Contributed by Mike and Barb Turney, SV Nelleke
 | One evening, several years ago, Barb and I were sitting in one of the many small restaurants that dot the landscape in Lunenburg county and were discussing the various places that the Army and Her Majesty had seen fit to send us, trying to decide our favorite spot. In the end there was no final decision but we did agree that the South Shore of Nova Scotia is a very special place. Stretching from Halifax County to Shelburne, this region runs a geological gamut from pre-Cambrian outcroppings scoured by the glacial icepacks to rich agricultural land nestled in sandstone compression folds. The coastline consists of a series of large harbours containing smaller bays and inlets fed by navigable rivers and guarded offshore by groups of smaller islands, some treed and some little more than grassy knolls. |
The area abounds in history with settlers from the United Kingdom as well as from several European countries including Germany and the Netherlands, settling the area to farm, fish and work in the forests. To this day fishing and forestry remain the prime focus of the economy with farming in some areas taking a close second place.
In recent years, tourism and retirement residents have become a bittersweet factor in the local economy. Visitors form Central Canada, the US and Europe come for vacations, fall in love with the place and decide to buy vacation property with an aim to retire in the area. This has driven the property values upwards which is great for those residents with tracts of land, particularly waterfront property, but terrible for young couples starting out who would like to buy or build a house and find that they can’t afford it. This is particularly galling when it turns out that their parents had just sold exactly the land they needed to that nice German couple from Hamburg. One of the idiosyncrasies of the Bluenoser is that many of them feel that they should be able to sell their land for the big price, but their neighbour shouldn’t. Otherwise, how will their children be able to live?
Regardless, the cruising visitor to this area will discover an area rich with natural beauty, abounding with idyllic coves and bays to anchor, towns and villages of all sizes steeped in maritime history who will welcome visitors and show them some good old down east hospitality.
Back to top
Shelburne
The port of Shelburne is a natural place to start, as this is most often the first port of call for American cruisers to clear customs and reprovision as required. Click on the website and it will give you the flavour of the town, its history and things to do.
This is a long deep harbour and it will take a sailboat the better part of 30 minutes to motor up to the head of the bay where the town is located, but it is well worth the trip. You will find pretty much everything that you might need within walking distance of the yacht club. In fact, there is a great fellow, Harry O’Connor, who will greet you at the dock, introduce himself and hand you his business card which identifies him as the unofficial town ambassador, and thereafter serve as a great source of information to answer any of your questions. First time that we visited, I happened to be looking for some ceramic insulators to hold my SSB antenna feed off from the stays. There were none anywhere in Halifax, but in Shelburne Harry found a retired electrician who had a box full of them that he was willing to sell to me.
Not only are there hardware and grocery stores as well as the obligatory liquor store, but also there are several fine restaurants and the yacht club is located in the heart of the historical reconstruction of the buildings of the downtown area. They filmed the movie “The Scarlet Letter” here so if you are a Demi Moore fan, you can tread in her footsteps. If you time it right, part of the yacht club consists of a live theatre, which is the venue for most of the touring acts that come to town.
One thing that it doesn’t talk about too much is the yacht club. This is an excellent club! Take a look at the marina fees, especially those of you from the US who are used to US prices to tie your boat up to a dock overnight and remember, these are in Canadian dollars! Although we are members at Armdale Yacht Club, we have joined as Outport Members here too. We decided that anything like this should be supported and it only cost us $60. We have been receiving e-mails on a weekly basis telling us what events are planned and encouraging us to visit.
Back to top
Lockport
We have never visited the town of Lockport, an oversight that we hope to rectify soon, but many of our friends have, and tell us of the comfortable harbour and ease of access to the town facilities. The only sidebar that I would add is that this is a very active fishing port and some of the deep-water trawlers from Clearwater Seafoods make this their homeport, so it might be busy during your visit.
On a side note, when I was in university I was a member of the university basketball team. I am 6’1” tall and about average for the team especially for someone who played guard. I went to watch two of the local high school teams, Liverpool and Lockport, play once while I was living in Port Mouton. I wouldn’t have made the first cut! The shortest kid on the floor was 6’3” and he looked small! And the plays! And ball handling skills!!! This was from two small town high schools – incredible! There must be something in the drinking water.
Back to top
Port Mouton
One time when I was posted to this part of the world, Barb and I lived here, so you’ll forgive a small bias.
The dock at Port Mouton is quite busy but just down the road is Central Port Mouton and Carter's Beach. Carter's Beach is made up of three half-moon shaped Caribbean style beaches with clear blue water and a view of the islands situated in the harbour. This is an incredible spot – dark softwood forests; rolling sand dunes; literally miles of unoccupied white sandy beaches; small fresh water streams burbling from the forests through the dunes to empty into the harbour; and best of all, the crystal clear water. Many consider it the best beach in Nova Scotia.
Port Mouton Island is the largest in the bay; followed by Spectacle Island which has a lighthouse built in 1873. Off the island, is the Spectacle Marine Provincial Underwater Dive Park where divers can explore shipwrecks that date back to 1782.
Recently a large ocean trawler, the Matthew Atlantic was scuttled on the site to create Nova Scotia's newest artificial reef dive site. A smaller island nearby is Massacre Island, named after a fierce battle took place there between the Mi'kmaq and French sailors. A fourth island is Jackie's Island, a nesting colony for gulls and cormorants, best viewed from an ocean kayak. North is Summerville Beach Provincial Park, a 1 km long white sand beach. Hunts Point Beach and White Point Beach are further along the shore, with White Point a famous destination for vacationers over many years.
Port Mouton Island sits in the mouth of the harbour, a large forested track of land. It was named in 1604 by French explorer, Samuel de Champlain on his first voyage to North America. History records that a sheep jumped ship (or fell overboard) and the word 'mouton' was given to the island and surrounding area.
Today Port Mouton Island (pronounced 'ma-tune' by local residents) is much the same as it was in 1604. This remote island is known for its protected white sand beaches, its early settlement by 'planters' from New England and its storm beaten outer coast. The water is usually cool, but a brisk swim in the salt water of the Atlantic is a pleasure.
When we lived here there was some question as to the effective ownership. It had recently been purchased by a German gentleman who made the mistake of telling the locals that he would prosecute any trespassers. This didn’t sit well as the local residents had traditionally put their cattle and sheep on the island to graze during the summer and then would go out there to harvest them in the fall, and now, here was this stranger telling them that they couldn’t do that any more! He compounded the situation by telling them that if they didn’t get the cattle off the island he would have them destroyed. He then made plans to build a vacation and retirement home on the island, but decided that local Canadian labourers and carpenters didn’t have the necessary skills, so he hired workers from Europe to do the work. Funny thing…. every time he tried to build his retirement home on the island something would happen to it. Strange how things like that happen.
Back to top
Liverpool
Liverpool is a wonderful community that has a lot more in common with the American cruising tourist than they might think. One of the early community leaders was an interesting chap by the name of Simeon Perkins who became quite a respected leader in the town and the province. Folks conveniently forgot that he made his initial fortune in the privateering trade. For those of you that don’t know, a privateer was essentially a legalized pirate. The only thing keeping him from the nearest gallows was a letter of marques granted by the reigning monarch that essentially licensed him to commit acts of piracy against the enemies of the king. This was great as long as the people that you were attacking did not capture you. Letters of Marques from King George didn’t hold a whole lot of clout with the new American Congress. In fairness, though, a few American Privateers raided the town of Liverpool too. In fact, the stories go that often the randy young fellows from Gloucester would raid Liverpool looking for wives and carry them off in the dark of night, kicking and screaming, but not too loudly.
The Brooklyn Marina is a place that you must visit. This place got started on a wish and a prayer and a small grant from the local paper mill. They run a sailing school; sunset cruises for locals and visitors and have an active social calendar. They have a clubhouse and showers as well as a small snack bar. They have several finger piers in plenty of water each with power and water out to them and are happy to welcome visitors on a space available basis. The most amazing part is that there is no charge for this! That’s right – no charge! They ask for a donation and when I visit, I make a practice of putting $20 for each days stay in their donation box. It’s still cheap and well worth it.
The only possibly negative thing that I could say about the marina is that it is about 2.5 miles from the center of town, just a little too far to walk on your sea legs. But even that isn’t a problem since there is always someone hanging around the club who would be too happy to drive a visitor into town.
Back to top
Port Medway
This village is another of those maritime hard luck stories. At one time this was a seriously bustling community supported by the fishing and forestry industry, but now it is only a shadow of its former glories. East Port Medway still boasts a small fish plant but I would advise the cruising tourist to stay away from that side of the harbour. The waters are very shallow and rocky and without detailed local knowledge you are sure to come to grief.
Port Medway, itself, is experiencing a bit of resurgence mostly from retirement settlers but also from tourism. Artisans have bought up a number of the old homes and are marketing their products from there. The fishing wharf has been refurbished but most of the space on the inside sheltered portion is taken up, quite rightly, by the fishing fleet. Visitor can tie up on the outside face of the pier, but exercise care as you are exposed to easterlies.
About 200 meters further into the harbour there is a small shallow bay that you can enter to anchor. The bottom is rocky and kelp covered to select you anchor accordingly.
Back to top
La Have/ Riverport
http://www.riverport.org/ ; http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/bwtourist/
This is not a place so much as an area. The La Have River flows through Lunenburg country, past the town of Bridgewater and empties into the Atlantic through the La Have Islands.
The La Have River is navigable all the way up to Bridgewater with mild currents, minimal tide and good water in the channel. In fact the Canadian Navy has put one of their decommissioned warships at the public dock in Bridgewater where it is supposed to become a museum or an office or something like that, but it will give you an idea of what the depths are like if a naval ship can be taken up there.
The river itself is very European in appearance with individual houses and villages scattered along the shore. It twists and winds its way inland with many great anchorage spots along the way. The waters are very calm and under the right circumstances can be persuaded to cough up a salmon or two.
At the mouth of the river are a series of islands, the La Have Islands. You could spend a couple of weeks poking around among them, exploring each new anchorage that you find, and going ashore on the next sandy beach. Depths can be tricky so make sure that you consult your chart and watch your depth sounder.
About half way along there is a very nice yacht club located on the west bank – the La Have River Yacht Club. This is a great little club, with some wonderful people who will welcome you and make you feel at home. It's a bit out of the way to Bridgewater but chances are you'll find someone willing to give you a drive into town or at least to La Have.
Back to top
Bridgewater
Bridgewater is the metropolis of the south shore, by far and away the largest population centre and only an hour and a bit away from Halifax, it is quite popular with the commuting crowd. Due to the larger population base the shopping is fairly expensive by comparison with smaller communities and you have the luxury of choice for various commodities.
Barb and I also used to live in the neighbourhood, so we can say lots of nice things about the town and its amenities, but we have never taken Nelleke up the La Have so we cannot speak from direct experience on that. We have spoken to several visiting yachtspersons about the trip and they have all, without exception, raved about the trip. After you get about 5 kilometers upstream the river narrows to the point that it is pointless to sail and you become a motorboat. It is accessible to all sailboats with the mast up, but because of the distance up the La Have River, very few make the trip. If you need a people fix though, in a place that isn’t too touristy, then this is one possibility.
Back to top
Lunenburg http://www.town.lunenburg.ns.ca/; http://www.kestan.com/travel/lunenburg/
The town of Lunenburg has been designated as a heritage municipality and once you have visited here you will understand why. The region was originally settled by people who have erroneously been called the Dutch (the real word was Deutsch or German) about 300 years ago the town reflects both maritime and European heritage
It is obvious, though, that fishing formed and forms the basis of the Lunenburg economy although tourism is starting to have a very positive impact. Several prominent fishing families have made their headquarters here - National Sea Products, now known as Highliner Seafoods, Scotia Trawlers, now known as Clearwater Seafoods, Nickerson's and Fisheries Products International have all fished out of this town and some still do. It's virtually impossible to find anyone who comes from Lunenburg who doesn't have at least family involved in the fishing industry.
The world famous fishing and racing schooner, the Bluenose, made this her homeport, as does her replica today. She is the floating ambassador of the province so it is not guaranteed that you'll find her here during your visit.
With the recent high levels of interest in the town as a tourist destination there have been several unique and innovative developments. One of the most interesting and must see sites is right on the waterfront - The Nova Scotia Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic.
This is an excellent spot to visit that you could easily spend days wandering through. It depicts the development of the fishing industry in Atlantic Canada in general and in the Lunenburg area in particular and includes an aquarium, static displays, models, a museum of old engines and old fishing boats, live displays of a variety of things ranging from ship launching to scallop shucking, from net mending to building lobster pots, and dory racing to ship's cooking. To top it all off there is a history of fishing boats floating in the harbour at dockside ranging from the Bluenose (when she is in port) to another salt bank schooner, an engine driven converted schooner hull, a side trawler and a modern stern trawler. You can go aboard to visit and see what life must have been like for the crews.
In addition there are lots of attractions within easy walking distance from the dock.
Visiting Lunenburg is easy. Scotia Trawler maintains a mooring field in the harbour specifically for visiting yachts. They are red in colour and when you bring the bridle up on deck you will find that there is a tag attached that will give you the details of cost and contact number. If you don't call, don't worry. There will be someone out in a dingy to collect the money although it is a nice gesture if you go in to shore to the Yacht Shop and save them the trouble.
Lunenburg has a very nice yacht club, too, but there is one drawback. It is located on the back harbour, too far to walk to town for the crew of a visiting yacht. As a result, the club does not get a lot of transient visitors, but it is a very nice place, friendly people and well worth a visit, especially if you are just passing through and don't want to head into the town.
Just a short ways towards Halifax in the community of Western Shore there is another spot that is fun to visit if only to say that you have been there. Oak Island is the spot where legend tells us that the infamous Captain Kidd buried his treasure. Millions have been spent trying to find it with no luck but there are always more tantalizing clues uncovered with each expedition. For boaters there is a very nice marina and inn to stay at if you want to wander over the island. Who knows, you might be the one that stumbles over a fortune in pieces of eight.
Back to top
Tanner’s Pass
As you leave Lunenburg Harbour most people head out for either Halifax or Chester Basin. There is one intriguing spot that most people bypass - Tanner's Pass. This is the sort of place that you need a guide for the first time that you visit. You can find the entrance to the pass easily enough - it's on the mainland peninsula just inside Cross Island. In this photo you are looking out from the first channel towards the Atlantic. That's Cross Island in the distance.
This photo is of the small fishing community called Tanners Pass. You will motor past them heading for the second channel
In this photo the 2nd channel is in the distance.
The difficulty is in getting through the initial channel into the pass leading to the Back Harbour, which is the objective. The channel at this point is wide enough for one boat and only if your beam is less than 16 feet. There is lots of depth, just no width. Once through the second channel the water broadens out and with care there is room for one boat to anchor. Anyone else will be rafting. Why would you go there? Because it is NEAT! Be careful where you anchor though. It is a shortcut to the back harbour and some of the local fellows come tearing through there on their way home after a trip to the pub.
Chester
And, of course, there is Chester. Chester is a small sleepy little town that at one time was a cottage community for the rich and well to do from Halifax. Anyone who was anyone had a summer place in Chester and many of them still do. The waterfront around the town is filled with large gracious homes that at one time were only occupied during the summer. Now many have been winterized and the community is active all year round, but there is no doubt that it is at its busiest in the summer, still.
The yacht club is a focus for the community with many of Nova Scotia's finest sailors getting their start here. Each year the Chester Race Week is a major racing and social event on the Nova Scotian yachting calendar with boats from all over the province congregating here for the competition and the camaraderie. The clubhouse doesn't have a dining room but it does have a bar and showers. If you want a more social drink Chester has several pubs nearby.
The club is located right down town so everything is well within easy walking distance. There are no docks but the club maintains several guest moorings and during the daylight hours has a tender service. But if you are planning to go ashore for the evening it would be best to take your dingy if you don't want to have to swim back to the boat.
Downtown Chester has an excellent live theatre, a French bakery, and several fine dining establishments. There are also several hotels or B&Bs if you feel the need to sleep ashore.
There is a ferry service that leaves the public dock and goes to the larger inhabited out islands in the Basin - Big and Little Tancook Islands. A trip out there makes a great day's outing for a hike and a picnic.
Back to top
Mahone Bay
Mahone Bay is another coastal community that is fighting back against the tide of urbanization and cultural oblivion through tourism and the arts community. The town is centred around a t-junction in the secondary highway and over time a series of restaurants, art galleries, boutiques, bakeries, farmers' markets and gift shops have opened to cater to the visitors that flock through the town, peaking in the summer but continuing, to some extent, all through the year.
One of the main annual attractions is the Mahone Bay Wooden Boat Festival. This week long festival celebrates Nova Scotia's history of boat building and encourages builders to display their products and to experiment with new techniques and to demonstrate traditional ones. There is also a gathering of wooden boats from all over Atlantic Canada.
If you are sailing a fiberglass or aluminum or steel boat, you are welcome too. There just won't be as much attention paid to your boat, as there will be to some of the beautiful old classics. Chances of you getting a mooring are slim but there is lots of room to anchor in the bay.
Outside of Mahone Bay there are several spots to anchor for a quiet night. Some of them are:
Roos Island
As you leave Mahone Bay and head for Chester, you have the choice of traveling out into the basin and then doubling back towards Chester or by the inside passage. In either case you will pass Roos Island. With two other islands it forms a sheltered ring that can serve as a great spot to drop the hook. The bottom is heavily weeded and is quite deep in the middle of the ring. You will need to anchor close to the edge and make sure that the hook is set. Regardless, I'd set the anchor alarm for sure.
Rafuse Island
Rafuse Island is another gem that is popular with Nova Scotian sailors. This spot is set more out into the middle of Chester Basin and on the chart looks like two islands. In fact at low tide it becomes one island or two small landmasses joined by a sand bar. At high tide it looks like you could sail between them. In a word - DON'T. You won't make it. An American buyer now owns the seaward island and values his privacy so I would advise the visitor to stay off that side. I believe that he also owns the other island but that he isn't quite to guarded about that one. Best advice that I can give it respect. I have often visited that spot and never gone ashore. It’s a great spot to just anchor.
Deep Cove
This spot is on the other side of Chester Basin, part of the Blandford Peninsula. The cruising guides that are sold in any of the yacht chandleries all have directions as to how to enter. It's a longish channel with plenty of water that passes some of the nicest private real estate in the province. At the end of the channel it widens into a small bay with a nice sot bottom for great anchoring. A secondary road comes close to the shore in one spot and that it the only concession to civilization. Otherwise, as this picture shows, you can look forward to a calm and serene anchorage.
