Tuesday 26 August

Dry, cloudy, little wind. Again we're motoring. I reckon we've sailed without the engine on for about half an hour all the time I've been here (3 1/2 weeks). We're setting off towards Havre Boucher, shortly before the Canso Canal. There's quite a bit surfy swell going with us, lifting the stern of the boat and pushing us onward.

We miss the turning for HB, and when asked, I suggest we might as well continue through the Canso Strait. This is a narrow strip of sea separating Nova Scotia from the island of Cap Breton, and we shall have to go through the big ship lock. J radios ahead and with a scary surfy following sea, we go between the high concrete walls of the canal. Ahead, a couple of men way way above us fish for our lines with boathooks - as I'm rubbish at throwing lines, I'm delighted to see them. To let us transit the lock, we hold up the traffic for miles each way, when the lock gates close and the swing bridge swivels to let us through.. Yay! Power! All for a tiny sailboat!

A couple of miles further on is Port Hawkesbury and we pull into the marina there. I've been contacted by someone - Akira - from the ybw website, who has kindly suggested we might meet up if possible, so after we've docked and J's found a computer to type up his screenplay, I ring him, and shortly after, he knocks on the hull. Larry and his wife Bonny invite us out to dinner - J excuses himself with the amount of work and a shower he must get done - but I'm hungry! We go out to the Bras d'Or Lakes, where they have a small but amazingly roomy boat, and we have supper in the yacht club opposite their private mooring. I restrain myself to a couple of glasses of wine ... Back to their oh-so-pretty house with an incredible woodburning stove/cooker in the kitchen - a hundred years old and still working well! They bargained the dishwasher for the stove when they bought the house ... who got the best of the bargain? Thanks for the excellent company L and B!