We figured we'd be on the other side by now. Thursday afternoon we left the dock at Shelburne Harbour Yacht Club after topping up with diesel and water. The afternoon before, the dreaded "pop, whsssshhh" happened again (the hose popping off the hot water heater), only this time it happened while we were all ashore. Randy arrived back to the boat to find the head awash and the bilge full of fresh water. The tank was not full, but what there was of it drained into the bilge.

New rule: always turn off the water pressure when you leave the boat.

We had planned to leave at around noon along with Philip and Matthew on the boat from Montreal, but extended conversation with fellas dropping by left us with things still to do, so we didn't depart until around 2 pm. Forecast was for diminishing winds, so we planned to do the crossing to Plymouth, Mass. Forecasted diminishment never happened, and we decided to pull in and anchor at Cape Negro Island. Nice anchorage after a rolly, cold and salty, if brief, passage, but we were sore disappointed when the furnace failed to come to life. Worked just great at the dock. We warmed up with chicken curry, dried the salty gloves and mitts on the door of the oven, and turned in, early.

Left at the crack of dawn on Friday, primed again to enjoy the diminishing winds and seas that continued to be promised, but by about 4 in the afternoon, with the wind freshening on the nose and the seas very confused and just as exciting as they had been, we made a sharper turn than we'd hoped for, and headed for Yarmouth. A couple of times we had little birds chase us, looking for a dry spot to rest. One landed on board for about 5 minutes, too tired to worry about being this close to people.

I went below about 11 pm to try to warm up and discovered that the forward bunk was half soaked with salt water coming through the louvres from the anchor locker. I crawled up on the settee with a dry blanket and surfaced when the guys tried to find an anchorage at Seal Island. No luck. Rolly, blowing like stink. Moved on to Pubnico, finally ended up at the Pubnico wharf. Hot soup at 1:30 am, then to bed in the main cabin -- we just ignored the salty bunk.

In the morning, Tom found a phone booth on shore and called and left a message with Mary in Yarmouth (not long distance), and with Dad (long distance, so he called collect and got Dad's machine). When Dad heard the electronic voice saying he had a collect call, and then of course, no message, he naturally deduced we were on the other side. He told my 94-year-old grandmother the good news later that morning, so if anyone is visiting Peg, please don't tell her that we're still here. She's been worried sick and it would knock her for a loop to have to worry all over again!
Finally on Saturday, the weather we signed on for, a lovely sunny day with 10-15 knots of wind (on the nose, of course). So we had a most pleasant motor-sail around to Yarmouth through picturesque Schooner Passage with a fair tide giving us an extra three knots or so. Arrived at the floats by Rudder's Restaurant about 2:30 with Auntie Mary on the dock to meet us.Now does it get any better than that? Hot showers, warm dry beds.

It was tempting to head across to Maine but the forecast was for easterly gales beginning overnight so we couldn't have made it in before the weather started. Sure enough, it began blowing hard in the wee hours and was a gale by dawn, so much better secured alongside than bouncing around in the bay. Now we are watching hurricane Wilma, which is predicted to hit here Wednesday, hopefully much diminished from her present ferocity. We've moved from the dock at Rudder's (very expensive and we're not sure why) and are tucked into a better spot a bit further along the dock, but we are getting mighty frustrated. Time to get moving. Hope for decent weather post-Wilma. Oh, right, and then there's Alpha to think about....