The Round Up

We finished the Great Circle and are back in Rockport.

Bye-bye, Nova Scotia

We drove Blueberry 4,141 miles, towing Boma for 2,197 of that. We also drove the Tesla loaner about 400 miles. All together, we consumed about 2 MWh of electricity in 40 days. Not a fair comparison, but the wholesale cost of energy in New England was $32.59 /MWh, so about $65 for the voyage.

We made six car ferry crossings. The shortest crossing, at Little Narrows on the Bras d'Or Lakes, was only about 100 yards. The longest was 47 miles from Digby to St. John.  The 400-foot long Digby ferry is about the same length as Little Narrows crossing.  Before this trip I think I've only driven on three ferries in the last 20 years. 

The Little Narrows ferry

The short ferries on Cape Breton are cable ferries: they are attached to an underwater cable and pull themselves across the crossing. The captain only needs to have the skills of an old fashioned elevator operator. These ferries are free and have no schedule or reservations, basically like an elevator.

My biggest surprise was how warm the weather was. We brought heavy winter coats and gloves, which never came out  of their bags. We had rain, but it was mostly at night and didn't impact us. On our last night in Nova Scotia we had our only morning with frost, but it warmed up to tee shirt weather fairly quickly.

Pemba is seven and a half, and we bought our first poop bags ever. In Rhode Island our plastic shopping bags were repurposed, no need to buy anything. On Criehaven she runs free. Maine has banned plastic bags, and the supermarkets may only sell paper bags, which are not particularly useful for poop. The parks in Rockport all have poop bags available. 

But not in the Maritimes! No plastic bags in the supermarkets, and no poop bags in the parks. Quite a shock to have to buy plastic for immediate disposal. We now have a lifetime (Pemba's) supply.

I support getting rid of plastic bags. It may be part of the reason why all the shoreline in the Maritimes are so pristine without plastic trash. 

 

Signing Off until the next voyage,

Krem and Barbara

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