Halifax to Lunenberg: Sailing Nova Scotia’s South Shore
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Last Updated on May 14, 2021 by Amy
Our six weeks of cruising in Nova Scotia was winding down, but we had one last sailing adventure: four days sailing from Halifax to Lunenburg with our friend Sarah along Nova Scotia’s South Shore.
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Back in Halifax
When we first came to Nova Scotia, we cleared into the country at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron and spent 5 days in Halifax. This time, we arrived in Halifax on August 27th, and after a few quick errands we were cleaned up and ready for our first guests!
Pete and Debbie, the owners of Maple Cookie, have been in touch with us for a while now, and we were so glad to finally get to meet them in person. We docked at Bishop’s Landing again, and the clouds parted, the sun came out and the air warmed up! We got to grill and enjoy good company chatting about Helias! Pete and Debbie were wonderful company, and so very hospitable to us – they lent us a car! We were also very excited to learn they’d brought their drone with them, so they filmed us at the dock.
As we were eating, another catamaran pulled into Bishop’s Landing – Music, a Catana 47′. We had seen Music from a distance at the RNSYS, and we hollered over to say hello and introduce ourselves to Greg. We offered to raft up, and they accepted, tying up to Starry Horizons while the gentlemen relaxed on their boat. After Pete and Debbie left, we met several of the guys and gave some tours of our boat to those interested, plus Greg reciprocated with a tour of Music.
While cleaning up, I met our neighbors down the dock – Brent, on his powerboat, with friends aboard – most of whom I did not get to meet. However, I did get to meet Andy, who is an American from Minnesota, living in Halifax above the restaurant next door. Brent and Andy both came by for a tour and we chatted about life on board.
Picking Up Sara
The next day we got uber-productive and ran errands, including picking up Sara from the airport and paying $8CAD (!!!) to fill up our propane tank. Sara is a college friend of mine and was a bridesmaid at our wedding. She came to spend five nights with us for some light Nova Scotia cruising. We went out in Halifax, taking her to have some local brews, poutine, and beavertails. We spent the rest of the evening sitting on Starry Horizons’ lounge deck, watching the activity of a Friday night in Halifax.
Saturday morning we finished up errands and gave the car back to Pete and Debbie. They brought their drone again, and after we left the dock and raised our sails, Pete filmed us sailing off. We are so thrilled with the video!
Cub Basin
The first stop we were aiming for was Rogue’s Roost, with a back up of Prospect. I emailed our friend Jessica on Rogue, who we met last time we were in Halifax and who lives in Prospect. Turns out, they were headed that way too! We anchored in Cub Basin instead of trying to make the very narrow passage into Rogue’s Roost, and Rogue joined us for the evening. Rogue’s crew consists of Jessica, her husband Craig, and their 4-month-old lab mix puppy Miller. We took our dinghy over and offered to give Miller a ride to shore for his potty break. In exchange, we got playtime in Rogue’s cockpit with Miller while chatting with Jessica and Craig.
The next morning Sara and I kayaked around our lovely anchorage, finding blueberries and a fisher!
We had Craig and Jessica over for lunch, and then we went our separate ways.
Northwest Cove
Unfortunately, we passed by Peggy’s Cove, which would have been a fun stop, but it doesn’t have a good anchorage.
We headed west, with the destination of Indian Harbor in mind, but when we got there we decided it was too small for us. Instead, we crossed the mouth of St Margaret’s Bay and settled into Northwest Cove. That evening after dinner, we took an evening “sip-n-stroll” in Little Dipper, touring Southwest and Northwest Bay. The bays are lined with houses, and most of them have adorable little fishing cabins on their waterfront. There is also a mini castle!
Chester
Monday, August 31st, we left for Chester. Most of Chester’s proper anchorage areas are full of moorings. We found space to anchor in the Back Bay, but the mud was very soft, so we could not get our anchor to properly hold under force. It held just fine for us to have lunch and then Sara and I headed out in Little Dipper to scope out the town. We tied up at the Chester Yacht Club and walked around, checking out the shops and cafes. Chester is very small. We decided we had seen enough of it for now and would try to find a better place to anchor.
Oak Island
After looking around a bit, we turned and sailed west to anchor just north of Oak Island (with exciting history!). We ended up being perfectly sheltered, almost all to ourselves, with free wifi thanks to the nearby resort! You really can’t ask for much else.
Onward to Lunenburg
The next morning we up anchored and headed to Lunenburg. We had a lovely sail and spent some time wing on wing. Harbor porpoises (very tiny cute little things!) and seals were spotted, and as we were approaching Lunenburg we passed Bluenose II going the opposite direction with sails out, although she was reefed and only doing 3 knots! We anchored just east of all the moorings, with easy access to the Zwicker & Co dinghy dock for our last stop with Sara – and in all of Nova Scotia, it turns out – in the cute seaside coastal town of Lunenburg.
Watch the Video: 6 Weeks Cruising Nova Scotia
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Amy and Dave,
I found myself thinking about you two and how fun it was to meet both of you!
I love your blog and of course reading about your adventures and how you have gotten since we connected!
Looking at the picture of our adorable 4 month old puppy makes me see how fast time has gone! We now have a 4 month old baby boy Owen! Big adventure for us too. I was able to sail aboard rogue even 9 months pregnant (sailed until my due date) our little guys first sail was at 5 weeks!
Hope you both are well. Miller says hi!
Jess (Rogue)
Aww!! Hi Jess, it’s so great to hear from you! Congrats on the baby. I’m sure though Miller is grown he’s still stinking adorable! Thanks for reaching out, I’m so glad to catch up with you!
Great recap. I love the pic of Sara imitating a lobster. She WOULD be a great guest and is welcome here any time.
Amy, I enjoyed reading about the places I know so well! Tomorrow David and I leave Grand Lake to go down the Saint John River then across the Bay of Fundy/ Gulf of Maine and back to Chester. So our paths will likely go past each other over the weekend!
Well definitely say hello on VHF if you see us! I’m glad you have been enjoying our posts.