We are now in the beautiful Bras d'or Lakes. We left Summerside and had a good crossing to Nova Scotia and we anchored behind Caribou Island. It was a long day but we set the anchor about 7 p.m. and had a very peaceful night and a gorgeous sunset. The next day we left early to go to Ballantynes Cove as we couldn't make it all the way to Port Hawkesbury as St. Georges Bay was too rough. We had 20 knot winds all the way but they were offshore so even though they were strong with gusts sometimes to 25 knots they were no waves so we had a great sail with a reef in the main and headsail. This was the first day that we were able to sail the whole way! We arrived at Port Hawkesbury and had to pay $18.00 for a dock for the night. What a steal, however we did not have power or water. Bruce's sister and her husband met us here and brought us some groceries etc. It really is great having a chase car with us! We left Ballantynes Cove with plans to meet up with Bruce's sister and her husband again in a Port Hawkesbury. When we arrived in Port Hawkesbury we decided to anchor as we would only be staying one night and then heading out again. We had the dinghy engine on the bow of the boat and when we dropped the dinghy and put the engine on, the engine would not start! We were in a bit of a pickle as we needed a dinghy to pick up Bettyann and Ray so we had to make arrangements with another boat that we travelled over with to pick them up. This is also where our generator started giving us problems as it died and we could not re-start it. We were not having a good day and neither did Bettyann and Ray as the golf course that they chose was horrible and they got lost getting back to the boat. None of us were in a very good mood by the time the sunset that night.

The next day we decided to continue on for 2 more days to Baddeck where we could get a mechanic to look at the generator but first had to go to St. Peter's. Before we had even arrived here Bettyann and Rae had secured a slip at the marina and even found a mechanic that could look at the engine here. We were by this time in a lot better mood. The mechanic who was 71 years young stopped by but had to go to the dentist and said he would be back later in the afternoon. When he returned, he was not on the boat 5 minutes when he had located and fixed the problem. He charges us $50.00 and now we were in a really good mood and decided we should all go out to dinner.

Tomorrow we will sail to Baddeck and our chase car will follow us there. We will decide tomorrow after checking the weather if we will sail for a few days or take the car around the Cabot Trail and then sail for a few days when we get back. Bettyann and Rae do not have to leave until next Monday or Tuesday so we can enjoy having a car and a boat for a while longer.

The weather has finally started getting warmer so this a good thing. We are really surprised by the lack of other boats travelling in this area. Bruce is having trouble meeting his quota of 10 new friends every day but I'm sure as we get further into the lakes, he will meet some. Talk to you soon!