Alberg 30 refit: A Small Bit of Deck Progress and a Whole Lot of Nova Scotian Maritime Adventure

Hello everyone sorry for the delay in posts. October was a crazy but wonderful month. We didn't get much done on Sal at all. However, we did take a wonderful and relaxing vacation to Nova Scotia, Canada. More about that later down the page. 

On Halloween our schedules finally allowed for some boat work. We installed the new core into the lazarette area. Not much to see except some balsa core and thickened epoxy. 

The lazarette completely cored, there is still much work to do before new skin goes on.

The whitish stuff that outlines the balsa core is thickened epoxy. The reason for the large gaps is because in this area the lower skin transitions up. I should have cut the top layer out farther away from the deck's edge. 

More of the same on the port side

G10 place where chainplate and hinge fasteners will pass thru the deck....no more water leaking into the core.

I learned a lot during this process. First mate and I work together like a well-oiled machine. She mixed the epoxy and thickened it (just like mixing up a batter in the kitchen, according to her), while I spread it and filled the gaps. Together this little area took us about 2.5 hours.

There is still lots of work ahead but it feels nice to make some progress.

Now for the exciting stuff: a trip to Nova Scotia! We decided to take a break from our normal vacations to family this year and go somewhere different. Somewhere we could relax, enjoy the outdoors in a cool climate, and most importantly: somewhere with a strong maritime heritage! 

We started out in rural western Nova Scotia, exploring the area around Yarmouth.

 Waves crashing on the rocks at Cape Forchu

 Bates Motel (actually The Lakelawn Motel & B&B in Yarmouth, NS; we loved it!)

 Town of Lunenburg's Waterfront. 

The entire town is designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

 Crew of Picton Castle getting her ready for a voyage

This boat and name looked familiar to me but while looking at it I couldn't figure out why. A few days after returning I was paging through one of my sailing magazines and there she was. The Picton Castle is advertising their search for crew members for a major worldwide voyage.

 

Beautiful coastline along the northern shore of the peninsula, along the Bay of Fundy.

Monster 12-16 ft tides here in Digby, Nova Scotia.

 Eventually we made our way to Halifax where we spent several days. This photo is at the Halifax Public Gardens. 

Halifax Waterfront from from across the harbor in Dartmouth. 

First mate posing for a picture with town of Lunenburg in the background

Bluenose II in her home berth at the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic. This is a replica of the famous lightning fast schooner Bluenose. Unfortunately she was already closed up for the season when we were there.

October was a great month. First mate and I took an amazing journey to Nova Scotia to celebrate our 12th anniversary. It was a trip that I will not soon forget. Only a small amount of boat work got done, but that's okay because small progress is better than no progress.