12th and 13th October by Dario:
Wednesday morning we went to shore for a school presentation at the Academy of Baddeck. Because of the floods, the school district closed all schools in the area. That gave us more time to wave goodbye to Cornelia, who got a lift by Clarke to the next bus station.
We got the information that the Peter’s Canal at the South of Bras d’Or Lake is closed. We faced a long detour of more than 100 nautical miles. There is another storm predicted on Friday afternoon. That gave us a too short window to reach Halifax in time to get shelter, if we have to do the detour. With global warming storms became more violent ant frequent. What we faced the last days and in the near future is probably the remains of hurricane Matthew and Nicole combined with a cold frontal system? Because of no internet and proper weather charts, we can just guess.
Luckily we were able to contact the lock master who told us that they are able to operate the lock for us at 15 hours. We went on board and left immediately. We didn’t have time to say goodbye to all the wonderful people we met in Baddeck. Special thanks again to Lea&Jim, Barb&Clark, Andrew&Caroline as well as David and Sharon.
Crossing the lake of Bras d’Or was exciting. At one place they opened the highway and railway bridge for us (see picture). The lock of the Peter’s Canal uses vegetable oil for the hydraulic doors. Another good example how not to harm the environment. The kids were allowed to operate the lock (see picture).
There we said also goodbye to our 6 year old crew Amen who joined us from Baddeck to hear.
We continued through the night, sailing along the Nova Scotia coast with a lot of rocks and shoals, but good wind.
Thursday afternoon as we approached Halifax we got a call from dock master Wayne inviting us to dock at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron. Tomorrow we do a presentation at the Institut of Oceanography, University of Halifax.
Our cell phone works again: +1 415 516 36 79
Please note: Our gofoundme page is now working. Please check it out: https://www.gofundme.com/2gb7d6c
Donations: http://www.toptotop.org/bank.php
Voyage link:
https://share.delorme.com/ChristinaHartmann
Best high resolution pictures:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/s0aorug11707501/AAC394QkszKupn4syRj2EyMpa/best%20pics%20of%20TOPtoTOP/2016-annual-report?dl=0
