(A poem by our youngest)
I lost a wallet blue and sleek
Dreaded I lost it for a week.
I found it in my pants in my shorts pile
Luckily it’s not down the Nile!
Difference Between Houses and Boats Ep. 12
By the youngest member of the Thalia Crew!
There are lots of differences between living in a house and living on a boat. A boat is always moving because of the wind, water currents and ocean swells. All of the rooms in a boat are smaller. In fact, my room, my bathroom and by brother’s room would fit three times in my bedroom at home. Another big difference is how we get electricity. We buy it at home and we generate it on our boat by running our engine. The last big difference is water. We carry it with us all the time in four tanks. We have to be very careful about not to use too much. My favorite difference is that we can travel in our home.
Chart – Halifax, NS to Northeast Harbor, ME
Back in Familiar Territory Ep. 11
After a welcome send off from our Halifax area friends last week, we made our way back down the Nova Scotia coast, first stopping in Lunenberg. It is much easier to arrive in a port when you already know your way around… and when you have the charts of the area! On the way into the harbor, we crossed paths with the Bluenose II.
A Day On The Boat Ep. 10
By Zachary:
A day on the boat is much different than a day at a normal house. Starting at the beginning of the day, you wake up in a small bed with a shelf around you and a clothes hammock right above your bed. You get up and get dressed in the small floor space available to you. Then you come out to have breakfast, and find your Dad working on the computer and your Mom still in bed. You beg Dad to make breakfast and he shuts down to make warm cereal, on a good day. And on a bad day, he’d tell you to get some cold cereal, like Cheerios. When Mom and my sibling get up and have some cereal, we leave port or anchor, at an average time of about 10am. Then we set off, sailing usually at about 5 knots for 20-25 miles. During the day, I usually read, write, do school work, or just look at the surrounding landscape. For lunch I might have crackers and peanut butter and/or hot pepper jelly, hummus or a sandwich, depending on what is available. Around mid-afternoon we usually arrive at our destination. It takes a good hour to settle down, at which point we usually, depending on what time it is and where we are, kayak around the area, have dinner and then “veg” out, take a walk ashore, or if it is really late, go to sleep. And that is the end of an average day on the boat!
Pay it Forward Ep. 9
This week was a little more mellow then past weeks. We spent most of our time in the Halifax area, taking in two more days of the Busker’s Festival. I think the kids would have been fine if we had stayed for the whole 10 days, seeing the same acts being repeated time and again! We moved down the harbor front away from the immediate hustle and bustle that marked the Maritime Museum wharf to a wonderful area called Bishop’s Landing. Within a short walk was a very substantial grocery store, but even better than that was a Saturday morning farmer’s market at an old brewery building. This market was like none other that we have been to, and we’ve seen a lot of farmer’s markets! It meandered through old passageways inside the basement and two upper floors of the old brewery — it was truly a labyrinth of hallways and oddly shaped rooms. Near the end of our foraging, the path opened up into a sun drenched courtyard, pictured below — looking like something out of an old European village, complete with an string quartet playing Pachelbel’s Canon!
Chart – Yarmouth to Halifax, NS
Halifax or Bust(ers) Ep. 8
We have had a busy week and have covered some ground … or well, water! After we enjoyed a few more days of the Classic Boat Festival in Mahone Bay Harbor (where we saw more boats anchored, moored, rafted, sailing or just motoring around than we have seen the entire time since arriving in Yarmouth, NS two weeks prior) we took in a few more special destinations within the larger Mahone Bay region of the same name as the town and harbor! We quickly learned that the good sailing is NOT around the Yarmouth/Cape Sable Island and Southern portion of the Southeastern Coast of Nova Scotia! Mahone Bay alone is reported to have some 365 islands to sail around and explore and boasts more lovely seaside towns than we had time to visit!
Here is a picture of the boys in the town of Chester in the Northern reaches of Mahone Bay. This is a very New England town–from the architecture to the summer residents!
After a night in Chester, we had a very windy sail to Big Tancook Island, also within Mahone Bay. This is a year-round island for 115 people and it has their own elementary school! We walked around the rugged cliffs and supported the local ice cream shop before the skies darkened and the wind picked up. Here is a picture of our boat within the anchorage at Big Tancook Island.
Continue reading “Halifax or Bust(ers) Ep. 8”Taking the Good with the Bad Ep. 7
Having filled our brains with old shipbuilding history for one more day at Shelburne, and after I paid a visit to the local tavern that had a wi-fi hotspot, and ‘suffered’ through a pint of local brew while doing emails, we cast our lines from the government wharf early the next morning at 5am to gain the favorable current out the harbor. Getting up at that hour should have made both Karen and I morning people. The kids were still asleep, the water was glassy calm, and we each enjoyed a warm beverage as we motored slowly down the harbor and into the ocean, just in time to see the orange ball of the sun peak over the horizon — it’s an experience to behold!
Oh, Canada! Ep. 6
This has been another week of adventure! Last week’s update ended in Northeast Harbor, and we continued to stay there for 2 more days, partly because the weather was predicted to be on and off rain, and partly because there was so much to do on Mt. Desert Island. We rented bikes one day and discovered the joy of many miles of beautifully crafted carriage roads, first established here by Franklin D Roosevelt. They still have horse-drawn carriage rides available, but most of the trails are used by hikers and bikers.
We met another family with two boys of similar age to ours, the Windsors. This was quite a treat — some adult conversation time for us, and our kids seemed to relish some real kid play time. On our last day in Northeast Harbor, we took the Windsors out for a day sail to Little Cranberry Island, just across the harbor.