Past Charlos Cove to Drum Head

We departed Dover Harbour at 10:30 am and as we sailed past Tor Bay we thought of the Leblancs and of our visit with them.  Doris and Wayne are retired and spend some time fishing mackerel out of Tor Bay on their 32 foot Cape Island boat called The Lady Dor.  They also love being out on the water and Wayne loves to fish. He catches a couple of dozen fish every day and after cleaning them he delivers them to all of his neighbours around his community of Charlos Cove.  They have the most wonderful piece of property.  Their house is perched on a quiet knoll that overlooks the harbour.  The Lady Dor is moored in the cove down the hill from their home.  Wayne hauls her out each fall there in the cove and she is stored on the hard in their side driveway for the winter.  Doris has a small vegetable garden in the front yard that she putters with and she is working with some flower beds along the property perimeter.  A wild red rose boarder intermingled with small spruce trees, dwarfed by the harsh sea climate, sets the backdrop of their place and behind that is the narrow roadway along the shore.  The view from their kitchen window is spectacular – it looks out over the Lady Dor, the public wharf, the cove and further – beyond the harbour entry, the surrounding low rangy  coniferous  islands, the angry looking  rocky shoals where the breakers crash nonstop and then into the open Atlantic.  Charlos Cove is remote, it is rugged and wild in spots and warm in others.  And as far as I can figure, truly, Wayne and Doris have themselves another little piece of heaven there. 

We were moving forward but were disappointed that the sea was still so slow. The conditions had not improved much and by 5:30 we had only reached Drum Head so decided that we would go there for the night.  We had set our course for closer inshore but the waters along the shore are shallow which continued an effect on them  in terms of increasing their heaviness.  I had mentioned earlier that I had made a mistake by using the Canso Strait chart for setting our course around Cape Canso.   The captain had given me the task of charting our course to the plotter.  (I bet he’s sorry for that now!)  We usually discuss this process the evening before, pull out the paper chart, review everything on the big scale and then set out our way points on the electronics for the next sail course.  When I examined the next chart to plot the next course it was at this point that I realized I had used the incorrect chart to head us around Cape Canso in the shipping lane.  Had I been using this next chart I would have noticed the more detailed information outlining the inner passage through the islands inshore that would have eliminated that long rough shipping lane route that I had taken us through around Cape Canso.  It is no wonder the captain of the Australian Spirit so politely called to tell us to get outta the way, that he was coming through.  I am sure by that time he realized we were nuts to be taking that outer shipping lane passage - especially on the cusp of that horrible hurricane. I finally realized we were nuts for doing it so why wouldn’t he?

Anyway on Day 49, as we pulled into Drum Head harbour at 5.30 pm to get off the water again, we had no idea that we were in for another adventure within another few minutes of our arrival in the port.