The Novi

A Cape Islander style "Novi" entering the harbor in Alma, NB, Canada

If you read this blog regularly, you know that I'm pretty partial to lobster boats. Over the last few years I've started seeing and admiring a kind of lobster boat referred to as a "Novi", so called because they come from Nova Scotia. Last week, I visited Nova Scotia for the first time and was totally wowed. The Bay of Fundy is an amazing place! The extreme tides are most noticeable in a harbor where you can see the boats sitting on their keels with the pier walls towering over them.

Boats at low tide in Advocate Harbour, Nova Scotia. Note how they are tied to the pier to keep them upright when there's no water.

At the head of the bay the sand/mud/gravel is reddish giving the water a distinctive pink color. It's like no place I've ever been.

But back to the boats. There are apparently two types of lobster boats in Nova Scotia, developed over time to deal with the differing ocean conditions in the Bay of Fundy versus the Northumberland Straits (between northern Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island). The later are smaller and shaped more like the lobster boats we know in Maine though the fore and aft lines are straight and the bow is flare.

Northumberland Straits Lobster Boats by David MacDonald Boats, Doctor's Brook, NS

 "Martha Gayle" water color by Bobbi Heath - a typical Maine lobster boat

 "Diligence" oil by Bobbi Heath - another traditional Maine lobster boat - Freeport, Maine

"Sleeping In" oil by Bobbi Heath - Maine lobster boats in Cozy Harbor

The other type of Nova Scotia lobster boat is the Cape Islander style, aka the Novi. They often paint them bright beautiful colors. What a marine painter's dream.

Novi off Point Prim in Digby Nova Scotia.

We've got a small Novi in Yarmouth Harbor here in Maine, which I've painted several times. I have to confess that the bright blue color is a big attraction. Now that I know more about this style of boat, I'll pay close attention to the distinctive characteristics such as the vertical bow, and the notch on the gunwale amidships.

"Blue Boat" oil by Bobbi Heath - Yarmouth, Maine's own Novi

To read more about the evolution of Nova Scotia Lobster Boats look here.