Springing into Summer in Halifax

It’s been a while - too long - since we updated this blog. We have been adjusting to being in a different phase of life, at least for now. With the boat in need of a major refit, we have settled into living on land for a while. There is work to do so we can live comfortably, raise money for the refit and save for things we need now or will need in the future. Our plans and expectation are probably much more realistic now than they were when we first set out to cruise; but cruising is still our dream and our goal. Next year we plan to be back on the boat, and back on the water. In the meantime, we’ll keep sharing what we’re doing.

There’s a lot to catch up on, so here are some of the things we’ve been up to, in an easy-to-read format, starting with:

The Model Show at Shearwater Aviation Museum

Every April there is a model show at the Shearwater Aviation Museum, and proceeds from the show are used to support the museum. It’s a great show - tables and booths are arranged throughout the museum’s hangar space, and models share space with the aircraft and other exhibits normally on view there. The models are of all kinds of things, and there’s something to interest just about anyone. We looked at:
* model houses and stores, beautifully made and decorated;
* models trains, static (I loved the wooden ones best) and moving through a model town, past a model station;
* planes, static and radio-controlled, including radio-controlled models of sailboats and powerboats with electric and glo-plug engines, and helicopters;
* boats of all kinds, including the small scale, battling naval vessels made to battle by the men of the North Atlantic Battle Squadron.
* a home-built flying remote camera!

The train is passing through...

A very cool flying camera

The miniature saddlery!

Now that's a beautiful wooden train.

You can see the North Atlantic Battle Squadron’s pictures of the show by clicking here. They had a demonstration of the kind of firepower used on their ships (air fired pellets), and we saw video of their battles - and heard the sound of men being hit on the legs by the pellets when the battles came too close to them. They might complain, but they were too intent on the battle to move!


The Refurbished Dartmouth Harbour Walkway

With the return of warmer weather, we’ve spent time walking and biking along the walkway that runs from Alderney Landing along the Dartmouth waterfront. There are more signs of development there now than there were last time we passed by. The former Dartmouth Marine Slips are being cleaned up in preparation for being part of large a housing development, and visitors are discouraged from trespassing on the spit they are on by numerous signs - though we saw a rusty ship sitting at anchor there.

From the walkway you can look out across the harbour and see Georges Island. The small island, close to the harbour entrance, is being prepared for people to visit after years of being largely ignored. It played an integral role in the defence of the Harbour and was an important military site right up to World War II. Now the island and some of the fortifications on it are being made ready for visitors. There are rumours that once there was access to the island through hidden tunnels from Halifax. It could be really interesting to explore those!

The walkway itself has been improved. It has a nice new surface in some places and a good place to cross the train tracks that also run along the watefront. We lingered on the bridge over the Schubenacadie Canal, and stopped to look at the paintings on the walls of some of the neighboring buildings. We found more art to than we had seen when we visited last year, including an official graffiti wall. The official walkway peters out, at least for a while, close to the graffiti wall. I took a little bit of exploring to find the next part, and we haven’t walked or biked that far yet - maybe next time we will.

Georges Island, through the branches of a tree

The official graffiti wall

The bridge over the Shubenacadie Canal

Rusty ship off the former Dartmouth Marine Slips

Pow-wow on the Commons - Membertou 400

In June we went to a pow-wow on the Halifax Commons, held to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the baptism of Chief Membertou of the Mi’kmaq nation and 20 of his family into the Christian faith - they were among the first aboriginals to become Christians. It seems to have been a strategic move, the basis for an alliance between the French and the Mi’kmaq nation that lasted 150 years. The pow-wow was interesting - there was a Mi’kmaq Cultural Village, a marketplace and free samples of a variety of aboriginal foods.

We walked to the Commons over Citadel Hill (good exercise!), and were greeted by the sight of tipis, the sound of music, and the activity created by lots of people, including lots of children, walking around, looking and listening. We spent time watching the grand entry parade, with flags and beautifully dressed dancers and drumming. Then we turned to the stage to watch and listen to Buffy Sainte-Marie. She and the band she was working with played and sang old favorites, powerful anthems and songs from her new album, Running for the Drum. It was a great show, the band she was working with responsive and enthusiastic, and after an encore they all left the stage singing.

If you enjoy her work, here’s a taste...



Purcell’s Cove Marina

The marina is where you’ll find us now, most weekend days. It’s our new weekend haunt, where we spend time on the boat repairing and strengthening parts of the deck, fabricating (so far) a new anchor locker, sanding and re-sanding lots of stuff, and discussing and figuring out what works and what needs changing. We have a much better idea now of how to set things up to work well for us underway.

Whoever is working outside can - at least until we put up a cover - look out over the marina and across the harbour. There we can see other boats sailing, racers passing by or jostling for a start, and container ships and other vessels coming and going. We saw the start of the race to St. Pierre, a race which included Spirit of Canada - and, we later found out, a boat which carried a friend from Ontario as crew. The sun has been shining, and we both have farmer’s tans - brown about the arms and face, and winter white elsewhere.

Looking out across the harbour...

Looking toward the hill behind the marina...

Our Refit

The boat has now been emptied of most things that can be taken off. We have begun some repairs on the deck, strengthening where the anchor windlass was and will be again. We have, filled in the hole where our chimney once was, taken out and filled in where the pumpout fitting used to be (we don’t need it with a composting head - and it was leaking). Holes in the wooden bulkheads, acquired over years of putting up hooks and fittings, have been carefully filled in. The bow has been well cleaned inside and we are part way through making the new anchor chain locker, which will sit low down in the hull. Generally, we are trying to work our way back from bow to stern. We divide the work up so that one of us is usually outside when the other is working inside...

We are thinking about setting up a separate blog to track our refit - if you’re interested in following along in more detail (complete with pictures and how-we’re-doing-it) please leave a comment or e-mail, and let us know!