We made a passage to Nova Scotia from Nantucket as the final leg of early New England sailing 1999. We had nice weather for all but, of course, the entrance to Shelburne Harbor in Nova Scotia. In the last few hours of morning darkness, squalls came up, fog rolled in, and we were forced to navigate the 4 knot currents of Cape Sable under radar and GPS. We had no trouble, although our compass course was 30 to 40 degrees off of our desired course over ground to compensate for the current. The entrance to Shelburne is large and easy to see on radar. After we made it to the inner harbor, the fog lifted to reveal a pine tree lined rocky shore and many fishing boats. I think we will love cruising in Nova Scotia.

Shortly after we landed at the town dock, we had a steady stream of very friendly town visitors. Harry O'Connor, ambassador, came down to see us. He drove us to his wife's restaurant and helped us with rental cars. Others invited Michael to race in the Shelburne Dory race. He later participated, and I am told he did well. Everyone had advice and plenty of stories about sailing and fishing in the area. These are some of the friendliest people anywhere. Hopefully we will find the entire coastline to be inhabited with people like those we met in Shelburne.

We took the Great Round Channel exit to the east from Nantucket. This part of the trip was a classic exercise in visual navigation techniques. We sighted buoys, Great Point, Sankaty Head Lighthouse, and Great Round Shoal on our way out.

Fishing boats were occasionally dodged as we made our way toward the Georges Banks.

The passage was marked by a whale sighting. He came within about fifteen feet of the boat. We also had two schools of dolphin follow us for miles. More than twenty dolphin were swimming alongside at times. The largest seemed to be about twelve feet long and the smallest were probably only four or five feet long.