Day 9: Strait of Canso
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A full day at sea as we sail from
Summerside to Halifax
including a transit of the Canso Canal.
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Wednesday 9th October 2024
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After leaving Summerside,
Prince Edward Island last night, we were not due to reach
our next port of call, Halifax, Nova Scotia until tomorrow
morning, a total distance of around 120 nautical miles.
The highlight of our "sea day" today would be
sailing through the narrow Strait of Canso and in particular,
sailing through the sea lock in the Canso Canal. |
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After a leisurely breakfast
we approached the Strait of Canso mid-morning. |
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A pilot boat approached,
bringing with it the pilot to guide the ship through the
canal. |
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We were aiming for the
Canso
Canal at the left-hand side of the causeway, located
at Port Hastings. |
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More details about the Canso
Causeway can be found by following the link, as well
as in the "Programme for Today" at the top of
this page.
The canal itself is 24 metres wide and
570 metres long, with a minimum depth of 9.8 meters. We
were curious about why there was a need for a lock in
the canal, given that we are at sea level, so we asked
and were told that it is to account for tidal differences.
Having been through many locks during our travels over
many years, it would be fair to say that we couldn't actually
discern whether we had risen or fallen during this lock
transit. If we did, it was a very slight change of level.
It's still a bit of a mystery, but we are quite happy
to accept the explanation given to us.
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The traffic on the road
across the causeway was backed up as far as the eye could
see, awaiting our transit. |
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At the front of the
queue of vehicles on the Port Hastings side was an ambulance
with its lights flashing. In total, the traffic was stopped
for just over half an hour and we all hoped that the delay
didn't result in a bad outcome for the patient on board. |
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It seemed to take a
long time after we had completed our transit and the causeway
bridge had swung back across the canal, that traffic began
to flow across the bridge once again. As soon as the flow
resumed, we heard the ambulance siren as it sped across. |
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We had all got quite
cold standing out on deck for over an hour. To warm us up,
the kitchen area on the back deck was opened for a special
serving of hot chocolate with "Coureur des Bois",
a maple and blueberry cream liqueur. It warmed us up quickly! |
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The hightlight of the
special afternoon tea was pancakes with "high-quality"
maple syrup. |
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As afternoon turned into
evening, we were treated to this gorgeous sunset. |
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After our interesting
day at sea, we were looking forward to going ashore in Halifax
tomorrow. |
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