We are presently in a lovely marina in Summerside.Just arrived a few hours ago from Charlottetown . We have a lot to tell you about our jouney the last few weeks. We made it back to St. Peter's on June 19. Early [like 4 a.m.] we made our way to Sydney Airport for a 6:30 a.m. flight home. With grade 8 graduations , Josiah's and Marika's to name 2, Whispering Pines Nursery 20th anniversary [wow Greg and Sheri and team],a trip to Ottawa to visit family and witness Ronda's public profession of Faith- there was not a lot of down time. And on Wednesday, June 26 we received the call that Weston Jerimiah Van Berkel arrived --another son for Ryan and Elissa. What joy! and that we could meet him before going back to our boat the evening of June 27. All in the Lord's perfect time.
Thursday brought the excitment of meeting up with Willem and Josiah and heading to the plane for Sydney. Our dear friend ,Gerry was there to meet us and drive us back to our boat at a late hour..
The next morning the 4 of us were up bright and early . The boys and I went to the grocery store to get provisions while Bill prepared the boat. As soon as we arrived back we heard the bridge was up and the canal and lock was open for us.So Adriana 1 was on the move again with 2 more crew members. Decked in sweaters and rain jackets we made our way thru Lennox Passage that separates Cape Breton Island from Isle Madame. A picturesque waterway included a lift bridge and it opens up into Strait of Canso. At this entrance we saw 'Atlas' a big ocean tanker anchored in what the charts call an 'Anchor Berth.' The shipping lanes thru this strait only had pilot boats heading out to oceangoing ships that use this waterway.So we had clear passage through the lock and canal plus a bridge that handles the causeway to Cape Breton Island had to be lifted.On the way Willem and Josiah soon had the seaman's alphabet memorized .They were great at spotting buoy markers too. Remember -Red Right Returning. We had some brisk winds and waves coming out of the Strait of Canso into the Northumberland Strait which did give us an opportunity to do some sailing for a few hours. Actually the winds went up to 25+ knots the last hour . We were thankful to find the entrance into Ballantyne Cove but then had a bit of a challenge finding a place to dock our boat and no one there to direct us. It was full of Lobster boats and there were shallow areas to watch out for. After turning the boat around our Captain Bill noticed a spot to dock. It was awkward since the wind pushed us away from the dock ,plus we needed a little more time to get fenders and lines ready. We were so thankful to receive help from shore and very ready to settle in and relax after a long day. Saturday we woke up to more rain with plans to go to Pictou, N.S. . Along with rain we also dealt with fog. The new crew was introduced to radar and the radar screen on our chart plotter. We had strong S/ S/W winds-- 19 -23 knots but favourable for our course so the sails went up . We did have a incident with the jib sheets[lines] The winds tangled them into a knot,so the only thing Bill could do was cut one of them so we could furl the sail and put the boat back on course for Pictou. We arrived at Hector Quay Marina in the pretty town of Pictou around 3p.m.It was wonderful to have the dock master tell us where to dock so we could be ready .He and a helper tied us up. This marina is named after the boat that brought the first Scottish settlers to this town in 1773. A replica of this ship, Hector finds it's home in this marina. A pretty town with beautiful old but cared for church buildings. We were able to worship in one of these old Presbyterian church buildings. I'm sure it would have been filled to the rafters when family worship was still important not that many generations ago.
When we arrived in the marina we noticed a boat with Owen Sound on their boat, Modaki. The neat part of this meeting them is that they come from Owen Sound and are doing the east coast in stages. They have already made their way down the St. Lawrence ,down the Gaspe' ,New Bruinswick shores. These are all places we will soon be covering . They gave us many tips and ideas for our trip up . thank you Joe and Yvonne from Owen Sound.
The next story will tell about our visit to Charlottetown and onward.
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| Lennox Passage Bridge ,Isle Madame NS |
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| Josiah and Willem |
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| "Hector" without the masts, Pictou NS |
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| Pictou NS |
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| Church at Barra Str. Bras D'or Lakes |
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