Newfoundland to Nova Scotia passage

               Head lands at Ingonish 

Left at 3:00 pm and made a qiuick stop to fortify our cod supply but no luck. We saw many large Dolphins and one jumped straight up and clear on the water by five feet, quite a site.

For dinner we baked up a lasagna underway.

Sailed through the night on four hour shifts with a two hour break, so we had two crew on all the time. The winds were 8-16 on the nose again but due to the distance we motor sailed. The water warmed up somewhat after we crossed the Laurentian Channel (trench) and nobody was cold which was good. As we approached the entrance to the harbour the Katabatic winds increased to 23 knots coming off the mountains. 

We landed at South Ingonish Harbour about 7:30 and had a swim, beer, breakfast and a map, I think that is enough for a country song even without a truck. We cooked up a cod fish dinner and retired early.

There is a beutiful beach and world class golf coarse here. It is also home to the Cape Breton Highlands National Park.

                  New docks

              Stud Puffins on the loose

Aug 2, Cod Country

                       Before

Today on route back to Port Aux Basques the winds light and with only one Mackeral on ice, we stopped to catch a couple more. But guess what, the cod were junping into our boat. We got in about noon and had time to reprovisioning before Keith arrived that evening. 

                         After

          Quiet P A B evening.

Aug 01 Rose Blanche to Burnt Islands

 

Darrell and I sailed with wind on the nose, full beat, 21 miles to go 10.  Burnt Islands have a well used set of floating docks for recreational boaters. Well protected harbour. Very picturess with many sunkers at the harbour entrance.

July 31. La Poile to Rose Blanch

We move the Summer wine up the La Poile fiord and anchored for a breakfast of cod and eggs. Then caught a Mackeral and had a quick dip, very refreshing in the ice cold bay and then sailed out to meet 20 knots on the nose. We arrived at Rose Blanche at 7 pm after  sailing 31 miles for a 14 mile leg. 

Jully30 Le Poile

                  La Poile

We checked out the light house and fishing museum then sailed from Rose Banche to Le Poile. 

Caught another cod on the way with one try of the jig.  Dead down wind 7 kts. 

Small outport no roads, the family sedan was a quad with a trailer. Lots of the cloth lines were sporting salted cod out to dry. The pretty little town with ferry acess only has a school with grades 1 -9 but only four children. 

            Rose Blanche

       Rose Blanche light house

Crew change

               Mo and Darrell

We left St. John's and drove back across the province to Port Aux Basques with a brief stop at Terra Nova National Park. Our first day back was filled with boat chores and reprovisioning. The next morning was rainy so we lazed around to noon before driving to Rose Blanche to see the rebuilt light house and the smaller harbours along the way. 

That evening we were invited for diner at Keith Allen and Grace Savouy house. We had meet Keith on the wharf, he works out of Winnipeg and resides there in the winter months, other example of just how nice the people are in Newfoundland.

Thursday we turn in the rental car after we had racked up 3000 k at Deer Lake Airport, Joann departs and

Darrell arrives for the next leg of our adventure and he and I take the cab back down to Port Aux Basques.

Alabama's Morreen O'Sulavan introduced herself to Darrell and I the minute we got back to Port Aux Basques. Mo as she calls herself had lived on a sailboat for 40 years until it got ruined in a hurricane in 2005. She is up here in Newfoundland with her dog "Honey" traveling around by van. We cooked up a pot of muscles and shares supper with her enjoying her stories and the carry on the dock. By the way she is 82 years old, and her eyes still shine like diamonds quite a women. 

The Astrolabe Dance at the arena that night had 3 bands of which we heard two was poorly attended by the locals. The dance is part of a annual fundraising weekend to support the museum, hopefully the rest of the festivities are better attended. 

Friday morning brought fog and rain, so we waited until 2 pm to leave for Rose Blanche along the way we stopped to catch a cod fish for dinner.

                 Keith and Grace

St. John's, NFL

 

                       St John's

Quidi Vidi Village, an historical fishing village now home to craft/artist studios,  was our first stop. We had the opportunity to see the artists at work and discuss the intricacies of their craft. We purchased a wood plate ink print depicting the notable capelin. There is a craft brewery here as well, Quidi Vidi Brewery, of which we can recommend their "1892" brew. While in the village, we  happened upon the "Mallard Cottage" for lunch.  Built mostly from ship lumber and decking, with the walls caulked with oakem, it dates back to 1725 and has been designated a world heritage site. The cottage is now a restaurant serving upscale traditonal food with all ingredients locally sourced.  Apparently we lucked out as it is usually fully reserved!

Next stop was Signal Hill, originally known as the Lookout. All though the winds on the ocean were only 10 knots the wind on top of Signal Hill were enough to blow you right off your feet. The view was good and the history displays tell of the significant contribution made in defence, observation and signalling from the early 1700's to WW II. This site was also the reception point of the first wireless signal by Marconi in 1901. 

There were row upon row of the colourful salt box houses dating  from the 1800's. I would think most would have had suites in them, now who knows. If we were there longer it would be interesting to find out about the average condition and usage, and if there is an historical commitee which dictates how they can be restored etc.  First impression is wow look at these places, 2nd impression is they are kind of rundown.

George Street is the bar scene, closed off  to vehicles and about 2 short blocks. Probably wild on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday but Sunday afternoon not stellar. We were hit up four times for loose change and watched the drug trade at work. We also managed a parking ticket - oh well.... The weather was nice, sunny and hot. We drove back to Port Aux Basques (11 hours) on Monday, 28 C and sunny in the interior. Foggy and 18 C on the coast.

                     Quidi Vidi

            The Mallard Cottage

Interior of the Mallard Cottage 

St John's harbour from on top of Signal Hill.

     Windblown atop of Signal Hill