Halifax, Nova Scotia: Prepare Yourself!

Thursday July 16th,

I got to sleep through anchor watch since I had taken watch the night before. I woke up very refreshed and found us under way heading into Halifax Harbor. We got ready to dock, had a wonderful docking, and found our slip near the center of the festival. We spent the rest of the work day painting and getting the boat ready for tours (ie putting up signs, locking doors, and idiot proofing the boat).

After work we all got cleaned up and went to a crew party put on by the festival. On the way there we hit the Garrison Brewery, which I heartily recommend; especially the Irish Red and IPA . The festival hall was crowded and I found my way to the food. Rows of silver catering platters lined long tables and my pace quickened. I grabbed my plate and when I got to the first dish I found that our dinner consisted of hamburgers and hotdogs, with condiment packages. Disappointment.

We got a couple free beers and few more using less reputable means. Several interesting bands were lined up to play while I hung out with shipmates and mingled with other sailors. The desserts, despite the other fares, were fantastic. I had the most decadent ice cream sandwich of my life.

When we tired of the crew party we wandered back to the boat and met former Bounty Sailor and current Spirit of Bermuda mate Maisie who invited us to a bar called the Seahorse where some bands were playing and her shipmates were meeting. We got there and the bouncer informed us they had just begun charging a 7$ cover charge. Now to us that is nearly a days wages and we were all planning on buying drinks. So, 10 minutes of arguing and haggling later we got in charge free.

We all drank and a rumored to be great local band began to play. I confirm that rumor, but have no idea what they were called. We hung out and had a great time until we all tired enough in body and wallet to head back to the ship.

Friday July 17th

Today was an all hands day and I helped put up the signal flags that get arranged in a neutral way and flown above the ship to make it look pretty. I fastened it to the very tip of the jibboom and the very tip of the spanker boom.

In the middle of this process we found out that our planned tours at 1:00pm were in fact printed in the fliers as 10:00am. So we had to cut things short and hurry up the flags, but at 10:30 we opened up for tours. We had several thousand people pass through and many of them knew more than “oh, a pirate ship”, which made the day nicer.

After work Adam, Maisie, and I went to a military surplus store where we stocked up on warm clothes for the crossing to Ireland. I bought some wool clothes and a big great coat for 3$. We hiked back to the ship and hung out with the crew for the evening.

Saturday July 18th,

Change of watches, I am now on Port watch and today is Port watch’s day to work. Tours from 10am to 5:00pm and we put several thousand more people through the ship. There were less people than expected, mostly due to the cold and pouring rain. I felt great standing there on deck in my overkill foul weather jacket, water streaming off the tip of hood, while tourists came by in plastic rain slickers with Canadian flags on them.

Today we had a descendent of Fletcher Christian and one of Peter Heywood (a midshipman who was convicted and sentenced to death in the mutiny, pardoned, and later became an Admiral). I thought it was really neat to meet them and I swear the descendent of Heywood bore similarities to paintings of the man.

That night I went out with people and we could hear the Kiss concert going on the other side of the hill. I was amused. There is not much to describe of the night, but suffice it to say I had a blast.

Sunday July 19th,

I slept in, oh so late. I had lunch, and then I took a nap. I spent my afternoon wandering downtown Halifax and doing some grocery shopping to stock up on snacks for the crossing. The roving bands of sailors doing the same thing as myself was great, they stuck out like sore thumbs. Halifax is a beautiful city, and today we had wonderful shorts and a tee-shirt weather. I went back to the ship and gave an after hours tour to a few folks who said they came to see us from Ontario, but had car troubles and missed the tour hours. They were very thankful and even tipped me.

After dinner on the ship Adam and I went back to the Garrison Brewery to get rid of our Canadian money. We had a few beers and the bartender gave us a couple free ones when we told her these were our last beers until we got to Ireland. We bought a couple for the road and headed over to Spirit of Bermuda.

There we found Maisie and a bunch of the Bounty crew hanging out. We chatted and enjoyed a nice seat for the grand finale fireworks display. I sat on the floating barge after the fireworks ended, swaying, the evening beginning to cool down, a lovely paper bagged beer next to me and I felt damn good, ready for 26 days at sea.

I went back to the boat and went to bed early as I knew tomorrow would be a very long day.

Monday July 20th,

Woke up at 7:00am and got some breakfast. We got the ship stowed for sea and singled down to our 4 docklines. Amber and I went aloft and unfurled all the sail on the foremast. Starting at the North end of town with Bluenose ships began peeling off the docks and lining up for a parade of sail. We got in line and headed out of the harbor with fore and aft sails alone (Staysail, jib, spanker).

The wind was gusty and patchy thanks to the buildings and hills, but once we got to the mouth of the harbor and turned around we were able to set our squares on a sharp Port Tack (wind on our port side ). I was called to the helm with Cassie and excluding a short lunch break was on the helm for 3 hours, the entire parade. The ship was steering wildly thanks to the shifting, patchy, gusty breeze. By the end of it my arms ached fiercely.

We sailed back into the harbor and tacked around St. George’s Island in the center. Then we sailed past a very crowded downtown Halifax and fired our cannons to salute to the reviewing stand. We wobbled our way out of the harbor again, luffing a lot, catching huge puffs that blew our head down and lulls or shifts that headed us up.

Finally we made it far enough out in the channel. I turned the helm East, our sails filled, the boat heeled over, and we began sailing for Ireland!