We got the anchor up around midday on Monday 7th July and headed out of Shelter Cove about an hour behind our new friends Sam and Kelder on board their 37 foot steel Cutter, 'Tonks'. We headed up the coast for Spanish Bay, Liscomb about 40 miles away to rendezvous with Tonks once again. The light-moderate breeze was on the starboard quarter and for the first 6 hours or so we enjoyed pleasant sailing in warm sunshine. Then the fog rolled in and visibility fell to perhaps 200 metres. We had had an AIS contact overhauling us at about 10 knots from astern for a couple of hours at that point. To our concern it showed no sign of altering course when a mile off (which one would expect any reasonable to do - the international collision regulations clearly state that the vessel being overtaken is the stand-on vessel). There was still no change to her course at half mile, nor even at a quarter of a mile. At that stage Gary started the engine should we need to take evasive action. The issue in such circumstances is which way to alter course. There's the very real possibility that whichever way one chooses the overtaking boat may when it at last realises you're there, alters course in the same direction. Gary's AIS wasn't showing a vessel name, just it's MMSI number, which meant hailing them on the VHF a less reliable course of action than it would otherwise be. The watch keeper was clearly not on the ball and so the odd's of them recognising the vessel's MMSI number were not great. Finally at around 200 metres she hove into view through the fog and turned sharply to port. At least someone was looking out of the window! As she passed us it was clear that she was a modern expedition type motor vessel of about 60 feet. Later Gary managed to identify her through her MMSI; she was and perhaps still is MV Love Machine 7. Here's a photo of her...
As you can see she bristled with Radar and other antenna, so unless she inexplicably had all her instruments turned off (perhaps due to technical difficulties) she really had no excuse for nearly running us down. Our collective nerves on board Symphony gradually subsided but shame on that skipper. Somehow the fact that she flew the red ensign made the incident even more outrageous!!
After another couple of hours the wind died and we motored the last few miles to our anchorage in Spanish Bay.
Being of no help at all on deck, I hopped into the Galley and prepared dinner so that we could eat shortly after arrival. A chilli-concarni!
After the wildness of Shelter Cove we were slightly disturbed to find the shore line around the Bay dotted with quite a few (large to very large) properties.
The chilli was well received by the rest of the ship's company.
After a rather late breakfast the following morning we took the dinghy initially over to Tonks where we received an invite to return later for beer and then on to explore the bay. We couldn't find anywhere obvious to land. There were a number of landing stages but they all appeared to be private. The one next to what we thought might be public slipway had a barrier across it and a plastic skeleton hanging on a gibbet. All our contact with Canadian's had hitherto been very friendly, but it seemed to us just possible that these might not be and so in the absence of any friendly waving arms, we eventually decided not to risk a landing and headed back to Symphony where Gary prepared a dish of home made humus to take over to Tonks. Inexplicably, the Purser had neglected his duties and as a consequence we only had one can of beer left on board! Gary's humus was therefore in lieu of beer. After much debate we decided to take our last can of beer, but our last bottle of red wine just refused to budge!
We spent a very enjoyable afternoon on board Tonks. Sam (a shipwright/welder) and Kelda had bought her as a shell in a Cornish field in 2021 and fitted her out themselves. Tonks is a most impressive craft - extremely well thought out with some really nice touches like her twin running poles that are attached to the mast at their base on swivels and via a haliyard through the pole to a block half way up the mast with the fore and aft guys permanently attached and with the headsail sheets running through deadeyes that can be pulled out to the pole ends or left loose inboard for when sailing 'normally'. This all means the poles can be deployed easily within minutes rather than the hour plus it takes me to rig Bonny's twin poles.
Sam and Kelda then left Falmouth in 2023 around about the same time that Mick and I left in Bonny. After Biscay they sailed down the Spanish coast and then like Bonny and Symphony, crossed the Atlantic via the Canaries and Cape Verde, but landed in Tobago rather then Barbados (Bonny) or, Caricau (Symphony). Tonks visited many of places that Bonny did but were always a week or so ahead of her. Both Sam and Kelda are very hands on and practical and can undertake most boat jobs. Sam's welding skills are of course especially valuable. They both found work in Antiqua and other places during their travels. It turned out that they know many of the same boating personalities that Gary does. Their slightly different take on some of them was a source of great amusement to all of us! They spent last winter in Maine and then headed up here. Gary, noticed Tonks in Halifax before we left.
On Wednesday, 9th July Tonks and Symphony motored round the corner to the mouth of the Liscomb river where the two crew minus yours truly went ashore for a walk. I spent the day on board lazing around as only a one legged sailor is entitled to do and wrote most of this post. The lack of an internet connection here means that it probably wont be published until we get to St Peters's canal. That where we head for tomorrow - Thursday, 10th July. It's almost 80 miles and so even with an early start - which will be something of a novelty for us - we won't arrive until the evening. The winds are forecast to be very light and so we'll probably be motoring all the way!