2009 - August 16th to September 16th - FREDERICTON, NB TO THE CHESAPEAKE, USA

We leave the dock at the Fredericton Yacht Club and return to Saint John. We haul the boat at the Saint John Power Boat Club. We discover "On Off", the only cleaner that can tackle the "Mustache" stain caused by the coloration of the east coast USA waters. You literally brush it on and hose it off, saving hours upon hours of labor. However, it is best not to read the ingredients.

After a delay to let hurricane "Bill" pass we head south.

We check into the USA at historic Eastport, Maine.

We pass lighthouses and fish traps on the way down the coast of Maine. We duck into "Mud Hole" to wait out a storm. It was downgraded to less then a gale force by the time it arrived, but it was still nice to be in a safe harbor.

The coast of Maine again presented challenges due to the outrageous number of lobster trap markers. Often two are connected by a line that is less than the 6.5 ft we draw. We snagged three in one afternoon. We were able to back off of two, but had to cut one off. I refuse to eat Maine lobster in protest.

We spend a few days in Sheepshead Bay, Coney Island, NYC. Son James and his girlfriend Maria join us for a day at Coney Island. The beaches are huge. The beer is cheep (by US and CDN standards). We tried a Hot Dog at Nathans, the originator of this sandwich. The taste is so so by my standards. We did not try any of the rides as they looked sadly run down.

We leave NYC on the dawn tide and go straight through to Chesapeake City. We had wind and current with us the whole way!!! We averaged over 7 knts.

August, 2009 BAY OF FUNDY, MAGNETIC HILL & PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

The Bay of Fundy has over 30 ft daily tides and over 40 ft spring tides. We arrived at low tide and enjoyed a long walk over the beach that would be under 30 feet of water in six hours.

The Magnetic Hill attraction may qualify as the fastest way to spend $5 in Canada. You get to drive "down" the hill and coast back "up". It takes all of one minute, if that.

It is free to get onto Prince Edward Island (PEI), but the toll to get off is over $40. We went over to drive a portion of the the scenic coast, make a short stop in Summerside and take in a lobster dinner. PEI was the only province I had not been in, so it was totally worth the toll. One more thing off the "bucket list".

August 2009, WORLDS LONGEST COVERED BRIDGE AND BIGGEST AXE

New Brunswick is the home of the worlds longest covered bridge. I thought they were covered to shed the snow. This may be one of the reasons, but it turns out the prime reason is to protect the structural wood beams from rotting.


Just up the road from the bridge is the Covered Bridge Potato Chip Company. New Brunswick is a major producer of potatoes and this company is a third generation operation producing chips using the old fashioned kettle method.


We could not pass up a photo op with the worlds largest axe. We are the ant sized creatures under the head.