The Social Whirl
The weather forecast is for a week of rain which doesn’t seem to surprise the local much. I’m not overly concerned because cruising is taking a back seat to my social life. As soon as I arrived aboard, the couple on the boat anchored next to me invited me over for drinks and dinner and a delightful evening with the couple visiting them.
I spent Saturday exploring the Lunenburg, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site, on a beautiful day and listening to folk music that was being played in several venues of the annual festival. Sunday morning, I met the friend I saw in Meteghan and his wife ashore. The took me to fill my diesel fuel jugs and I realized I needed to take those out in the dinghy before we left for our day sail.
As I was rowing out, a man was heading straight for my boat in a very small dinghy. I was about to warn him that he was going to row into my boat when he turned and said, “Roger?”. He was heading for the boat looking for me. It was my old friend Captain Dan Moreland, Unlimited Master of Sail and Steam, any tonnage, any ocean, who I last saw about twenty years ago. Having sailed his Barque "Picton Castle" around the world five times, he has made more circumnavigations in command of a square rigged ship than any man alive and possibly in history since square rigged ships in the age of sail seldom did full circumnavigations due to the trading routes.
It was a lovely day sail despite mostly cloudy skies. The wind was perfect and there was enough blue overhead to keep the clouds from being oppressive. We beat out into the mouth of Mahone Bay with a succession of schooners sailing past on their return to Lunenburg from races in Chester. Mike knows everyone so he filled me in on the stories behind the boats and their owners.
After dropping off my day sail guests, I rowed ashore for dinner with Dan, the captain of the "Bluenose II", and a woman whose maritime licenses and time sailing in under square rig would have been impressive in most company I keep. Dan’s house misses being the oldest in Lunenburg only by virtue of the one next door built in the 1600’s and is filled with artifacts from his world voyages. It was a pretty memorable evening.
After I see some other people in Lunenburg and get a tour of the "Bluenose II" construction, I’ll be taking a ten mile jaunt around the corner to spend some time with friends on the other side of the peninsula. Then, another friend up in Chester. Somewhere in here, I’ll fit in exploration of the amazing collection of islands that lie just around the corner.
Oh yes. I also met a cat that has sailed around the world five times in a square rigged ship.
(Humbly submitted by POTL)
The weather forecast is for a week of rain which doesn’t seem to surprise the local much. I’m not overly concerned because cruising is taking a back seat to my social life. As soon as I arrived aboard, the couple on the boat anchored next to me invited me over for drinks and dinner and a delightful evening with the couple visiting them.
I spent Saturday exploring the Lunenburg, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site, on a beautiful day and listening to folk music that was being played in several venues of the annual festival. Sunday morning, I met the friend I saw in Meteghan and his wife ashore. The took me to fill my diesel fuel jugs and I realized I needed to take those out in the dinghy before we left for our day sail.
As I was rowing out, a man was heading straight for my boat in a very small dinghy. I was about to warn him that he was going to row into my boat when he turned and said, “Roger?”. He was heading for the boat looking for me. It was my old friend Captain Dan Moreland, Unlimited Master of Sail and Steam, any tonnage, any ocean, who I last saw about twenty years ago. Having sailed his Barque "Picton Castle" around the world five times, he has made more circumnavigations in command of a square rigged ship than any man alive and possibly in history since square rigged ships in the age of sail seldom did full circumnavigations due to the trading routes.
It was a lovely day sail despite mostly cloudy skies. The wind was perfect and there was enough blue overhead to keep the clouds from being oppressive. We beat out into the mouth of Mahone Bay with a succession of schooners sailing past on their return to Lunenburg from races in Chester. Mike knows everyone so he filled me in on the stories behind the boats and their owners.
After dropping off my day sail guests, I rowed ashore for dinner with Dan, the captain of the "Bluenose II", and a woman whose maritime licenses and time sailing in under square rig would have been impressive in most company I keep. Dan’s house misses being the oldest in Lunenburg only by virtue of the one next door built in the 1600’s and is filled with artifacts from his world voyages. It was a pretty memorable evening.
After I see some other people in Lunenburg and get a tour of the "Bluenose II" construction, I’ll be taking a ten mile jaunt around the corner to spend some time with friends on the other side of the peninsula. Then, another friend up in Chester. Somewhere in here, I’ll fit in exploration of the amazing collection of islands that lie just around the corner.
Oh yes. I also met a cat that has sailed around the world five times in a square rigged ship.
(Humbly submitted by POTL)