As we lie here tonight, the winds are probably 25 knots, keeping us abeam to the waves. The boat is rolling quite a bit, and things are slip-sliding around. We are having to “batten down the hatches.” The temperature is surprisingly warm— maybe low 70s.

Tomorrow morning we will leave for St. Andrews, in Passamaquoddy Bay.

We have been told by guide books and other travelers that we would start seeing whales by now, but we have not seen a single one!! We did see some porpoises today while still in US waters, and about a dozen the day before. Passamaquoddy Bay is also supposed to be a good habitat for whales, so we will keep a lookout tomorrow.Read more