A couple of weeks ago the Old Man decided he wanted to go window shopping for another boat. It would be nice to have a little more comfort aboard than he has on the old girl he’s got now. Nova Scotia – a beautiful window into Canada – ought to be a good place to look. Now that it’s hot summer, it’s certainly a cooler place than the Great North Woods of Maine where we went last year.
So, off we went to Bar Harbor and got on the CAT on Monday morning, the first trip of the day. I have had a few words to say about the CAT in the past when it first appeared on the scene and ran over a fisherman, a deplorable accident that I still deplore today. However, I also frowned on the high speed of the ship and I’m going to have to eat those words (providing no more accidents occur).
Having been on the BLUENOSE in the gales of December for 10 hours of thrashing all night, this trip on the CAT on a summer morning on a flat calm (albeit foggy) sea for under three hours of smooth going was amazing. This ship is 320 feet long and very wide, carrying up to 250 vehicles and 900 passengers. Loading was easy through the open stern that stayed open. Stairs led to the passenger deck.
The CAT is made in Australia by INCAT and is powered by four 9,500-hp marine diesel engines through jets on both pods of the catamaran in the stern. When she is underway, clear of land, going about 40 knots, the wake is twin streams of thunderous white spray billowing behind her. As I stood on the open stern deck, I have to admit it really was exhilarating going fast on the water. There was no vibration at all, and none of that up and down, making it a pleasure to walk around the passenger deck, get a snack or stand on the bow, all windows, and enjoy the scenery.
We arrived in Yarmouth in two hours and 45 minutes, about lunchtime. The minute we disembarked, we were at the boat broker’s (a very nice fellow) getting a list of boats for sale all over the west coast of Nova Scotia, and proceeded to check them out, along with every other harbor we saw on the way, of which there were many. This took us all afternoon, and all the next day.
Every little town in Nova Scotia on the water is a working waterfront, having its own small fleet. Most are lobster boats and it was interesting to see how the boats and gear were rigged. The boats are big and wide. The lobster pots are four-footers, four-brickers and reinforced all along the edges with pot warp wound through every mesh. The funny eyes are in the middle with parlors on both ends. The hauler is often in the middle of the boat with a hoist frame overhead. The trap limit is 250 pots, full of lobsters as soon as they are set, I hear. The season is from Nov. 1 to May 30 in the most brutal tide in the world at the most brutal time of year – winter. You’ve got to hand it to those Nova Scotians – they’re tough.
Nearly all the harbors we saw were man-made breakwaters out from the relatively short shoreline enclosing wharves built inside. There are no moorings in these harbors – the boats tie up four or five deep to the wharf. I imagine they take a beating in stormy weather, tied up cheek-by-jowl as they are. In some places, the tide leaves the harbor altogether, leaving the boats sitting in the mud.
There were a few large harbors with other kinds of fishing boats – trawlers, seiners, gillnetters, tub trawlers, handliners and scallopers. Wonderful, isn’t it, to find a place where all kinds of fishing are still flourishing. I loved it.
The weather was just beautiful on this trip – 70 degrees, sunny, a sea breeze. We traveled 300 miles, every bit of it along the shore, from Cape Sable Island to Digby. We went the length of Digby Neck from there, completely around St. Mary’s Bay. The scenery was spectacular – small villages dotting the coastal road with neat little houses surrounded by neat little yards, interspersed with small farms full of contented cows. There are huge fields sloping down to the sea, filled with wildflowers, especially lupine, of many colors – blue, purple, pink, white, yellow and dark red. There are beautiful beaches. The people are friendly and everything is clean and tidy.
There is no urban sprawl into the countryside. Every little town has a small convenience store and maybe a gas station. It seemed like they were all selling smoked fish, too – kayaks, pollock and cod – some slack salted. Every little town had its own church. These were little gems of buildings except for one town, Church Point. There stands the tallest and largest wooden church in North America, St. Mary’s. It’s an incredible piece of work, and beautiful.
Too soon our pleasant journey came to an end. It’s summer, after all, and lobster season at home. The Old Man never did find a boat that really appealed to him this trip, but I can’t think of a more delightful window to go shopping in than Nova Scotia in the summer.
Rusty Warren
Vinalhaven