All About Earl

The tale continued from this morning: Saturday’s early news was true: during Friday night, hurricane Earl’s track shifted to target Nova Scotia’s south coast. It would be a lot closer to us, but the loaded apple trees in Annapolis Valley were spared. Our reaction was, Hurry it up!
But time passed slowly. I went outside and seemed to smell fish! Where’s the chowder? Could it be the sea air on the southerly breeze? We turned over picnic tables. Chuck moved the truck. We’re ready. Campground’s ready. Everything’s calm.








It began to rain lightly after 10:00 am, with the storm now targeting Lunenburg, winds at 100km, gusting higher. By 11:00 trees were waving, the trailer shakes some, our barometer reads 28.94. It was the first time we’d looked at it, so it meant nothing. At 12:15 little branches, leaves and twigs began hitting the trailer and cluttering the ground. We shake occasionally. This increases throughout the afternoon, getting stronger, rather big gusts going “Whap!” The barometer reads 28.67.
All day we listen to radio CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) weather and interviews with local folk calling in to tell how the storm is affecting them. We especially like the stories from along the coast: people having to be kept back from taking a dip in the heavy surf, someone managing to windsurf, ferry and bridge closures, sea wall collapse, reminiscing about old storms and generally whatever’s going on outside the window. Nova Scotians love to tell and hear personal tales, and some radio programs verge on gossip, so everyone’s encouraged to keep talking! To us ex-sailors, the best were stories of skippers riding out the storm aboard their boats, saving them through quick action when they would drag or come too close together, talking about their life, or reporting a small boat on the rocks. We heard from many people in seaside towns we’ll soon visit.
Power went off at 1:15. By 1:30 the storm eye has passed and Earl was on its way to Truro. At 2:30 the barometer is rising! 28.82! When the sun peeped out for a moment, we wondered if the last sea music event of the day would be held at a pub here in Dartmouth as scheduled – after all, the musicians were all in town, and who can keep a sailor from a pub? We were ready to get out there! I called several times, but sadly, no answer.

A lovely sunset. The wind kept gusting, but pretty much settled down after dark. Now, at 9 pm the barometer’s up to 29.47 and everything is silent outside. An end to our pretty ordinary hurricane day.
We’ll be up and off to the Sea Music Fest early.