East Coast and Sailing Nova Scotia - Lobster and Rappie Pie

I've taken some time the past few weeks, (amidst the mad packing before heading back to La Paz), to catch up on our photo album of our wonderful trip to the east coast (Marblehead MA) to visit our friends Jay and Jacqui, son Quint (whom we met for the first time!) and their two puppies Chili and Pepper. 

Jay, Jacqui and son Quint

Tom with Chili, Jay with Pepper

We spent a jam-packed week with them: visiting Jay's museum the Peabody Essex which is world-class...

Jay is the Chief Marketing Officer of this fabulous museum

...touring Salem, Boston, Marblehead, 

I loved the gravestones at the historic cemetery by Jay's house.

... the seaport of Rockport 

Sylvia, Tom, Jacqui and Jay on a ferry tour.

...working out with Jacqui, walking the dogs, picking up lobster pots...

Their veterinarian Dr. Jeff takes us out on his lobster boat.

...and even helping them stage their house to sell it. 

After visiting Marblehead we drove to Portsmouth NH where Tom lived for a few years as a child. We visited the first Condy home and Tom's first school. We toured the U.S.S. Albacore which is a wonderful submarine/museum. People are allowed to climb all over it and get a feel for how submariners spent their time. It was fascinating.

The old basketball hoop looks a lot shorter than it did when Tom was in 1st grade.

Touring the U.S.S. Albacore. So cool!

While in Portsmouth we were contacted by our Aussie friends Ashley and Cathie aboard the beautiful schooner Windjammer. We raced with them in Antigua last April. Turns out they were sailing in Nova Scotia and invited us to join them for a week. This was an opportunity we couldn't pass up, so we spent a full day figuring out if we could change our flights and get to Halifax within 24 hours...and we could! And we did. Twenty-four hours, a plane flight and a taxi ride later, we rolled into the world heritage town of Lunenberg where we rendezvoused with our friends. 

Reuinted with Cathie and Ashley in Lunenburg.

Lunenburg as seen from the water.

We didn't have proper sailing gear, but we figured our friends, having sailed around both Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope, would have gear if we needed it. The day we arrived Nova Scotia was in the midst of a heat wave, and we didn't even need to put on a jacket for a few days. Lucky us. In our first anchorage after Lunenberg, in Mouton Bay, we even went swimming in the water.

The beautiful schooner Windjammer at anchor.

We spent a glorious 10 days visiting numerous beautiful anchorages and towns. Nova Scotians are a wonderful and friendly people, and we absolutely loved getting to know as many locals and fellow cruisers as we could.

When we were in the historic town of Shelburne, "founded" by loyalists and freed slaves during the revolutionary war, we actually ran into some friends from the SF Bay Area. Turns out one of them has a house in Maine and for the past few years Stafford, Todd and Liz have sailed Stafford's boat around Maine for a few weeks. This was the first year they went to Nova Scotia. We spent a fun day and evening hanging out with them and visiting the hospitable Yacht Club for dinner and live music.

Proud of its loyalist roots.

Bay Area sailors in Shelburne. Liz, Todd, Syl, Stafford and Tom in front. (photo by A Kerr)

They left the next morning to return to Maine, but we wanted to spend a few more nights in Nova Scotia before heading across the gulf to the states. We made plans to reconnect with them in Maine.

Cathie and Sylvia think it's starting to get chilly.

We spent the next few nights anchoring in the remote anchorage of Point Negro and then up to the fishing town of Pubnico, where our arrival caused quite a stir. After lunch at Dennis Point, where I tried the local special of Rappie Pie (recipe says "boil 2 chickens and grate 20 lbs of potatoes), we were visited by numerous locals, including an Aussie couple who had just purchased a local home, as well as the harbormaster Floyd who serenaded us that night on his "geetarrr" with his favorite songs from the 70s until we were nodding into our drinks.

Windjammer tied up to a fishing boat in Pubnico harbor.

Ashley inspects the fishing gear.

I went into a Carb Coma after trying the Acadian Special of Rappie Pie, Fish Cake, Fish Chowder and giant wheat roll.

We headed up to Yarmouth for a couple of days to sight see and prepare for our crossing to Maine.

Tom and I bicycled out to the famous "apple core" shaped Yarmouth light station. 

We had a very pleasant sail across the Gulf of Maine and arrived in Northeast Harbor around sunset. Todd, Liz and Stafford could see us from Stafford's home on Great Cranberry Island.

After we broke out of the fog we had a wonderful sail across the Gulf.

We arrive in Northeast Harbor, Maine.

For our last couple of days on Windjammer we toured the town of Northeast Harbor, hiked up to the botanical gardens, and hooked up to Stafford's guest mooring on Great Cranberry Island.

View of NE Harbor from the botanical gardens.

 Stafford and crew made dinner for us at his house, and we returned to Windjammer Ashley pulled out some very special cactus fruit liqueur that they got on St. Helena island in the middle of the Atlantic. (This is the island where Napoleon was imprisoned in exile.) 

We celebrate our farewell with Tungi (shaped to resemble the 1,000 ft high Jacob's Ladder staircase) and Cape Horn beer...very special!

The next morning we said our farewells to our gracious hosts and Stafford was kind enough to pick us up in his skiff and then drive us to the airport. What service! 


Here is the album of our trip: East Coast and Nova Scotia


Here is a link to our route: Sailing Nova Scotia

What a great trip!! Acadian and Canadian flags.