After a big night at the Shelburne yacht Club,where we were made very welcome, we set off for Lunenberg about 65 miles further up the coast. It was a perfectly beautiful crisp morning as we were escorted clear of the port by a Canadian Coast Guard cutter. As soon as we cleared the no wash zone the cutter opened her throttles and surged ahead soon to be a dot on our horizon. A little while later we made a left hand turn up the coast, the sea breeze started to fill in and we hoisted the main and rolled out the Genoa.
We followed the very pretty coastline for the rest of the day, sometimes escorted by small dolphins and wheeling gulls.
12 hours of very relaxing sailing later we dropped anchor in Lunenburg Harbour. One of then prettiest little harbours I have ever seen. Even Michael, who has been here twice before was speechless as we sat at anchor looking up towards the town with its pastel coloured timber houses dotted up the hill dominated at the summit by the church spire. We quickly hoisted out the dinghy and took off to explore.
Up close the buildings were even more impressive. We walked to the end of the harbour to explore the local graveyard and inspect the headstones.
Originally settled by French settlers know as Arcadians after the discovery of the port by the French explorer De Razilly in1603. He built a fort at the nearby LaHave as the capital of New France. Sadly tension between the early settlers and the British Crown forced many of the Arcadians to move further north to distance themselves from the Protestant settlers that King George II had transplanted from his principality of Lunenburg in Germany. By 1750 when Lunenburg was named a town only one of the original French families remained. The street plan laid out back then remains almost unchanged today and many of the buildings date from the that time.
At sunset we headed back to Drina and dinner aboard. Being Sunday all the shore options were closed to us, however we promised ourselves another visit in the morning, when we were assured the town would be "Open for business".
Drina at anchor, Lunenburg Habour Sunday June 22 2014.
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