Captain’s log
Sambro, Terence Bay and Peggy’s Cove
Since my last writing, Bluenose II has been away from Lunenburg visiting some small ports along the coast. These trips are important for the life of the ship for several reasons. Firstly, it allows us to train the crew in longer voyages at sea. We complete emergency drills, including rescuing a person in the water and firefighting. These drills take time to complete properly and are difficult to complete during our public open decks and harbour tour schedule.
Our first experience at sea
Happy Canada Day from the deck of a Canadian icon! I hope that you have a great day and are surrounded by friends and family and are truly grateful for the Canada that gives us all a home. We often remind ourselves that we are only caretakers of Bluenose II and give thanks to those who came before us and take care of the ship for those who will come after us. I like to think of Canada in much the same way.
The start of harbour cruises
It’s been two weeks of victories and losses onboard the schooner. When we last met, we had just passed our annual inspection and we were ready to begin our annual harbour cruise season. We have managed to find enough tourists to make the trips worthwhile in the mornings and have been sold out in the afternoons. As always, we are meeting people from all over the world who come to Nova Scotia for the adventure.
Sail training and safety drills
Well, eight weeks have gone just like that. It is always so hard to fathom. In the past two months, the crew have gone from green horns to a crew. They have learned the basics of paint and varnish work, knots and splices, safe working practices ashore and at sea, how to safely work at heights, how to fight fires, abandon ship and rescue a person in the water. Our young crew have all steered and raised sail watched the world go by under sail on the far side of the Battery Point lighthouse.
Voyage to the summer berth
I cannot begin to tell you how good it feels to turn the key to start the engines and feel the low thrum of the John Deere main engines idling away and to be waiting to give the order to let go the mooring lines. The crew have put in six weeks of long days painting and varnishing and it’s time to get off the wharf, even for few minutes.