On to Cape Breton, Alexander Graham Bell and More

Approaching one of the 1,500 ft cliffs on Cape Breton.

Weather kept Salty Paws in Charlottetown, PEI, an extra two days, and Dick and I finally departed before dawn on Friday, August 11th.  Visibility was limited due to fog and darkness, but the lighted red and green channel markers were close enough together to guide us out of the harbor.  The fog then lifted some as the dawn broke.  Our course was plotted for the 117 miles to take us to a sheltered anchorage 25 miles west of the entrance to Bras d’Or Lake.  

The yacht Exhale, about twice the size of Salty Paws.

Earlier in both Tadousac and Charlottetown we had connected with Rick on his 50-foot motor vessel, Exhale.  He and his wife are cruising back to Florida with an even larger buddy boat, Tonto’s Reward.  At Rick’s nice suggestion, we agreed to check in with them every hour on our VHF radio.  This would give them an update on conditions as they would be an hour or so behind us on much the same route.  I think that Rick was really taking a paternal caring to us on our little Rosborough boat and likely wondering to himself “should they really be out here?”  In every conversation he was kind enough to limit his concern to the words “be safe,” and there is no argument there!

The first 30 miles of our course was along the southern coast of Prince Edward Island, and we connected twice by radio, updating Rick on conditions.  Then as we reached the 42-mile open water crossing of Northumberland Strait, I realized that our faster speed would soon put us out of radio range.  On my third transmission I wished Exhale and Tonto’s Reward well and the hope that we would meet again (which we actually did three days later in Baddeck!).

From Wikipedia.com

We zoomed across the Strait at 17 mph because the weather allowed it and it would help shorten our long day on the water a bit.  At this speed, however, our fuel consumption on our heavily laden boat is only 1.5 mpg.  We easily double that doing our more typical 8-9 mph, which we slowed down to once across as sea conditions worsened and it began to rain.  At the 100-mile mark Salty Paws finally reached the Canso Canal that provides safe passage from Northumberland Strait to the Atlantic Ocean south of Nova Scotia.  Before it’s completion in 1955, boats could still travel between the Nova Scotia mainland and Cape Breton, but conditions could be treacherous because of the strong tidal currents.  

 Finally, we arrived at our peaceful anchorage and enjoyed our nightly cocktail, Scotch for Dick and an Old Fashioned for me.  We hit the sack shortly after dinner.  The next day was beautiful and began with a nice breakfast omelet made by Dick.  

Salty Paws in the St. Peter’s Lock.

Melissa and Mike Read, our
Welcoming committee at the
St. Peter’s Lock.
Melissa took all the pictures
with the bold outline.

 Our leisurely morning cruise finally brought us to the St. Peter’s Lock, the southern entrance to Cape Breton’s beautiful Bras d’Or Lake.  We had quite a welcoming committee as fellow Rosborough owner’s Mike and Melissa Read greeted us and took pictures as we locked through.  Then we were met by our cruising buddies for the next couple of weeks, Otto Cuyler on Vega, a Rosborough 22, and Rob Russell on Seahag, a similar version of our Rosborough. 

Salty Paws now out of the St. Peter’s Lock.

Dick went in as well, but someone had
to take this picture first!

Yours truly, Rob, Dick and Otto.

 The three boats proceeded another 25 miles over some rough water in the main lake to a highly rated anchorage in the shadow of Marble Mountain.  It was beautiful, but more populated than I expected.   Soon a local boat came out to greet us, and we were invited to a bonfire party that would have “girls and maybe even some psychedelic mushrooms.”  Given the age difference between the hosts and us I suspect that the invitation was only extended so we wouldn’t complain about any of the loud music to come.  We politely declined and, yes, there was music later but fortunately the playlist was acceptable. 

Looking from the boat to Marble Mountain on the start of a beautiful day.

Seahag

Vega

The next day was, perhaps, the nicest one of the whole summer with blue sky, calm waters and temperatures in the high 70s.  Our three boats together slowly cruised the 28 miles to Baddeck, a very cute harbor town and the only marina that can perform the needed 100-hour service on my new outboard motors.

This is a screenshot of the webcam feed of the Highland VillagevMuseum looking out on the Iona Channel.  The three
Rosborough boats are the three little dots in the lower right!

Otto, Dick and Rob with boats Vega, Seahag and Salty Paws
at the Baddeck Marina.

Baddeck was the long-time summer home of Alexander Graham Bell.  The consummate inventor was born in Scotland,  became a US citizen, but the favorite location for Bell and his wife, Mabel, was Baddeck.  After winning France’s Volta Prize for his invention of the telephone, they purchased a large tract of land in Baddeck and built an estate called Beinn Bhreah. The estate included a mansion, laboratories and other facilities for his various experiments.

Visiting the museum 

Dick and I visited the Bell Museum run by Parks Canada.  It is hard to contemplate his breadth of experimentation and discovery.   Interestingly, even though he didn’t lack for finances, he was considered an amateur inventor, unlike Thomas Edison, who was a “professional inventor.”  Bell did what interested him and often didn’t pursue commercial applications after his curiosity was satisfied.  He invented the photophone in 1880, a precursor to fiber-optic communication.  He developed a metal detector in an effort to help doctors find the bullet lodged in President Garfield.  Unfortunately, the metal box springs of the bed impeded with this.  He improved on Thomas Edison’s phonograph and created the audiometer to measure hearing loss.  He developed hydrofoils for boats, and his designs held the world speed records for a time.  He led a team that built Canada’s first successful airplane.  Bell built on work done of his father invented the invisible speech system, and Helen Keller attributed much of her success to his tutoring.

What looks like an airplane is an exact
replicate of Bell’s hydrofoil boat that
set the world speed record in 1919.

Bell’s first love was working with the deaf and the hearing impaired.  One of his deaf pupils was Mabel, the daughter of one his financial backers.  In time their relationship became romantic and they had a strong marriage and partnership for over 45 years.  Their romance and everything I saw and read about Bell was idyllic, but we know that most people have a dark side of some sort.  So, I asked ChatGBT and learned that he was a proponent of eugenics and also a strong advocate that the deaf are best integrated in society through learning to talk and lip read.  This is now strongly opposed by many, particularly in the deaf community.

Salty Paws getting engines serviced.

We departed Baddeck midday on Monday, August 14th, upon completion of the engine servicing.  The three boats motored northeast and ultimately exited the Bras d’Or Lake and turned to port to go to Ingonish, our planned launch point to cruise the 100 miles to Newfoundland.  Dick and I were unprepared for the beauty here on the northeast coast of Cape Breton as shown in the pictures below.

The boats entered the well-protected harbor at supper time, anchored separately and agreed to touch base at 7:45 pm on VHF radio channel 71 to review the just updated weather forecasts.  Unfortunately, our two major sources were in conflict, one showing an acceptably early morning departure for Newfoundland and the other not. We agreed to talk at 5 am the next day.  I awoke at 4:15 am and studied the latest weather updates.  They now came to the same conclusion.  Tuesday, August 15th would not be the day as winds would exceed 15 knots and waves would be 3 or 4 feet every 5 seconds.   We stayed in Ingonish.  Wednesday, August 16th, would not be the day either as the weather was similar.  There are far worse places to await a weather window!

Gypsum rock appears out of nowhere along the shore.  There are gypsum mines in Cape Breton.

The cliffs on the Bird Islands are nesting spots for various birds including
the Atlantic puffin.  Alas, we went by long after breeding season, and the
only living things we saw were seals at the base of the cliffs.

It was an overcast day but the beauty of this cliffs had us in awe.  At the top left you can see the
Cabot Trail road.

Here we are getting close to rounding Cape Smoky and enter Ingonish Habor.

The approach to Ingonish Harbor.

Otto on Vega took this picture of Salty Paws followed by Seahag entering the Harbor.

Our three Rosboroughs anchored in Ingonish Harbor.

View over the rock dune to Keltic Lodge.  The dune reminded me of the outer beach on Little Cranberry Island in Maine.

Getting ready to walk to the Keltic Lodge.

We walk 6 miles to Keltic Lodge and back.  American industrialist Henry Clay Corson was introduced to Cape Breton by Alexander Graham Bell, and he built Keltic Lodge in 1904 as a summer home in hopes of improving his wife’s health. I guess it worked as she outlived him and ultimately sold the lodge to The Nova Scotia Government.  The original structure was torn down and replaced to attract tourist driving the Cabot Trail.  It is now run by Parks Canada.

View from Keltic Lodge.

Golf course at Keltic Lodge.