Tours
Check the Festival Schedule for details about tour dates and times.
Our tours take you off the Festival grounds and into historic buildings to experience the heritage of wooden boatbuilding firsthand.Shipyard Boat Tours, Harbour Boat Tours, and Mahone Bay Island Boat Tours leave from the Mahone Bay Town Wharf. Space is limited for these fascinating tours! Tickets will be available at the Information Booth on the Festival Wharf beginning at 1:00 p.m. Thursday. First come, first served. No refunds. Limited availability.
Lunenburg Foundry and The Dory Shop are in Lunenburg and are easily accessible by car. No charge, just stop by. Don't miss this special opportunity!
Mahone Bay Harbour Tour and Mahone Bay Island Tour
Harbour Tour:
Meet at the Mahone Bay Town Wharf for a 40-minute up-close guided tour of the visitng boats moored in beautiful Mahone Bay Harbour. Risky Business, skippered by Chris Banfield of South Shore Boat Tours, will again be providing the transportation and your guide will be Suzanne Miller. First come, first served. No refunds. Limited availability. Tickets will be available at the Information Booth.
Cost: $10pp
Island Tour:
This tour around some of the beautiful Mahone Bay Islands is approximately 1.5 hours. You may spot porpoise, seals, osprey, bald eagles, loons, deer and other wildlife, while learning about local folklore as we sail past operating wooden boat building shops and the pictureque fishing community of Indian Point. Tickets will be available at the Information Booth.
Cost $25.
Shipyard Boat Tour: Heisler/Lutwick
Join us for a 2-1/2 hour fun and educational experience aboard "Risky Business" a genuine Norththumberland Straight style boat, skippered by Chris Banfield of South Shore Boat Tours.
First Stop: Clarence R. Heisler & Son. Located on Gifford Island in the waters of Mahone Bay, this boatyard has been building and repairing wooden boats for over 80 years. Meet Cecil Heisler, the third generation Heisler in the business and walk through the buildings so rich in history that you can feel it. See wooden boatbuilding at its finest.
Second Stop: Bill Lutwick's Boatbuilding & Repair. Representing the future of wooden boatbuilding, Bill Lutwick uses methods both old and new in the construction and repair of wooden boats. While Bill has been running the shop for "only" twenty+ years, he is simply the latest caretaker of the historic boatshop. He builds sail and power boats to forty-five feet and has experience with both yacht and commercial designs. Come and see Bill's latest projects and learn about traditional boatbuilding.
Third: Enjoy the sights and sounds of what the local shore line and waters have to offer as you steam around the islands of Mahone Bay, to enhance a great day while visiting the Mahone Bay Classic Boat Festival.
Dates & Times:
Friday August 3rd, 11:00 am and 2:00 pm and Saturday, August 4th at 10:00 am
Risky Business will be leaving the Mahone Bay Town Wharf at the above times. Tickets may be obtained at the festival information booth beginning at 1:00 pm Thursday, August 3rd.
Cost: $25pp
Walking Tour of Mahone Bay’s famous shipyards
Bob Sayer and the Mahone Bay Settlers Museum. This welcoming talk will help you travel back in time to Mahone Bay’s active shipbuilding age using photographs, slide shows, and models. The group will travel from site to site along Mahone Bay to receive an entertaining education on the who, what and where of the Mahone Bay shipping industry, and those others who depended so much on its success. Immerse yourself in days gone by. Come and see Mahone Bay as it was meant to be: a bustling hub of the Atlantic with its sails raised to the wind. Meet at the Entertainment Tent.
Barque Picton Castle Tour
For 10 years, the Barque Picton Castle has sailed the world's oceans introducing 100s of men and women to the life changing experience of crewing a square-rigged ship. Based at Lunenburg, where the highly-skilled marine trades community helped convert her from a rusting fish trawler and former mine sweeper to a Class A tall ship in the mid-1990s, the Picton Castle is best known for her voyages around the world. She has made four such circumnavigations, in addition to voyages to the Caribbean, the Great Lakes and along the East Coast of the United States and Canada. She currently appears in Survivor creator Mark Burnett's latest series, Pirate Master. In 2008, the ship will set out on her next epic adventure, circling the Atlantic Ocean. Come let our world-voyaging sailors take you on a deck tour. For more information, visit www.picton-castle.com
Lunenburg Foundry Tour
From "one-lunger" make and break engines, to propellers, stoves and fittings, the Lunenburg Foundry's craftsmen have been producing quality projects for the marine industry since 1891. Visit the historic buildings, watch as castings are made and see foundry patterns for many common fittings and many that you won't recognize. No charge, just stop by.
Date and Time: Friday, August 3rd, 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Location - 53 Falkland Street, Lunenburg
Web site: www.lunenburgfoundry.com
The Dory Shop Tour, Lunenburg
Since 1917, The Dory Shop has been building these classic, sturdy workboats from its location on the Lunenburg waterfront. And with the exception of a few power tools, not a lot has changed in that time. White pine, red pine, red oak, spruce roots and hot dipped galvanized nails come together as they have for decades. Finished off with dory buff paint and ship's green trim, it would be hard to tell the difference between a dory made today and oen made eighty years ago. Come and see how dories are made, or discuss your other small boat needs. No charge, just stop by.
Time: Friday, August 3rd, 1:00 - 2:00 p.m.
Location: 175 Bluenose Drive, Lunenburg
Web site: www.doryshop.com
Check the Festival Schedule for dates and times of all tours.