Wednesday 1st July.

As today was Canada day, we expected the town to be buzzing.  It wasn’t, but no matter, we cycled 7.5 miles to the Glenora Distillery, north of Mabou.  This is currently the only distillery in North America producing single malt whisky.  We took the tour, and of course had to sample some whisky.  We had lunch at the distillery, and maybe one of us sampled a little more!  Then we rode home. 

In the evening we visited The Red Shoe Pub.  Many Cape Bretons have Scottish ancestry and the Celtic traditions are still very much alive here.  Looking at the roadsigns, you may think you were in Scotland since most of them are in Gaelic as well as English.  We had a delicious dinner and then were entertained with a traditional Celtic music evening.  The place was full of locals and it was hopping – square dancing and all.

Ships Log: 4488.7, Todays Log: 0, Seasons Total: 40.8

Tuesday 30th June.

We have met several good friends here – Louis & Hélène, Pierre & Émilie, Tom & Clarissa, Terry & Jeannine and of course Eric and today we’re setting off, so it’s a little bittersweet.  The sweet part is that we had a 12knt beam reach all the way to Mabou, 46 04.32N 61 24.49W.  In fact it was a little too perfect.  Mabou has a shallow entrance and fast outgoing current, so we really didn’t want to arrive until 4:30pm, when the tide was rising at its maximum rate (thus minimizing the outgoing current).  So we ended up reducing sail, simply to slow the boat down!  And Ron had time to re-splice the remaining 3 dock lines while underway. 

We made the harbor entrance just on time, entered without problem and anchored at the end of the harbor close to the town of Mabou.  The setting was beautiful and we had a very quiet and peaceful first night at anchor.  We even found a WIFI hotspot via our Bullet.  Not bad having WIFI while at anchor!

Ships Log: 4488.7, Todays Log: 40.8, Seasons Total: 40.8

Monday 29th June

Our last day in Souris.  Pretty cool, very windy with waves coming over the breakwater.  Spent the day preparing for our first passage of the season.  Filled the water tanks, stocked up in groceries, plotting tomorrows course and uploading to the chartplotter.  Several  jobs  that we take for granted during the sailing season but that’s a little foreign the first time each year. 

Back in Vermont, during the spring we bought some new dock lines and Ron spliced the loops in the ends.  Now we discover that some of the loops were too small!  Often, when finishing a splice, the ends are melted to seal them.  This time, fortuitously, Ron taped them instead.  So we discovered that they could be unspliced and respliced.  1 down, 3 to go …

We finished the day with a meal at the Sheltered Harbour Café, (where we had intended to go last night), and had a very pleasant dinner with Tom and Clarissa. 

Sunday 28th June.

We’re running out of excuses not to set sail on Tuesday.  Today started out warm and sunny, gradually getting colder and colder, ending up at bl**dy cold!  Tomorrow is the big wind and rain day, but Tuesday is still looking good for a passage to Mabou.  Fingers crossed. 

Ron repaired the water heater.  (Having taken it apart, he discovered it only needed a new battery for the piezo igniter and of course this could have been replaced without taking the thing apart!)  Teresa did some laundry and a major grocery shop for our anticipated departure.  Teresa had repaired our bicycle pannier before we left for Souris, and today was its first big test.  The panniers were filled to bursting and were very heavy, but the repair job was definitely up to the task.  

Ron helped John haul Tom up his mast and we generally putzed around. 

We planned to eat at the Sheltered Harbour Café at 7pm with Tom and Clarissa.  We arrived exactly at 7pm, and Tom and Clarissa were a few minutes behind us.  Unfortunately we were informed that the restaurant closed at 7pm and we could be seated as long as we ordered our food within the next 2 minutes!!  How can a restaurant close at 7PM.  Oh well, we went back to the marina, met Tom and Clarissa, and gave them the bad news.  Not to worry, we’ll try again tomorrow night!

Oh yeah, Hélène came over with a gift of Quebec maple syrup.  Yum, can’t wait for French Toast day or to try out her recipe of baked Brie with walnuts and maple syrup – very decadent!

Saturday 27th June.

In the morning, Teresa hoisted Ron up the mast using our new ‘Electric Winch’.  Our ‘Electric Winch’ is a cheaper variety than more common models, (which cost from $2,500 upwards).  Despite its low price it successfully hoisted Ron up the mast.  The battery was a little warm at the end, so next time we’ll probably switch batteries half way through the process. 

Ron installed the Windex, checked the rigging and then we bent on the 3 sails. 

We had so many clams that we (Teresa and Ron and Jeannine and Terry) decided to invite the other transient boaters for a clam party.  Quinita is right in front of the harbour office and picnic tables, so Tom and Clarissa (Ailes de Zéphyre), Hélène and Louis (Slow Dance) and Pierre and Émilie (Destiny) joined us there in the afternoon.  We also invited Eric of course, who supervised the cooking.  The weather was great – sunny and warm – guests brought a variety of delicious dishes to supplement the clams, and a good time was had by all.  Despite having 11 participants we were hard pressed to eat all the clams.  

Friday 26th June.

Another cold day.  Jobs included laundry, commissioning the dinghy engine and lots of little jobs.  Now we’re in the water we have several other boaters stopping by for a chat. 

Thursday 25th June.

Eric had invited us to go clam digging with him.  This morning was the first day with suitable tides and weather.  So he picked us, and Terry and Jeannine – another boating couple (Cristata), and took us to his sister’s beach.  Evonne joined us, and we dug several buckets of clams.  Several shells were broken during the digging process.  We would leave the unbroken shells in a bucket of sea water for a couple of days, and they would very kindly clean themselves of sand ready for us to eat them!.  The broken shelled clams are unable to clean themselves so we decided to eat them, on Quinita with Terry and Jeannine, in the evening. 

It was a dry and mostly sunny day in the marina, but the wind was howling – a little disconcerting for launch day and the slip we’ve been assigned was tucked into a corner.  We had the significant advantage however of being able to visit the slip in advance and decide on a plan for docking Quinita.  The launch went well, as did the docking plan.  Quinita feels so much better afloat than on dry land! 

We tidied up the boat a little, and Terry and Jeannine joined us for dinner.  Jeannine taught us how to steam clams and they were delicious with garlic butter.  Terry and Jeannine have been cruising around the world for 20 years and regaled us of many of their adventures.