Port Mouton and on to Lunenburg
Saturday, June 28th, 2008We ran for an easy half-day yesterday, brining us to Port Mouton. We dropped the anchor behind Spectacle Island. This very close to the location of a coastal Canadian National Park called Kejimkujik. They are in the midst of building a fish farm here, and we noticed several salmon pens. We were all able to pile into our dingy, Olive, and explore the area a little. We were able to see a seal on a rock as we motored around. The dingy can handle the five of us, but is pressed down a fair bit, so we have to be careful! Walt is pleased with how quiet the Honda outboard motor is that we chosen to power Olive.
On the leg to Port Mouton, Jenny did some of the driving, and spent the rest of the time down below taking a nap. This seems to have agreed with her stomach and she felt much better. We noticed what we think was a shark fin that (between 1 1/2 and 2 feet tall) following us for a while (it may also have been some sort of whale).
We also believe that we’ve figured out the source of some of our engine difficulties (some metal shards that may have gotten into one of our fuel tanks as they were being scrubbed to get old crusty diesel fuel deposits out). Tonight, we are pushing to reach Lunenburg, where we will be able to obtain more supplies and make a few repairs. There is a storm coming, where we could expect 6 foot seas and wind directly on our nose blowing about 25 knots. In order to avoid this, we’ve decided to travel for a while at night tonight, and expect to arrive between 3 and 4 am.
Lunenburg has been called the best colonial village in all of North America, and so we expect that we’ll stay there for several days as we make our repairs, and Randy, Jenny and Quinlan may go ashore to do some touring.
Here are photos from our passage to Port Mouton. How do you keep a toddler occupied on a boat? Use your secret weapon: Grandma! When I write about working on the engine, that means I’m down one of three little hatches, into the crawl space below the floor. Imagine a hot, swaying telephone booth with parts, pipes and motors all hammering away at crazy volume. Fun! Lastly are pictures of Port Mouton.
Update: We arrived in Lunenburg at 2:00am without incident. The weather has started to move in, so we are all grateful to be at a port, instead of anchored out. Looking forward to exploring!