Halifax (Downtown docks)

Monday August 3, 2015
44 38 964 N
63 34 203 W

In order to have the technician service the AutoHelm we needed to be at a marina so we made a reservation downtown for Monday. The NATAL DAYS celebrations were still in full swing but they found us a spot and accepted the reservation. We enjoyed a lazy morning then hoisted the dinghy and dropped the mooring about 11 AM and cruised the 5 miles out of the NW arm and up the main harbor.

We were directed to an old wharf right in the middle of the downtown and festival action. There must have been 50,000 thousand people milling around. Our spot was on the south side of the old "Cable Wharf". This is where the ships that laid the first few cables across the Atlantic were based. Of course the wharf was all tourist and restaurant oriented these days. It was windy and a bit exposed so we had 50 tourists watching as we crash landed Tide Hiker into the assigned space. After securing Tide Hiker we headed ashore for lunch at the restaurant on "our wharf". Lots of Japanese tourists eating crayfish.

Tide Hiker is the 4th in line - protected spot but no electricity

We liked this guy. I suspect Deidre would make a swap..............

The wharf area was busy...............

Our "slip" was very exposed. We watched from the restaurant as Tide Hiker bounced around from the many wakes and just the chop off the harbor. So when I walked over to the office to sign up and pay I asked to be relocated. An hour later they had a new spot and so we moved into a calmer corner. But when we tried to hook up the electricity it would not work............ and I just could not get the wifi to work either, so I was not a happy camper. But it was fun being so close to all the shore activities and Tide Hiker enjoyed a lot of envious looks.

That afternoon Don and Barb turned up and handed over their tickets to the Citadel - the fort overlooking the city. It was up a steep hill so we caught a cab.

The history of Halifax is all about war. From the French and Indian wars of the 1700's thru World War II, Halifax has been a bastion for the British. The harbor is really quite amazing. The relatively narrow entrance was easy to defend from the two headlands and XXXX Island in the middle, then after a mile or so of deep water the harbor opens up into a huge and deep anchorage. The Citadel defended the city itself and is a pretty impressive structure.

No clue why ............

The Citadel overlooks the city and harbor

Tuesday August 4, 2015

We walked to Tim's for breakfast. "Joey" the tech turned up at 10 and worked till about 3 PM (All at $110 per hour). During that time we did 2 test runs in the harbor and after the second test the system seemed to be operating OK. The second test run also took us to a slip where the electricity worked - but we were exposed again! This slip was on the other side of a wharf where the last "Flower Class" corvette from WW 2 was docked as a museum.

For a "senior" the entry price was $2 so I headed over. On board I met a "very senior" ex Canadian Navy Chief, and he gave me a personal tour. We had lots of fun talking about the "Compass Rose" and Jack Hawkins.

HMCS Sackville - Flower Class Corvette.

The macerator pump has been giving s trouble for the last month or so. The macerator pump does not have a very pleasant job, so I really do understand why it may not be happy. But its very important that it works or we will all "back up" and that is not good. So after the sun set I opened up the floor and removed the pump and replaced it with a spare - that did not work at all! Now I was in a pickel and after a lot of "testing this and testing that" decided it was a "voltage problem" and went to bed (after a shower and a spray down with Lysol).

Wednesday August 5, 2015

Barb and Don had rented a car for two days. We planned to share it with them today. We met at Tim's for breakfast and I consulted with Don about my electrical problem. We headed back to Tide Hiker while the girls visited the "Victorian Gardens". Don showed me how to trouble shoot "low voltage" issues and quickly sorted it out. He is a smart guy!

With that out of the way" the girls picked us up and we headed across towards the Bay of Fundy to get some "Tide Action". (On Tuesday barb and Don had taken a boat ride on a "tidal bore" in a river that empties into the Bay.)

Our first objective was "Hall's Harbor". When we arrived the tide was basically out and the very high dock pilings exposed. We enjoyed lunch at a very local cafe overlooking the harbor and as we relaxed we could watch the tide come in - 42 feet in 6 hours - so 7 feet an hour - 1 foot every 8 minutes.  It was quite impressive. It was foggy when we arrived but the sun broke thru as we ate.

These are the "befores"

These are the afters.......... only an hour or so!

The eating place........

Then back south over the peninsula to Peggy's Cove on the Atlantic. This is the part of Nova Scotia where the Acadians had originally settled - only to be evicted by the British in the 1700's. Despite the cold winter, it is quite productive land - the "bread basket" of Nova Scotia. So it was a pleasant drive.

The country was either heavy forest or cultivated. The forest is hard to photograph because all you see is trees.....

We hit the coast near the spot where Swissair Flight 111 crashed offshore in the 90's. We stopped at a memorial site on the coast near the crash site.

Coastal view from the Flight 111 memorial towards Peggy's Cove

Peggy's Cove was a small natural harbor in the rocky coast - not a place where I would bring Tide Hiker. But "in the day" it was a refuge for the fishing boats.

We were back on Tide Hiker by about 8 PM and after some dinner I got back into the macerator pump. It really is a bugger of a job. My ribs are bruised from the edge of the hatch digging into my chest. After a couple of hours it was back in place and tested a lot better. (Fingers Crossed)

In Canada one is required to have a licence to drive a boat. (In the USA all you need is a deposit). But it seems to me that Canadians have less idea of the rules and niceties of boating than the brash Americans. A common issue seems to be boating at night without lights! I was taking a break from the pump, standing in the dark on the port deck when our neighbor, the pilot boat, fired up its powerful engines and backed out with not one light showing. In an instinctive reaction I yelled out "Turn your lights on, you idiot!" Lo and behold it paused, lights went on, and departed.

We plan to leave Thursday after 5 days in Halifax. We have been impressed.