We 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.

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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!

Tonight we have landed in Shelburne, a small town on the south coast of Nova Scotia.  It reminds Kip of Williamsburg, but “people actually live here.”  Geraldine is docked at the Shelburne Harbour Yacht Club.  We plan to stay here all day tomorrow.

As we rounded Cape Sable today, it was quite foggy and we could barely see the lighthouse.  There was a rip tide right at the point.  Then as day gradually faded, we enjoyed a beautiful sunset.  As soon as we have an internet connection, we will post some of the pictures we have taken so far.

Jenny continued to be seasick today, and we believe that this is a combination of the moderate seas we’ve had and her pregnancy.  Please pray that she will feel better!

Edit: During our trip yesterday we encountered two episodes of engine trouble. It was unnerving to have the engine sputter and die out at sea, then to find that the backup engine was having transmission problems. Randy and I were able to troubleshoot the issues with the help of the boat’s builder over the cell phone. By switching to a different fuel tank we were able to proceed without problems. Today I’m down in the engine room looking for clogs in the fuel lines to the main engine, and have solved trouble with the backup engine. On one hand, it is disappointing to have trouble so early, but on the other, I am learning the peculiarities of Geraldine. We have seen God prove himself faithful in answering our prayers, and that is encouraging!

We got up early this morning, and started our adventure, leaving from Southwest Harbor about 7:00 am.  We traveled more than 100 miles with some moderate waves.  We were out of sight of land for much of the trip, and entered Canadian waters this evening around 7:00 pm near Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.  We raised our quarantine flag, and were greeted by four customs officers who cleared us through customs.

Jenny and Kip were a little seasick today, but Quinlan was a trooper, and loved the trip.  We’re confident that as time continues that we all will gain our sea-legs.  Everyone is feeling good again at the dock.

The boat is working great, and there are only minor issues remaining for us to figure out.  We’re raising our Canadian flag, and are excited about having started on our way.

We did a shakedown cruise along with Skip for the last week, and we are really excited about how the boat is coming together and how she performs.  We also got to spend some time with Kathy, and to visit Pig Island (the last few pictures below).

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