9-23-10 Sailing the Atlantic

Thursday- partly sunny and breezy

Ann writes:

St. Peter's Bay- Anomaly enters the Atlantic ocean

Got up at first light to leave early, but a fellow came by to chat so we didn't leave until 7:40. Today we had the wonderful experience of 2 dolphins playing in the bow wave. They kept leaping from side to side in front of the boat. The conditions were so rough I couldn't get high enough to see them very well, but Jon got a good view. Then they were gone.

     The rest of the day wasn't very pleasant. I got feeling fairly ill. Had to take a meclizine, then I was a zombie the rest of the day. Slept most of the time from noon on. I didn't really care for Isaac's Harbour aside from the lighthouse. It didn't seem particularly picturesque from the water.

Isaac's Harbour Light

Jon writes:

It was pretty rough crossing Chedabucto Bay which along with the Canso Strait divides Cape Breton Island from Nova Scotia to the south. The wind had shifted to the northwest at about 20 knots, and we were sailing south and then southwest. Normally this would mean good and fast sailing, reaching and broad reaching with the wind coming off of the land. But in the open water of Chedabucto Bay, there was a swell from the southwest left over from the strong southwest wind of the last two days, and we were sailing directly into it at 7 or 8 knots under double reefed main and single reefed mizzen. When we finally got under the lee of the Nova  Scotia shore it calmed down a little, and by 5:30 we were anchored in Webbs Cove off of Isaacs Harbor, itself a branch off of Country Harbor. The cove is not particularly sheltered from a northwest wind, but it had moderated considerably by then.

'Anomaly' is currently lying Northeast Harbor, Mount Desert Island, Maine