Lunenberg, Nova Scotia

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

044-22.560 N
064-18.720 W

Ahoy from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia!

We're in the absolutely lovely town of Lunenburg after a motorsail to here yesterday. We left Halifax just after 6 AM as the winds were forecast to be light in the morning and building to 10-15 kts out of the SW by noon and going to 15-20 by late in the day. Lunenburg is almost due west from Halifax and that's the reason that left at 06:00. Our timing was perfect as by late in the morning it was blowing 15 kts and by the time that we pulled into the harbor at 2 PM, we had 25+ kts out of the SW, which made for a bumpy ride with the leftover swells from the remains of hurricane Hanna.

We were planning on pulling into the floating docks at the Yacht Shop, but when we got there we saw that their docks were explosed to the SW wind and they were undulating in the swells. As a result we headed to the docks at the Fisheries Museum, where our friends from m/v Sea Myth were already docked. These docks are old, high fixed docks, but between the staff at the museum and Sea Myth, we had no problems getting tied up. This was good, as at low tide the top of the dock is easily 8' above the deck of BlueJacket and you have to either crawl up the beams or up the single ladder that was a good stretch away from the stern of the boat. We also had to deploy our fender boards (in our case 4' long 2x6 boards which are placed between the boat's fenders and the pilings), but we discovered that our fender boards were too short and the staff at the museum provided some very long fender boards to keep us off the pilings.

Lunenburg is a delightful town and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. German, Swiss and French settlers colonized the area in the 1750s and the houses that they built have been wonderfully preserved. I was amazed at the architectural details which were incorporated into the buildings and how beautifully the buildings are painted. The view coming into the harbor is amazing, with brightly painted buildings covering the surrounding hillsides.

After a great meal at Magnolias Grill with Chuck and May Hellen from Sea Myth, we headed back to the boat. I was happy to see that the winds which had been blowing at 25-30 kts had relaxed. Sue & I were watching TV when all of a sudden we heard something pounding against the boat. We ran above and saw a boat positioned between BlueJacket and Sea Myth. The stern of the boat was banging into BlueJacket's stainless bow pulpit, so I ran forward and held it off. Chuck kept yelling at me to come aboard Sea Myth to help him, but I kept asking what the plan was as I wasn't about to stop holding off the boat until I had a clear idea of what was going to transpire. Eventually we were able to move the boat forward and Sue & I jumped on Sea Myth to help get the boat onto the dock in front of them. The next morning we talked to the owners and found out that the rental mooring that they were on had failed and they had drifted onto the docks. Luckily little damage was done to any of the boats.

Tomorrow (Wednesday), we'll head to Port Mouton, which is about 48 miles away and who knows, we might even be able to sail!

-- Geoff & Sue

For the cruiser:

Dockage at the Fisheries Museum is $1/ft. Power and water is limited and can be quite far away. Bathrooms are only available during museum hours. Anchoring is discouraged in the harbor due to soft mud. Moorings are available from the Yacht Shop, but the quality is questionable.

Log ID: 1281