Another lovely clear day. Our plan for the day was to leave Port Hawkesbury marina after a pleasant night and head southeast on the Canso Strait and then head due east through the Lennox Passage between Cape Breton Island and Ile Madame. We then headed NE and then north to the town of St. Peter’s and the St. Peter’s Canal with one lock that leads into the famous Bras d’Or Lake, an amazing boaters paradise.

Just past the power plant was a large area with many very large fuel storage tanks and a dock area for super fuel tankers. There were two tankers docked with one getting ready to leave.

Across the Canso Strait from the tankers about a mile or two was this lovely wooded hillside with what looked like a ski run.

About half way through the Lennex Passage is a bridge that connects Cape Breton Island to the smaller island of Ile Madame. The bridge raises up for boats higher than 20 feet. With our outriggers we are about 22 feet high. We called the bridge attendant on VHF channel 68 and asked him to lift the bridge. He did and we went through without a problem.

Secluded light house on Ile Madame warning of a shallow point of land that jets out into the Lennox Passage.

This is the road bridge at the north end of the St. Peter’s lock that opens onto the Bras d’Or Lake. We cleared it by about 6 inches. They can raise the bridge for taller vessels.
Now the bad news. As Cari was on the bow helping secure the boat in the St. Peter’s Lock she was also taking pictures of the lock with her cell phone camera. She went to put the phone down and it slipped out of her hand, bounced twice on the boat and then bounced right off the boat and into the 35 foot deep water in the lock. It sank like a rock! All her pictures and so much more was bone in an instant. She was just sick! We will have dear friends bring another phone to Cari but the damage was done.

The marina from up the hill as we walked to town. The area around the marina had very nice homes and lots of green woods and grassy hillsides.
that is so awsome a dream i have one day to just take a boat and go one day. have a wounderfull time and enjoy
Thank you Jack. It really has been a dream come true for us to be able to do this. Once we started it became clear that we needed to focus on one day at a time. It is happening, piece by piece. I guess that’s the way to do big things, one piece at a time. Hope you you can get that boat and follow that dream.
iboats.com Captain,
Bruno