Our Summer Cruise 2018

 

Sunday, July 1

It's Canada Day!

 

Cross Island to St Andrews - 38nm

It's Canada Day but we are not in Canada! But we soon will be. For the past 12 years, we have been able to celebrate Canada Day and our Grandson's birthday in Canada and that's where we are heading today. An overcast morning as we prepared to leave at 6:00 am after a good night's sleep. The Outward Bound boat anchored near us had disappeared sometime after we went to bed. It was slow getting the anchor up with lots of mud culminating in a big ball of kelp that took some dislodging from the anchor.

 

Our Typical View Today

We soon ran in to to dense fog which was to remain with us with just a few breaks for most of the way to West Quoddy Head when we turned from the Bay of Fundy inland towards the Lubec Narrows. Relief to know that we did not have to constantly dodge lobster trap floats although further north some were avoided as they were the size of small garbage cans. Boat traffic other than Carrie Rose nil but we still had to keep a watchful eye and did sight one whale and a couple of seals. Judy thought one of them must have been Sammy from last year!

A Little Brighter at the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse

We had done a reasonable job of timing the tide and current as we entered the Lubec Narrows that are the border between the USA and Canada. This is a very narrow channel bridged by the International Bridge to Campobello Island and provides the entry to the Passamaquoddy Bay that is about 150 square miles and is virtually landlocked. Four times a day, an estimated 2 billion gallons of water flows in and out creating currents as high a 8kts (10 miles an hour). The time between current reversals is short - in the order of 15 minutes so timing is important; not so much for us as we have powerful engines but critical for sailboats that have much less power. Even though our timing was pretty good, we still hit currents of 2-3 knots in our favor as we threaded our way between the pillars of the main bridge span towards Eastport.

Just Past Eastport, the White Pyramid Is the Easternmost Point of the USA

We were soon crossing the International Line and replacing the Nordic Tug burgee at the bow with the Canadian Flag and the New Brunswick provincial flag on the pilothouse staff.

Our good timing also helped us navigate The" Old Sow" a few miles further on. This powerful whirlpool is formed when the rising tide passes both sides of Indian Island, takes a sharp right turn around the southern tip of Deer Island to flood the Western Passage. It is the largest whirlpool in the western hemisphere and the second largest in the world. A current of over 6 knots has been experienced off Deer Island Point. In addition to the waters pressing through the narrow straight, the waters are forced along the peaks and valleys of the ocean floor – a trench as deep as 400 feet, followed by a reduction in water depth to 119 feet and again followed by a depth of over 350 feet. The current of in flowing tributaries within the Passamaquoddy Bay add to the already busy waters. This area, which has been reported to be as wide as 250 feet in diameter, can best be described as turbulent water.

Could Be a Scary Place at the Wrong Time!

We soon arrived in better weather at St. Andrews-By-The-Sea, just in time to celebrate Canada Day and our grandson Cormac's birthday. This continues a tradition of over 10 years of being in Canada for their major summer holiday.

Cormac - Now 5 Years Old

On July 1, 1867, the nation was officially born when the Constitution Act joined three provinces into one country: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Canada province, which then split into Ontario and Quebec. However, Canada was not completely independent of England until 1982. The holiday called Dominion Day was officially established in 1879, but it wasn't observed by many Canadians, who considered themselves to be British citizens. Dominion Day started to catch on when the 50th anniversary of the confederation rolled around in 1917. In 1946, a bill was put forth to rename Dominion Day, but arguments in the House of Commons over what to call the holiday stalled the bill.

The 100th anniversary in 1967 saw the growth of the spirit of Canadian patriotism and Dominion Day celebrations really began to take off. Although quite a few Canadians already called the holiday Canada Day , the new name wasn't formally adopted until October of 1982.

Fortunately, we picked up our mooring quickly, registered with the Wharfinger's (harbor master in Canada) office, and cleared Customs with just a 2-minute call to a 1-800 Customs number. Carrie Rose won the coin toss for a spot on the floating dock at the end of the wharf but then found out they would have to leave at 6:00pm so they could prepare for the fireworks. We were just in time to hustle down the 400 yd wharf to the main street to join the large crowd jamming the sidewalks to watch the Parade. Just a few of many photos we took of the scene.

 

 

 

 

St. Andrews-by-the-Sea is a small town with a population of around 1800 but swells to over 20,000 for Canada Day and one can see why. The town goes all out to attract visitors with activities usually spread over a couple of days. On July 1st, the program started at sunrise and ended with a massive fireworks display on the wharf at 10:30.

After the Parade we walked up the hill to the Algonquian Hotel for drinks on the veranda overlooking St. Andrews. The original building was built in the 1880s and was purchased by the Canadian Pacific Railway to be one of its grand resort hotels with in-room heated hot saltwater baths. In addition to the saltwater baths, the air offered by the Bay of Fundy, along with the local "Samson Spring" were believed to offer healing properties to guests. Advertising proclaiming "No hay fever here" and "A general air of restfulness" attracted many wealthy tourists, some of whom established elaborate summer "cottages" in the town of St. Andrews and its surrounding countryside. Today it is part of the Marriott Signature Hotel group.

 

The Algonquian Hotel

Judy Enjoying Her Pinot Grigio

The celebrations continued with a concert at the new Kingsbrae International Residency for the Arts (KIRA) amphitheater. The Band of the Royal Regiment of Canada, and the Pipes & Drums of the 48th Highlanders performed for three hours featuring both new and old music to honor those of the Canadian Armed Forces that had given their lives during WWI, WWII, Korea, Afghanistan,Iraq and other conflicts. Some very moving speeches about several of those who died.

The Colors Being Piped in

 

 

Back to the boat after the concert was a rush as Carrie Rose had be off the dock by 6:00 p.m. to raft up with us as there were no more moorings available. We had drinks and snacks passed from cockpit to cockpit while we waited for the fireworks.

Rafted Up With Carrie Rose as the Sunset Enjoying a Drink and Conversation With Them

St. Andrews lived up to its reputation for putting on a fantastic fireworks display on July 1st and, if anything, had a better show than last year's for Canada's sesquicentennial.

 

 

As the smoke still hung in the air and the smell of burnt gunpowder blanketed the harbor we sank in to a deep sleep.

Monday, July 2

A great day today with abundant sun and blue skies predicted. We are now in the land of great tides of up to 25 feet and when we docked the dinghy the wharf soared above us.

Land of the Big Tides

Fortunately we didn't have to climb up and down this ladder as the dinghy dock floats at water level and there is a ramp up; at 45 degrees so it was still a steep climb at low tide.

Carrie Rose Back on Their Dock From the Wharf - a Long Way Down

6 Hours From Now the Water Will Be At the Red Line

In view of the forecast, we headed for the Kingsbrae Gardens up the hill again past some of the historical buildings of St. Andrews that date back to the 1700s and the United Empire Loyalist Burial Site where 127 graves of Loyalists can be found. When the United States of America became independent from British rule, many were ecstatic. That “many” did not include the colonists who remained loyal to the British Crown. Finding themselves on the losing side of the war, these Loyalists felt out of place and unwelcome in the newly founded union, and looked for a place of refuge. That place turned out to be America’s friendly upstairs neighbor. The town of Saint Andrews in New Brunswick, Canada was established in 1783 when approximately 14,000 Loyalists fled across the Maine border facing the awkward outcome of the American Revolution. Many of the original houses in town were brought piece by piece from Castine, Maine, by boat or barge down the St. Croix River, and rebuilt to be occupied by the newfound Canadians.

The original town of St. Andrews was planned as a small grid with plots designated for what were dubbed United Empire Loyalist families. Thirteen of the streets were (and still are) named after the many children of King George III and his wife, Charlotte, who also lends her name to Charlotte County, New Brunswick, where St. Andrews is located.

There have been many changes to St. Andrews over the years, such as designating many of the buildings on Water Street as commercial property, and the building of a large defensive blockhouse during the War of 1812. But most of the original grid and street names remain the same as they were when the town was established. The town has been designated a Canadian National Historic District, and many of the homes and buildings in town are marked with descriptive plaques describing their history and architecture. 

Kingsbrae Garden was created by John and Lucinda Flemer to preserve and maintain into perpetuity the family’s former estate. Its architecture and gardens have long been an important part of the historic fabric of the community. The Flemers made the financial commitment needed to inspire the Province of New Brunswick, the Town of St. Andrews, and the local community to partner with them in bringing this provincial jewel to fruition for the enjoyment of both the local residents and visiting public.

The 27-acre horticultural masterpiece officially opened its gates in the spring of 1998, unveiling an array of over 2,500 species of perennials, as well as, a wide variety of trees and shrubs.  Now a major tourist attraction, Kingsbrae Garden has been recognized with a number major awards for both the product and the services it provides. Most recently it was ranked the #1 Thing to Do in the Region by Trip Advisor. As usual in gardens, I take way too many photographs but these few should give you an idea of the beauty they have achieved.

 

 

 

 

Kingsbrae Gardens is not just a garden in the traditional sense but also includes a large sculpture garden with many of the pieces selected from their annual juried competitions that attract attention from all over Canada. This year's top award was:

(It's A Whale)

Either Bill or Ben, the Flowerpot Man ( You Have to Be English to Appreciate)!

To top our visit off, we enjoyed a great lunch at the Garden's restaurant where Dave had the best burger he has had in Canada and Judy had her usual salad topped with salmon.

 

Tuesday, July 3

Another sunny day forecast but we had a few jobs to take care of - shopping, laundry, computer work, paying bills (they don't go away when we do), and some cleaning. We figured out a problem with our GPS suddenly showing us where we clearly weren't. For some reason, our AIS was causing interference with our primary GPS. Furuno helped us troubleshoot the problem and concluded that was the problem so recommended changing our AIS GPS to primary. Problem has not recurred. Since we were enjoying St. Andrews so much, we signed on for another day. They have a good pricing structure - Day 1 is $30, Day 2 is $20 more, Day 3 is $10 more and every extra day is $10. Since this is Canadian dollars, we got the three days for US$53, a bargain.

The Jolly Breeze

Being a major summer tourist destination and on the water, St. Andrews has a number of tour boats from the Jolly Breeze above to small high-powered inflatable boats. in addition to some great scenery, the surrounding Passamaquoddy Bay is a very popular location for whale watching. Because of the large tides here, an enormous amount of nutrients flow in and out in a concentrated area providing an excellent location for whales to gather to feed. At least five boats go out every two hours loaded with tourists hoping to catch sight of whales, seal, and porpoises. Last year we followed one of the boats out of the Bay and got some great views of the whales - those guys know just where they congregate!

Not all the boats in St. Andrews look as good as the Jolly Breeze and there was one sorry looking lobster boat docked at the wharf. Frankly it was a mess! But the crew was getting to work on it with several gallon bottles of Dawn - presumably to cut through the layers of oil and grease that covered the deck. Later in the day they were busy with angle grinders sanding with a passion.

 

We ended the day enjoying freshly caught lobsters, crab cakes, and salad with Dean and Charlotte on Sir Tugley Blue.

Wednesday, July 4

Happy July 4!

We have been so lucky with weather and July 4 promised to be another fine day on the water so we decided to go for another day for $10. No big celebration today here and I believe we were the only US boats in the mooring. A number of Canadians we had met did wish us a Happy 4th but no fireworks tonight although we could hear them in Eastport just a short distance today.

A slow day for us with a wander around downtown checking out some of the shops and spending a bit on a couple of new Tilley hats and stocking the boat with food at the good Independent supermarket. The main shopping area, Water Street was a residential street fronting the old wharf in the early days of St. Andrew and many of the original 1700s home still exist although they are now commercial buildings. Just a couple of the better kept below.

 

 

How You Paint Your Boat

The lobster boat in sad condition we saw yesterday was sitting on the bottom at low tide with just a couple of lines to the wharf to keep it toppling over. For $55 you can sit the boat on some hefty wooden cribbing further inshore but this must have been a budget job. The crew had been hard at work grinding off accessible loose paint yesterday and were doing the final sanding, preparing to get a coat of paint on. Must have been quick-drying as they only had about five hours to get it done. They made it with about an hour to spare working with boots on in the rising water and it was ready for another season.

Although we had no fireworks like for July 1, the sky cooperated with a pretty spectacular sunset with echoes of the Eastport fireworks bouncing off the rocks to the southeast.

 

The End to a Special Day

Thursday, July 5

At Breakfast at the Lumberjack Restaurant

A sunny morning again with fairly calm water. We had a late departure scheduled for our long journey of 7nm around Minister's Island so we enjoyed a good breakfast out, our first this year.

St. Andrews by the Sea to Chamcook Harbor - 7nm

Chamcook Harbor From Chamcook Mountain

The Harbor has a narrow entrance when we arrived at low tide but is well marked with red and green buoys. The green was only a few yards from the shore so we hoped it was in the right location but we had good depth as we passed through and the Harbor opened up to a wide bay. Anchored in 18' with 90' feet of chain out we should have a 3:1 at high tide; sufficient for the light winds expected until this evening. We took advantage of the great weather to take a slow tour of the Harbor in the dinghy with Dean and Charlotte checking out depths as we went. We were the only boats anchored but there were two "resident" sailboats on moorings near the ruins of the old cannery.

A Very Nice Wooden Ketch

There were several very large mooring balls unoccupied marked "Private" but the rule seems to be use them at your risk and be prepared to move if someone shows up. While in St. Andrews, we had been offered use of several "private" moorings in various locations by locals.

The weather was predicted to deteriorate later in the evening so we let out another 40' of chain and it was just as well since, by bedtime, the wind was blowing a steady 20 knots and gusting to 30; we were in for a rocky night!! St. Andrews would have been much worse as the waves would be building for a long way directly into the mooring field.

Friday, July 6

Woke to an overcast sky and rain forecast which came to be around 10:00am. Took the opportunity to catch up on some reading and get to work on the blog while we bounced around. Not much more to say about today but did discover that Chamcook Harbor was the site of a cannery in the 1910s that had a very interesting history. Built over a couple of years as a model of the "modern cannery" with state of the art facilities and machinery it was to be the largest cannery in Canada with a labor force of over 1000. It got into operation around 1913 with over 500 workers but was not an economic success due to a number of factors and seems to have shutdown by the end of the decade. See Canadian Sardine Company for more info if you are interested in some history.

The wind did not abate much during the day but we were productive until we went to bed to the waves booming inches from our heads and the anchor rode bridle creaking every swing of the boat.

Saturday, July 7

A long night with very strong winds and waves crashing against the bow for most of it. I didn't sleep too bad with earplugs and the pillow over my head but Judy suffered. After pulling the dinghy up and taking a long time to wash the anchor chain down as we pulled the anchor, we were off for a long day on the water to reach our destination of Digdeguash Harbor at the north end of Passamaquoddy Bay.

Chamcook Harbor to Digdeguash Harbor - 5nm

In less than an hour, we were nestled up close to the shore in the north end of the Harbor with Carrie Rose just south of us. Had a close one just north of Hardwood Island when we inadvertently crossed into a fish farm. There were numerous mooring balls along the shore of the Island and the balls marking the fish nets were not that obvious. It wasn't until we were close to one ball and saw what looked like pick-up lines extending way beyond what one would expect (and the fact that they were about 2" in diameter) that we knew we were somewhere we shouldn't be. Putting the engine in neutral we coast over the line to safe water. The cage would almost certainly have protected us but still not a good situation.

The entry to the Harbor was well described in our cruising guide which noted the very colorful rocks on the way in to the narrow channel that meandered among a number of small islands before dead-ending by the highway. There are several beaches and attractive meadows along the shoreline. Our timing was good in that we entered at low tide so hazards not visible at higher tides were obvious.

 

 

 

This is a very appealing anchorage with just a few homes visible, rocky wooded shores all around and good protection from most directions. Even a strong south wind waves would be be minimized at lower tides.

Our Closest Land Neighbor 400 yards Away

Carrie Rose - Our Closest Water Neighbor

After lunch we took a long dinghy ride with Dean and Charlotte to explore the Bocabec River just a short distance to the west. This was a herring fishery area years ago and evidence of the old abandoned fishing weirs were still very obvious, especially at low tide.

Old Fishing Weir

Two Types of Weir

A weir was constructed of vertical posts driven into shallow water forming an enclosure lined with nets. When the herring came into shallow water to feed they were funneled in and became trapped. When a good number were trapped, they were collected in seine nets and removed. Many styles were used dating back to early native inhabitants and were very effective. Today, weirs are not used much although last year we saw some modern examples on Grand Manan, an island in the Bay of Fundy, with 60' poles driven by piledrivers.

Midway up the river, there is a small "harbor" with several moorings holding some small lobster boats and a very nice Hinckley sailboat. There is good depth here and for some way past. Our boat could easily anchor here with very good protection.

Note the Shack Which Will be Floating Out in the Harbor Shortly

Herring aren't the only wildlife in the area with the Harbor having a healthy population of jellyfish. They all seem to be the same type, about 8" in diameter (plus tentacles) almost white with four defined white rings in the center. They swim gracefully past the boat, undulating along. They would be a hazard if you were crazy enough to swim in 58 deg. F water.

 

The Harbor is also popular with eagles and we have had several sightings today.

A Bit Fuzzy But 400 Yards Away!

By dinner of salad and salmon cakes, the wind had died away to nothing and it was eerily quiet and calm for the first time in a few days. Hope it stays like this tonight!

Like a Mirror