Brier Island, Nova Scotia Canada

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Brier Island NS

Setting sail from Yarmouth NS in beautiful sunny weather, our intention was to set sail to Grand Manan Island NB via the Brier Island pass. Not even an hour out of Yarmouth we sailed into very heavy fog, lasting the duration of our sail and making the approach to Brier Island a very challenging one. Not to forget that in the passage of Brier Island, when not in slack tide, there are currents between 7 & 9 knots. With radar on and keeping a close watch, we slowly entered the passage and made way for the Town port in order to take refuge until the heavy fog lifted, after which we would once again set sail to Grand Manan... Well as we always say.... Sailing plans are made in Jello... Saling are PLANS Always moving... We ended up having to stay in Brier for three and a half days.... after making a few attempts to depart in the fog and then in heavy seas.. In all three attempts we had to reset our coarse, always ending back in the same rafted spot...

On the positive side, we did get to experience 19 - 20 foot tides every +/- six hours.. That represents an ebb or flood tide of almost four feet every hour!! That’s nothing compared to the upper Bay of Fundy which has some 38 foot tides, but it is amazing to see how powerful the ocean tides can be.
We did made the long hike too Seal Cove to see the local Seals. They fish and feed during high tide and when low tide comes, they congregate on the appearing rock ledges. As you sit on the beach they pop out they heads and look back at you and bark.. I guess that’s why they are locally called Sea Dogs...

Cheers till next time...
Annie, Eric & Shellsea onboard s/v WeBeSailing
[e-mail]

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Photos

Brier Island NS
HIGH & LOW TIDE,,

Brier Island NS
s/v WeBeSailing docked or better said rafted too not one but three local fishing boats.

Brier Island Seals!
Take a closer look at the many seals in this photo,, they are really funny as they pop up their heads to take a look at you!! and they even bark!!! They are located in Seal Cove about a half hour walk from the town dock.

Comments

[Leslie]

Yeah!
Hey Annie ... glad to hear all is well and you are out on the water! Perfect timing as winter sets in ... well in Alberta anyways! Keep in touch. Leslie

[Terri]

Safe is good!
Hi Annie and Eric--Glad to hear you are safe and sound. Fog would have been most unsettling I think. Great to hear of your travels. Be well.

[Charles & Lucille]

Bon vent!
Hi Annie and Eric, glad to see you're still on the move. Solved those generator problems? Will be tracking your progress. Take care and good luck.

[Jon Rowe]

Where in Canada are you from
Hi there, just reading this post about Brier Island, and it got me wondering where in Canada are you from? Im from just up the Bay of Fundy abit in the Annapolis Valley. You guys seriously live the dream life. Have tried to talk my wife into something such as this before, but now with 2 little kids, it could be postponed for a while.. You guys ever run across families with children who do what you do?

[WeBeSailing]

Sailing with kids
Good morning Jon, Absolutely... We run accross many families with children from toddler age right up through their teens. All schooled onboard and I must say that the kids really benefit from it from a learning aspect, up until their teen years, where the social aspect needs to kick in... Don't let your dream slip away man... It's all doable if you're up to it... The hardest part is taking the decision to do it and to set a date..ready or not...you need to respect the date or you'll just keep pushing it out until it's too late. Look into it guys... There are many families like yourselves out there. We are from Montreal by the way. We sailed down from Cape Breton Nova Scotia, where we refitted our boat. Thanks for writing to us.. : )