L-R standing - Vince, Susan, Iain, Don, Garry; seated - me and Sheryl.
Shortly after we dropped the hook in Baddeck, Iain and Susan dropped by in their dinghy with another dinghy, 'hovering' nearby. That turned out to contain their friends Don and Sheryl also from Toronto and from the same yacht club. A couple of hours after that we were all at the Bras D'or Yacht Club enjoying a beer or three on the Veranda.
Like all Canadians we had met so far, Don and Sheryl were super friendly. Don was and is one of those larger than life personalities. A retired Cop he had a bottomless reptortoir of jokes and stories of his time in the force. A collector of idiosyncratic phrases he asked us "Whatayatt" - the traditional Nuffie (Newfoundland) greeting. Needless to say, as a natural raconteur he kept us entertained all evening with his near stream of consciousness delivery.
The following morning after yet another late leisurely breakfast Gary and Vince went ashore to visit the Alexander Bell museum and to shop for provisions. They were just as impressed with the museum as I was.
That evening we met up with the Canadians again and went for a Pizza at the appropriately named, 'Tom's Pizza' joint. Then it was back to 'Huntress' for yet another round of Canadian hospitality, booze and humour. The English contingent eventually departed around 2 a.m..
On Wednesday, nursing slightly sore heads, Huntress and a few hours later, Symphony, weighed their anchors, said goodbye to Chelsea and headed back south down the lake. Symphony arrived in Johnstown Harbour around 1700 to find Huntress already in residence. Symphony anchored a little more than a respectable distance from her. Shortly afterwards the phone rang - it was Don - "Whatayatt, Sheryl wants to know what did we say?" After much hilarity, international relations were restored by Gary inviting Don and Sheryl over for drinks. Of course another hilarious night followed!
On Thursday we waved goodbye to Huntress and headed for St Peter's just a few hours away. By the time we had fuelled up Symphony and moored her up to a buoy Huntress arrived and shortly afterwards Tonks too (whom we had last seen in Spanish Ship Harbour a week or so ago). That afternoon Symphony's cockpit was crowded with all three crews for lunch and beers until it was time for Vince, Gary and me to go ashore to meet up with Charles and Co for our ride up to Judique to link up with the rest of the family. Gary was going to stay with us for a few days.
No comments:
Post a Comment