After a fun and interesting 10 days with Mark & Elaine, we headed from the La Have river up to Mahone Bay, another scenic and quaint town. We had to go there since that was the easiest place for them to catch the bus back to the Halifax airport to fly home to Truckee. We had an upwind sail all the way in about 18-20kn of wind, so it was bumpy, and wet and we tacked back and forth but finally got there. Luckily, the seas eased up once we were up in Mahone Bay so at least it wasn’t as wet.
Mark saling upwind on a windy day
Once we got them ashore and on their way, Lucie and I went out and took one of the free moorings on Mason Island in Mahone Bay. We had a beautifal calm trip over there and the island was pristine and wild. Mahone Bay is a great cruising area and you could easily spend the whole season just checking out the various islands, anchorages, and towns. A lot of Nova Scotians do just that. 
Free moorings provided by MICA, the Mahone Islands Conservatoin Asoociation. Many of the islands there are protected natural areas.
We swam, hiked around the wholle island, and spent a peaceful and loveley evening there.
From Mason Island we went to a nice anchorage the next day at Heckman’s Cove for lunch. We had planned to swim there since it’s a nice beach but the water was COLD there! It was weird in Nova Scotia, in that some coves had water up in the 70’s and others, like Heckman’s had water in the low 60’s. I imagine it has something to do with the currents and tides flushing cold ocean water in and out, because water depth didin’t seem to correlate.
We then went to spend the night on a mooring at the Lunenburg Yacht Club. It’s not actually in Lunenburg, but on the other side of the peninsula in Mahone Bay. We didn’t know till we got there, but that night they were having a special buffet meal, their annual Boat Light parade, and a beach bonfire with live music. Being in Nova Scotia, everyone was very friendly and we got invited to go on one of the boats in the parade. So, we went out to their boat in the dark, helped them string up lights, then did 3 laps around the bay in the boat parade. I was driving their boat for some of the time and luckily didn’t run into anything or anybody. It was fun but a bit nerve wracking driving somebody else’s boat in the dark in an unfamiliar bay!
All dressed up
Unfortunately, by the time we finished with the parade the beach bonfire was over and we went back to our boat in the dark and had a restful night.
We got up the next morning and left for Shelburne, the port that we originally landed in on our arrival to Nova Scotia. There were “high wind warnings” that day, but they were behind us. We have had WildHorse out in very light and moderate winds before, but that day they were predicting winds in the high 20’s with higher gusts and 3-4-meter seas. We were a bit apprehensive about it but I was also excited to see how she behaved in boisterous conditions. With double reefed main and staysail, the boat was fast and very comfortable, well banced and almost sailed herself. We were pretty much the only boat that went out that day, and WildHorse handled it perfectly. It gave us both a lot of confidence in the boat.
Video of the waves that day. Waves always look flatter on video, but it gives a sense of how smooth she sailed in 10-foot seas.
All was smooth and exciting sailing till we turned the corner to go up Shelburne Harbour, now with the wind on our nose. We weren’t making much progress so we started the motor and motor sailed up to our mooring, which was sheltered from the waves and was calm and comfortable. From there we planned on refiilling fuel, water, and groceries to get ready to head back to the USA.
Welcome back to the USA. Smooth sailing South!