The Entertainer's WakeJourney from Ontario to Nova Scotia 2009

1. What a country we live in. Seeing it from the water while retracing the discoverers footsteps brings home the courage and the spirit of adventure it took to discover new lands….we did it with radar and GPS….they did it with a thirst to know.  The contrast between travelling thru the heart of Southern Ontario via the Trent Severn and the heart of Quebec via the St Laurence has helped me to reconnect with our two great cultures, we were treated with open arms all the way. Visiting the birthplace of my grandmother in Gaspe was especially emotional for me.
2. A trip like this is never done alone. I must thank all the wonderful friends and family who helped crew the boat: Ann/Alex/Christine/Ray/Dennis/Jay/Fay/Tim/Blair/Dave….what a team!!!!! It was very encouraging to know that we were being followed on the blog. All the comments and good wishes were needed. I also want to thank the welcoming committee as we arrived in the Chester area….Dave and I were overwhelmed by seeing you all……
3. Columbus needed someone to make his trips happen and so did we. I want to thank Dave for not only financing this adventure, but for often having the heart of a lion when I just plain wanted to quit.
4. The Entertainer has her new home now after 11 years at Boyle Marine. She misses her Ontario family already but hopes that they will visit her new home in Chester Basin. We don’t have the Anchor Inn to dance at but dancing/music and song are still in her blood.
5. Stay tuned to the blog, we are continuing the adventures of the Entertainer and  adding the life and times of Grand Cru. She is being refit in the Virgin Islands and we are getting to know her over the next 18 months or so….then planning to take her around the world……In the words of Achmed the dead terrorist….”holy crap”

With Love

Rick

Mon Aug 10

Port Hawkesbury was a good rest for our weary old seadog of a captain.  Today was ugly weather so we called my friend Dan, a local Cape Bretoner, and he came down and we did a cruise up Lennox passage and into the Bras D’or lakes.  It took us about 10 miles further away for our start the next day but the protected waters offered a nice trip even in rough weather.  We enjoyed a nice Haddock supper with Dan and Denise and Shamus (their 7 month old, 80 lb puppy..he ate a chair…now we have 3).  Dan brought “god” aboard and we blessed the boat with some local smoke ceremonies for the last leg of the trip.

Tuesday Aug 11

Homeward bound.  The winds have subsided and the weather window is open for the rest of the week.  We set off into the remnants of a 2m sea that had built over the last few days.  This coastline is definitely rugged with many offshore rocks and shoals, so navigation is constant.  We are plotting backup routes on the charts because of you loose GPS here you cannot easily find safe harbour in this melee of rocks.  We did 65 miles to Liscomb Harbour and pulled in to another beautiful sunset in our anchorage.  Not another boat in sight, one fishing boat came by to say hello.  Dad felt a swim was in order and said that he and Dennis had gone every night on the last leg.  (In the Northumberland Straight…this is the North Atlantic now).  I had a laugh as he jumped into what he called “the coldest water of his life except for when we cut a hole in the ice at camp”…..no sauna here though. We had a nice supper of ‘whatever was left’ and got a good night’s sleep.

Wed Aug 12

We left early on calm seas(1m or less which is as flat as she gets) and headed for Halifax.  With a few whales and many porpoises and seals watching over us we made good time all day.  Passed many places I have been on the mainland so it was nice to tie a seaview perspective to them.  We arrived off Halifax Harbour at about 4:30pm and decided since it was flat calm to pass the city and stay at Sambro Harbour, a better jump off spot for our final day tomorrow.  It is also quieter than Hali and much less industrial.  It is very hard for me to make the decision to stop as we have perfect conditions and home is only 5 hrs away.  But we have a welcoming party planning to come tomorrow and join us for the cruise in.  My restlessness was allayed by the perfect night and anchorage we had behind alittle island surrounded by the quaint little community of Sambro.

Thursday Aug 13

Another perfect day.  If you know this area of the ocean you know that this many flat days in a row are rare and we believe that our late friend Peter Hawkes was able to make this journey with us, in spirit.  We miss you “Lenny”.Thanks for the help with the weather.  We have only about 3 hrs to East Ironbound, the outermost island on our route in.  It is hard to see our destination and not get there any faster at first, I want more speed.  7.5 knots it seems is OK for 1550 miles but not the last 20.   As we pass Ironbound I look back to sea and start to think of what we just did.  Speed is no longer on my mind and I actually want to go slower now.  Dad and I embrace and cry and then sit completey silent for the next half hour.  What a father I have!  In a way it was fitting to end it just the 2 of us on this leg.  We will forever laugh at  what my words a year ago got us into and the experience we gained together.  ” No problem, we’ll just drive her out there.” 1600 miles later that sentence carries  alot more weight……….  The experience of a lifetime.

So now the nostalgia and the feelings are overwhelming, but don’t worry we are not going to cry our way home the last 12 miles.  The VHF begins to crackle…Entertainer this is Okeanas..over, this is Need for Speed, this is Liza and so on.  Next thing we see, as we pass between the Tancook Islands is a small fleet of friends ready to bring us home.  It is a little past 10am and we start drinking….convoy style.  We also get a call from friends at Round Island, one of our normal stomping grounds, and adjust course  and pick up a mooring ball and raft up 5 or 6 boats for a welcome brunch.  I ate rum.  Paul and Laura are onboard so they did not miss being part of the journey.  Kim is here too and she is being a good first mate.  I remember hearing Dennis say to Kim “Sure I’ll have a rum now” after he tied up his sailboat and had a cold beer with me on the flybridge.  “There’s none left”, she replied from down below.  Dennis and I looked at eachother knowing that just 5 mins ago he had brought us a new bottle onboard.  Welcome my son….welcome to the machine.  Over the next 8 hrs we made 2 liqour store runs(thank god Chad’s boat does 75miles and hour) and partied with; Jay, Fay, Gary, Jane and Brooke,Chris, Dorian, Sally and Mia,Adam, Chad, Andrea, Gary and Joanne, Paul and Laura, Blaire, Dennis, Kim and John and others.  It was quite the homecoming…great food(thanks Gary & others) and good times.

We left at 10 pm to make the last 4.6 miles home.  We arrived in the dark and moored her in her new home.Dead sober?

Fri Aug 14

We cannot end the journey without welcoming Louise on board.  She had put a bottle of Mike’s champagne on board for when we ‘reached’.  Probably a good bottle if it was Mike’s.  She flew in that evening and joined Kim and I, Paul and Laura, Rick and John and Victoria for appetizers and G&T’s on board and of course champagne.  We could not have done the journey without the support of our wonderful women.  “See you in a few weeks” we said as they watched children and did lawns and gardens and missed us constantly (of course).  Thank you all for your sacrifices too.

Sat Aug 15

The weather is spectacular, possibly nicest day of the summer.  Good boating day!  So we head out again and watch the hundreds and hundreds of boats out for Raceweek. After seeing so few for so long it is pleasant to be among so many sea farers again.  We cruise over to Young  Island and run into to many boating friends who are out for the weekend.  Had a great snorkel, saw plenty of “bugs” and everyone went swimming and spent part of the day on the beach.  Reminded us of why we love this area so much.  New boat, plenty of visitors.  At one point I counted 15 people on the back deck alone.  Ran out of everything, and I mean everything, even Ray’s Sambuca.  We had a great day and fine supper onboard again and finished with a fiery red sunset cruise home.  The Entertainer has “reached” and so begins a new Decade of her story…….

Gotta go. Have this thing called a”wedding” next week. Uh, I mean this week…..see ya……………….Dave

Hi everyone.  Dennis aboard again.

Last week after a wedding in New Brunswick Dave asked if I would return to the boat and help Rick get it into cape breton.  I gladly excepted and on monday I was aboard the entertainer again.  Shortly after Jay (scum) dropped off Faye and than Lindsay showed up with Tim.  A quick trip over to the fueling docks and a pump out we tied up at our slip and got a good night sleep for an early start.  Tuesday was a great day on the water, finally some sun.  We will see if Tim or Faye could get a photo of the confederation bridge with the entire thing being in the frame.  You could see it for miles before.  Charlottetown has a beautiful harbour and there was a lot of activity as we pulled in.  Tim was the only one of the four of us to have been to PEI before.  The marina was unexpectedly tight and getting into our slip was not an easy process but once in we took a quick walk through town, gathered up some groceries and a few refreshments and than back to the docks for some live music, drinks and dinner.  Day two on the water was a little more challenging.  I decided that going up above would be a good idea since I would have a better view of the fish pots all around us.  I definetly had a better view and since Rick and Tim were having a hard time picking them out I stuck with my decision but the seas made me question it.  I held on and did my best to direct Tim in the right direction.  Once back on the NS shore things calmed down and we made good time getting to with in a few miles of the canso causeway.  We pulled into a little bay heated up some seafood pasta that Dave had left for us, enjoyed a refreshing swim, played a few games of eucher than lights out for an early start.  The canso lock is much easier to pass compared to the st. lawrence and once on the other side we tied up to the gov’t dock in port hawksbury.   Rick organized a place to stay at the marina, Faye checked the internet for the bus schedule as this is the end of our little trip since we had to get back for a wedding.  (sorry Faye but I need to tell this story)  Tim and I decided that we would be much more comfortable taking a rental car home rather than the bus and Dave and who ever came back up to finish the trip could return the car.  Faye decided that waiting for the rental company to get a car could be a little risky so she headed off to the bus station and got on the 10:30 bus.  It was a very hot day so we had a swim and a couple cold drinks and cleaned the boat.  It was only 25 minutes after Faye left that we got the call to pick up the rental car.  Tim and I left about an hour and half later and pulled into Truro, got something to eat and headed to the bus station to get Faye off her bus.  We pulled in at the same time as the bus and the three of us finished our trip to chester together. 

Again it was a great trip and I am very thankful for both invitations to be aboard.  With any luck I will be able to sail out on my own boat and escort the entertainer into its new home.  Anybody interested, I think they will be coming in thursday during the opening day of race week. 

Good luck on your last leg

Sorry folks, I am updating a Whole Week in this one session.  After a lovely wedding we returned to the boat Monday Aug 3 with the new crew.  Dennis and Tim and Faye Joined Rick as they planned their 3 province leg.  Tuesday was a 70 mile run to Charlottetown PEI, from New Brunswick.  I will let the crew add their own tales later.  Wednesday was the crossing to NS and the boat passed the Wedding Site (2 weeks to go).  I hear it was a lovely anchorage in site of Cape Breton, and then on Thursday the boat was officially tied to NS soil in Port Hawkesbury.  Another wedding on Friday, took the crew away again and Ricky was left to recover in Cape Breton.  Our friends John and Kim were married on the beach and we had a great party back at their place on Bush Island in Cape Lahave.  I have just returned from camping on the Island and have to say, it is as beautiful a place as one can go and I can’t wait to bring the boat there and spend some time.  Had to leave everyone there today digging clams and snorkeling , cooking next to the fire and enjoying another hot and sunny day.  Tough life.  But the show must go on.  We have some big winds tomorrow (Monday), so I plan to do a little work at home and return in the a.m. to Cape Breton and use a weather window that seems promising on Tues to Thurs.  Mom arrives Friday so our timing may be perfect.  Then I will have one crazy week and see you all at the wedding.  I will update our progress this week…not many miles to go but some challenging ones.  Homeward bound……..dave

Jul 31

We got lucky last night as the local boat next to us at the marina came in with a boat full of fresh mackerel.  Ricky used his French charm to garner us a lovely meal of fresh fish.  We BBQ’d the whole mackerel with onion and cloves of garlic, finished it with lime and had a great sunset on the back deck as the weather cleared.

This morning we left the Bay of Shippegan and on the way out the channel saw more Blue Heron’s in and hour than we had in the rest of our lives.  We are now in the Land of Sand.  We set a course for Shediac NB which will take us right by the NW coast of PEI.  Winds light and from the SW, and we are expecting a great summer day.   30 miles out the water is only 80 ft deep and beginning to warm up.  We are also seeing alot of pleasure boats now as this is more protected water.  We are doing 95 miles today and so far the weather has been perfect.  I guessed we would be 13 hours and arrive at 6pm, we arrived late at 6:01pm… close enough.

Great Marina at point du Chene, with a lively tourist seen and live music and good pubs.  5 min walk to Parlee Beach.  We arrived hungry and walked into the Friday night supper at the marina.  We put our pasta away and for $12 we ate a 3 course Greek supper including a lovely seafood chowder and moussaka and salad, bring our own wine too.  We were so full we had to take dessert back to the boat(and eat it at 2am after returning from the local watering holes where we saw some good live music).

Aug 1

Day off.  Slightly hungover, who puts bars this close to boats? it is hazardous.  Blair left early to hitch to Hali and on home.  Awesome time with Blair on the boat, a really easy guy to crew with.  We had lots of good times and good music and developed new friendships.  Happy sailing next week!  Admiral Dad and I are cleaning and taking the dinghy to town for reprovisioning.  This dighy runs awesome with my new motor on it .

After enough recovery time we sink our teeth into an oil, fuel and filters change.  My first time doing all this.  Everything went smooth and I learned alot already about my new baby.  After the 3 hours in the 180 degree engine room we finished and decided to go swim at the local beach.  We drove the dighy over and drifted down the sandbar which comes out about a mile from the beach.  Couple cold beer in the sun and a swim in the warmest waters north of the Carolinas.  Tough sub!

We got back to the boat and I went to the local fish market across the pier and treated the Admiral and myself to a Snow Crab and Lobster each for supper.  Took us 2 hours to harvest all the lovely meat from our critters and then we sat back and listened to the salsa band at the pub and started to plan our next big adventure which will be to take dads sailboat to Bahamas and  up the coast to NS and eventually onwards arond the world.  Got about 5 years ahead of ourselves, but you gotta dream right.  This trip was a dream once and we also discussed how we made this a reality.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Admiral/Captain/Engineer and most important driving force behind this trip.  It is the trip of a lifetime for him and it would never happen without him.  It was a nice night just the two of us.

Aug 2

Rick and the boat are staying here for a couple days.  I am getting picked up for a wedding Sunday in Fredricton.  Great 2 hour walk this morning and we cleaned the boat up….she sparkles again.  Anyway, awesome weather again and Dad can relax by himself for a couple days for the first time in a month or more.  We will be back Monday to deliver his new crew on the way back from the wedding,  Dennis is rejoining the journey and Tim Best is jumping on to help get it to Cape Breton.  They will update you on the PEI portion and onwards.  Happy sailing!