By 1800 we had exited the Strait of Canso and were on our course to Halifax, 220°. As expected, we had to motor into 20 to 25 knot winds with their unpleasant 2 meter waves. We could only make about 5.5 knots, but we were on our way to Halifax. David & Delphine’s cabin in the bow is almost uninhabitable in these conditions, but they did not move to the main salon. The pitching is especially pronounced there as the bow rises on the crest of a wave then falls down into the trough sometimes smashing into the face of the following wave. Waves break on deck right above their heads. And the waves and pitching can cause the anchor, which is carried at the bow, to lift up in its holder and crash back down into it. David did tell me that he got no sleep that night. By 0630 we were down to 5 knots, but we were on our way to Halifax.
Conditions improved during the day Tuesday. At 1515 we entered the traffic control zone outside Halifax, and at 1630 we tied up at the Sackville Landing wharf. It is in the center of the city next to the Maritime Museum. We had electricity, water and a floating dock attached to the wharf. One could not ask for a better spot to tie up. It was also by far the most expensive place we had been -- C$122 per night.Al had been recruited to take a temporary assignment for the State Department in Central America. He spent most of Wednesday at the US Consulate not far from Sackville Landing preparing for that assignment. It turns out that he and the new Consul had served together at some point.
David & Delphine made their bank deposit to the Consul’s account on Wednesday as no cash or credit cards are accepted at the Consulate, and no interviews are given unless there is proof of payment of the $131.00 in fees. Their interviews on Thursday went fine and they were told they could pick up their 10-year, multiple-entry visas Friday afternoon.
Our boat projects for Halifax included:
-Solenoid for the generator. Finding a solenoid turned out to be a major undertaking involving a lot of phone calls. There were no Westerbeke solenoids in Nova Scotia. I found one in the US, but UPS could not assure me that it could clear customs by Friday. I then found one in Ontario and arranged for shipment to the Puralator depot near Halifax. When I took a taxi there on Friday, it was lost. Finally, Puralator found it and delivered it to the boat Friday night. In the meantime, Trond found one (without Westerbeke’s name on it) at the place he had gone to have the alternator repaired. At least we had a spare now.
-The starboard alternator was not charging the house batteries. Trond took it to a repair shop I had found. They fixed it. It worked fine until we pulled away from the wharf at Sackville Landing. Fortunately the port alternator could still keep both the house and the starting batteries charged, and the generator was now working.
-Fresh water pump -- I wanted to exchange the defective one I had bought in Reykjavik for one that worked. No one was willing to do this.
-Aft sump pump. As with the fresh water pump, the aft sump pump I had bought in Reykjavik could not be fixed or exchanged in Halifax. So much for worldwide service and distribution of Jabsco pumps. We had replaced it with the Johnson fresh water pump whose pressure switch we had burned up early in the trip. To protect it we had added a filter, and the filter required frequent cleaning. I thought we could find a better solution, but not in Halifax.
-David replaced the hinges to the door into the forward cabin with new ones Larry Luce had found in Seattle and sent to us in Norway.
-The starboard navigation light at the deck level was not working. The fitting for the bulb was so corroded it could not be repaired, so Trond replaced it with a spare we had on board.
-Delphine cleaned the inside of the boat thoroughly.
-Provisions: We found a great grocery store called Pete’s Fruiteria not far away. It was a small version of Whole Foods.
-Fuel: After asking around, I decided the best bet for fuel was at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, in a part of Halifax harbor known as the Northwest Arm, about six miles from Sackville Landing. We decided to stop there on the way out.
-AIS display and information being broadcast. I spent several fruitless hours trying to see how to control the information being broadcast on our AIS system.
-Solenoid for the LPG system. We never found a solution for this problem. It would have to wait for Newport.
-A place to stay in Newport. The New York Yacht Club told me they had plenty of moorings available for Maryam next week. I then called Pete Sloss, who keeps his gorgeous Little Harbor, named Snowhawk, in Newport. Little Harbor has a yard and marina in the Newport area. They and Hinckley are now under common ownership, and the Hinckley brand is used. He called Bob Hood, son of Little Harbor’s famous former owner, Ted Hood. (Ted designed and built Maryam’s in-mast roller furling system for the mainsail.) Bob manages service at the yard. Pete said that Bob would be happy to make room for Maryam even though now is their busy time.
-Laundry. We did not find a place to get our laundry done. Same clothes for a few days more.
On Friday at noon we all went to a presentation at the public library by the long-time principal archeologist for L’Anse au Meadow, the westernmost confirmed Viking settlement found to date. This is the site at the northern tip of Newfoundland that we had wanted to visit as part of our “following the Viking Route” theme. The archeologist, a lady from Sweden, believed that L’Anse au Meadow was a staging point for the collection of wood and grapes along the shores of the Gulf of St Lawrence and possibly further south.
I had hoped to depart Friday night, but the weather outside was not very good. So we spent Friday night at Sackville Landing and I went to a movie. The winds between Halifax and Cape Cod were still not very good on Saturday, so we delayed leaving Sackville Landing until 1900. Earlier Saturday, Ocean Watch, a 65’ steel sloop from Seattle arrived and tied up not far from us. Trond, David & Delphine had visited them. They had just completed the first leg of their “Around the Americas” quest by sailing the Northwest Passage across the top of Alaska and Canada. Cruising World’s famous editor, Herb McCormick, was on board keeping their blog up to date -- much better than I was doing for Maryam’s.
As we pulled away from Sackville Landing we decided that we should put out all the sails so that we could pass Ocean Watch under sail. Alas no one was on board to take our picture. We did have a glorious sail over to the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron. It was dark by the time we got to the RNSYS facility. Finding and tying up to the fuel dock was a bit challenging. The winds weren’t strong, but strong enough to cause a lot of trouble should we have to abort. The fuel dock was 200 meters inside two lines of boats tied up in finger piers. Beothuk, a 100’ motor yacht, was already tied up, but there appeared to be just enough room for us also. This time we resisted the urge to throw a bow line to the man on shore, though he was there asking for it. Instead, Trond hopped off the bow and I was able to swing it out enough so the wind would not slam us into the dock. David tossed Trond an aft spring. Once Trond got that secured, I was able to control the boat, staying close but safely away from Beothuk and not slamming into the dock.
I bought 800 liters of diesel fuel. The dockmaster commented that he had never seen a sailboat take so much fuel. We could have taken twice that amount, but at C$1.20/L I wanted only enough to get to Newport. After refueling we went into their beautiful clubhouse to see if we could get supper. The kitchen had just closed, but a kind waitress volunteered to warm up some fish chowder. We all had a Propeller Pilsner beer and the best fish soup since Bergen. I decided to let Maryam spend the rest of the night at the RNSYS fuel dock and leave the next morning.
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