To save miles, I had planned our route through a very narrow and shallow pass to the west of Spectacle Island with the hope that the chart was accurate. This took us close by the other boats. As we approached Seraphim, their green light turned red and that's when I realized they were coming right at us. Those Ninjas had pulled up their anchor with barely a sound and had very nearly beat me at my own game of being the first boat out of the anchorage. Seraphim draws more than we do, so they elected to take the longer, deeper route to the east of Spectacle Island to get to the open sea.
They vanished into the fog about thirty seconds after our parting waves to each other. We tracked them on our AIS for a while, but our first tack took us far enough offshore that they were out of range before we could tell which way they were heading.
Where the fog was thinner, we found beautiful skies, and the odd whale to keep us company, on our sail to Shelburne, where we anchored just off the local yacht club
As we approached Shelburne harbor on our last tack, we were hoping the wind angle would hold and we would be able to make it up the eight-mile long bay without any further zigzagging. Alas, since this is Nova Scotia, the wind shifted just enough to make us have to do two or three to make it to the town at the head of the bay. We anchored just outside the mooring field at the Shelburne Yacht Club.
Swinging on one of those moorings was Seraphim. They motored into direct headwinds along the coast and had arrived five hours before us. When pressed, Drew admitted that they had burned four gallons for the day to our half gallon.
The weird thing about the sail up Shelburne harbor was the water temperature. In the open sea, the water temperature was 7C, which effectively refrigerates the whole boat. By the time we reached the town, the water had climbed to a whopping 24C. This was way above the dew point of the surrounding air, which effectively put Shelburne right in the middle of a big blue hole of Summer sunshine. Our thick foul weather gear quickly became unbearably clammy and we had to trade off as we sailed so the other one could peel off the layers in exchange for proper summer wear.
Completely by accident, we had arrived at the beginning of “Dock Days”, Shelburne's annual mid-summer festival. Our first evening, Begonia was tenth row to a pretty decent cover band as she bobbed at anchor.
The next day, we went ashore at the Shelburne Yacht Club and paid our fees, which seemed both steep and surprisingly nickel-and-dimey for a club that is otherwise renowned for being welcoming and even friendlier than most Canadians.
We had a lovely welcome to Shelburne, from fellow boaters (Amy and 'Drew of Seraphim) and plenty of sunshine
We went to the old sawmill, which is being slowly restored and turned into a working museum. One of the gentlemen there offered to answer any questions we might have. That ended up morphing into a full private tour. When that was done, he took us down the street into the festival and started explaining all sorts of interesting bits of Shelburne's past before handing Maryanne and I off to a woman in period costume who was baking a pie on an open fire.
Old Sawmill
Festival Fun (Combined Founders day and Dock Festival)
A dose of photo-booth silliness added to the fun of the day
We could not have picked a better day to be in Shelburne. Not only is the town picturesque and charming in its own right, this day it had been transformed into a loosely 18th Century living museum full of happy people out enjoying a bit of wholesome fun on a summer weekend. For example, they had barrel races, where a person gets into a barrel and rows it to a mark using only one paddle. A barrel is a surprisingly difficult thing to paddle, since mostly it just wants to spin around in circles from the force applied. When we arrived, the last place finisher was a girl around nine years old. When she finally was able to get close enough to the flag to smack it with her paddle, tipping herself into the drink in the process, all of the onlookers let out a big heartfelt cheer for her at her accomplishment. It was downright heartwarming. There was also a 21st Century bubble cannon, face painting and silly photo booths.
And various Museums all open for the special day
We made sure to hit (almost) all of the town's museums. Most impressive to us was the Dory Shop Museum. Back in the days before the now ubiquitous inflatable zodiacs, dories were the easy-to-row tender of choice. Shelburne built tens of thousands of them over the years. They had one employee, Sidney Mahaney, who built dories for a total of SEVENTY-NINE years; He worked there between 1914 and 1971, then returned when it reopened as a museum in 1983 until his death in 1993. He rowed a dory several miles to work each day and on his days off, he did some carpentry on the side, including building dories at home for some extra cash!
Our fun wasn't over yet. Amy, from Seraphim graciously invited us to dinner aboard her and Drew's beautiful boat. She even said that catering to our annoying diet would be a fun challenge for her. She did a great job; the food was delicious and the company delightful.
At about the time most cruisers would start nodding off and bidding each other goodnight, the festival's boat parade started. Here, practically all of Shelburne's working fleet paraded by us decorated in all manner of elaborate lighting.
At the end of the parade, the fireworks started. There was a good fifteen-minute, high density display launched from the working decks of two of the local commercial fishing boats. After the particularly grand Grand Finale, the smoke cleared and everyone started for home. Wow! That was a pretty amazing display for such a small town.
A lighted boat parade with fireworks (always better in real life than in photos)
Then one of the boats started a whole new fifteen-minute display, followed by yet another fantastic Grand Finale.
Bonus, eh?
Then the other boat did the same thing! It quickly became clear that this was the result of some sort of friendly rivalry between the two operators. Just when we all thought we must be finished by now, a whole brand-new fireworks show would begin. Excluding the dramatic pauses for effect, we onlookers were treated to about an hour and a half of continuous bursts. Only at New Year's 2020 in Sydney have we seen more fireworks let off at the same time as at otherwise sleepy Shelburne, Nova Scotia!
We were a bit late in rousing the next morning. Maryanne and I decided to spend the remainder of our day enjoying a peaceful walk to the other, western side of the harbor. In the way that we do, we kept finding one thing after another to extend our outbound track, ensuring that the walk back would be defined by increasing soreness. A sit-down and cold beers at the yacht club with Amy and Drew were just the things we needed by then.
There was a car show on in town which we discovered on our way to the trail
Another sunny day made for a great walk across to the Islands Provincial Park via the Roseway River Trail
With the weekend over, we declared an official end to fun. We spent our last morning trudging to the store to buy as many provisions as we could carry and then trudging them back to the boat. To be fair, it wasn't that bad. Our cart has wheels and it is downhill from the store. Also, Shelburne is a pleasant and leafy place for a walk.
Anchorage location >> On google maps
And the local Yacht Club >> Shelburne Harbour YC and Marina
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