Halifax to St Pierre (It’s France Baby!)

We leave the friendly yacht club behind and set off down the harbour in the mist. I didn’t see the banks of the harbour on the way in because I was asleep and I am no wiser on the way out again. We know the wind will not be available till later in the morning so it’s all in the plan to be motoring at this stage.

Eventually we get a little breeze and we are mercifully spared the engine chugging for a while.  F is actually strangely pleased to be motoring to use up some fuel as he suspects that he has filled the tanks to the brim. 

We break out the stash of tasty chocolate banana cakes that our kindly yacht club friend provided and celebrate the return to the high seas.

But the wind is driving us dead east which will be a pain if it keeps up in this direction. It’s better than no wind so we go with it for now. Eventually it just stops so we have a change of plan and begin to motor again. This leg of the trip is about 340 miles so we can’t afford to just wait it out. 

F has some fishing lures aboard so we try dragging a long line for a while but at 4 knots, the line never sinks deep enough do we get nothing.

Our crappy wind and fog continues as we approach the Cabot strait. Apparently this stretch of water can be lumpy so I have an underlying worry of seeing my breakfast for the second time. I have not been seasick yet but there is always the slight oily sensation in my guts which reminds me that Krakatoa could be just around the corner.

Thursday comes and we continue to motorsail.  At 6pm, there’s a small breeze go F decides it’s time to bring out the big guns and we launch the spinnaker. I need to get some shuteye before my watch at 9 so I leave him to it and go below. About an hour later, it’s clear the wind and sea state are not favourable for the big sail so we take it down again and motor sail. But at least we try.  We slow our speed to try time our arrival in daylight  

Approaching the islands, we stop motoring and try to sail the last bit and we succeed for a while but eventually the wind fails to play ball and we get the motor going  again. We skirt the cliffs along the west side of st Pierre and have to get within 250m to see them.  The pace is teeming with seabirds and I think it smells a bit like smoked mackerel. F corrects me that it is guano… birdshit. 

We get a gap in the mist for a few minutes and see the beautiful scenery as we pass between the islands.  Normal service is soon resumed as we approach the harbour with visibility down to less than 200m.  We are navigating now by iPad and gps from buoy to buoy.  It is a little tense as we inch towards the harbour passing an outgoing yacht on the way.

We are met 6 separate officials on the dockside, a new record. The yacht club members in Halifax had warned us that we would get a proper investigation with floors up and endoscopic cameras here but they were friendly and welcoming . I get a tip from one about an Irish music session tomorrow evening in a bar in town . Result! We are permitted to stay on the quay for 2 days and then we have to move to a buoy as they are planning to do works on the pier first thing Monday morning.