To Halifax
If we had relied on the chart alone I don’t think we would ever have attempted the intricate passage that led to a dinner date we had with John and Heather Van S. The minimum depth is shown as 0 metres and we need 2.3 metres so, even at high tide, we would be dragging 5 tons of lead keel bulb through the mud if we were lucky. If we were unlucky we would have to be towed ignominiously back into deep water or wait a couple of weeks for the next spring tide to lift us off. John, however, is the OCC’s Port Officer for Halifax and we knew we could rely on his local knowledge. Besides, the survey on our chart was almost a hundred years old!
Bleary eyed after a fast overnight sail from St Peter’s we crept into the buoyed channel and then turned to port to follow the uncharted channel that is clearly marked by buoys just as John had said it would be. The water shallowed but our keel never kissed the mud and a few minutes later we picked up OCC mooring #1 and, by then, John was already rowing out from his own dock to greet us.
After a little slumber time to rid ourselves of night passage fatigue our host came back to escort us to supper at his lovely waterside home where a delicious meal prepared by Heather awaited us.
The company that evening was fascinating as the conversation wandered from sailing to expatriate life in Nepal and Pakistan in the 1970’s and 80’s. All too soon we were back in John’s dinghy and searching for Shimshal by the the light of a full harvest moon.
With headwinds forecast we set the alarm for 2 hours before dawn and so crept out through the unlit passage by the light of the moon and a spotlight in need of a re-charge. Thin swirls of autumnal mist did their best to conceal the channel marker buoys but we had our gps track from the day before and all went well. We were soon out in the open sea watching a perfect sunrise and preparing to visit the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron at Halifax.