……..WHAT DAMN FOOL…………..

So Alex, the yard owner had gone away the weekend we painted Hannah’s topsides. Sunday evening he came into the yard and I pointed out our handiwork. He looked, said nothing for a moment or two and then ‘ You know, there’s an old Maine saying-There’s only two colours you can paint a boat, black or white and what damn fool would paint a boat………

And here we go again………….. but this time we have finished the refit and managed to get ourselves away. Currently we’re in New Brunswick, a Canadian province that butts onto Maine and enjoying stunning scenery, balmy blue skies and an abundance of wildlife………

Writing this it doesn’t see much but it really was an enormous amount of work. I suppose in part the length of time was partly a result of the enormous number of people passing by who stop for a chat. We think we averaged about 8 a day, some stayed a few minutes others much longer. We became a Belfast tourist attraction and, sometimes whole families would arrive. And we met some wonderful people. A couple Steve and Zella, who were on a cycling holiday, determined to try something new and perhaps create the foundation for a richer and simpler way of life. They stopped, chatted, discussed the how’s and wherefore of what we were doing and went off, deep in conversation analysing what they told us the following day had been ‘…a very dangerous meeting……..’ Hopefully we’ll see them again. And the wonderful Canalle family who when we refused their very generous offer of a meal simply went out a returned with a huge pizza and English beers. The list can go on and on with so many generous and interested and interesting people who came by. Many of course are from Belfast and we will hopefully get to know them better as the winter progresses. Speaking of  winter we had been discussing the temperature it drops to and people routinely spoke of minus fifteen. Of couse being good Europeans we were thinking in Celsius whereas America still uses Fahrenheit and the minus figures they bandy about are very cold……….   So launch day came, we were loaded into the hydraulic trailer and trundled round to the city ramp, still mastless of course. No engine either

And from there back to the yard to complete the rigging and mast stepping. But eventually we had done as much as we could and the time came to leave

A bright sunny Sunday morning saw us motor slowly away from the dock. Friends came down to wave us off, making certain we did leave Bee said and boat crews called out wanting to know when we’d be back….. Then we were out of the harbour and faced with a light beat as we made our way toward the Eggimoggin Reach. So for a week or so we cruised from anchorage to anchorage almost all of them deserted. We spent an evening with John and Mary before they returned home and we continued. We debated whether to head for Nova Scotia and in the end felt we would be better exploring more of Maine and heading up the Bay of Fundy and into Canada this year and leave NS for our journeys next year. So far it feels to be have been the wise choice. The days are warmish although the evenings turn cold but the fire comes on and we sit around in shorts. The sails are on the short side, anything from ten to twenty five miles long but the solitude is wonderful. Whole bays to ourselves, gloopy mud bottoms, eagles, seals, porpoise and whales abound. The few people we have met have been SO friendly and this coast has to be one of the best sailing areas we have found. The big advantage Canada has over the US is that lobsterboats here have a season so no buoys can be seen from July to November. The US work on size of lobster and anything less than five inches is thrown back. However their pots are everywhere and on a sunny day the sea sparkles like a giant cake strewn with hundreds and thousands. We had been blasé about the things but drifting sideways through a carpet of them we became entangled. There Hannah was, sails set and pulling perfectly but going nowhere. Of course someone had to go over the side and Bee donning a seven mill. wetsuit, hat, gloves and boots went in. The job was done in seconds and the water turned out, she said, to be surprisingly warm. I took her word for it. 

We’re not sure if the hurricanes that the US has been getting will feature much on the news back home but Florida has taken a pasting and the area we repaired our gearbox in seems to have come off worst. Having visited a place always seems to make it more real and we really feel for the friends we made back there. Interestingly for us, as Jeanne was approaching Florida we were receiving news of Karl rapidly approaching the coast of Nova Scotia. Luckily it remained offshore and passed harmlessly on, far out to sea but once the headlines have receded, the storm continues, downrated but careering up the Gulf Stream to cause havoc up this end of the world.

What else have we been up to? We found marmite in St Andrews, Toots has had all her jabs updated, a yearly occurrence necessitating us carrying her through the streets in a Habitat bag. She got her own back by legging it once we got to the jetty and hiding underneath it. Coaxed out eventually by the harbourmasters fresh fish, a scallop we’re given to understand. Bee’s hair as you can see has taken on a life of its own and the only remedy is to shave it all off and start again. Photos on the next instalment……….

And finally, we have heard from the Lilly B’s who are in Niue Niue in, I think, the Cook Islands and well on their way to NZ. We think of them often dream of sailing over to see them all again and can’t believe we haven’t put this photo up before. In the current world we should probably be captioning it with a ‘Don’t try this etc etc’ but then again why not?