Battle Harbour, Day Two
Our Battle Harbour breakfast is smoked salmon biscuits with poached eggs and Hollandaise Sauce, fruit salad and more delightful conversation with the other guests. (We consider ourselves guests even though we are only tied up to the wharf, paying far less than the others who enjoy the comforts of nicely appointed rooms and private bathrooms.)
We are staying another day and night but the others are leaving on the 9:00 shuttle back to Mary’s Harbour. We say our goodbyes and settle in for a bun-making lesson. The recipe is provided, along with Battle Harbour aprons but unfortunately, due to Covid restrictions, we can only observe and not get our hands in the dough. (We’ll bring the rolls to the next gathering!)
The group of seniors coming for the day will not be making the trip due to strong northerly winds, so we are offered 1/2 dozen of the fresh rolls, not needed for lunch. We are also given a large bag of “brewis” and some scruncheons, which was also prepared for the cancelled visitors, along with the instructions on how to cook Fish and Brewis for our dinner on the boat.
The brewis (pronounced brews) is hard tack soaked over night and the scruncheons are bits of pork rind fried until crispy. We don’t have salt cod but still a large piece in the freezer of the fish we were gifted in Red Bay.
But before we prepare our dinner, we finish our laundry with the brand new machine that arrived on this morning’s ferry and we spend some time wandering through some of the buildings around the bay, filled with story boards and artifacts.
It is in one of these buildings that I find a photo that was also seen in the Whitely Museum in St. Paul’s River last summer: the photo of the fishermen at Bonne Esperance, Labrador in 1884. (St. Paul’s River area was not part of Quebec at that time.). I mention to Nelson that my great grandfather is in the photo and that I can provide the names of the others once I’m back home. He is keenly interested and provides me with the address to send the names to. (I did not bring any family information with me on this trip, not expecting to need it!)
A couple arrive on the boat Santana which we spotted on the AIS a few days ago while in Petty Harbour. They are coming in from a night in Mary’s Harbour after an 8 day crossing from Greenland. No novices these two! We are amazed by their story of being in 80 knot winds, breaking their mast and hand steering 3-hour shifts through days of fog and grey water. They are both very experienced: he is a naval architect and she pilots boats through ice in northern Canada and runs expeditions in the waters near Antarctica.
We are visited by a curious arctic fox which I have spotted a few times on my trips to the laundry room. The ladies in the kitchen tell me there is a family, including a few young pups. The parents often visit the kitchen’s back door, looking for scraps. They are quite scrawny in their summer coats, but are clearly well fed!
Nelson arranges for us to use the Flour Shed to dry our torn foresail before we stow it away under our bed. He helps us spread it out and comes by later to help us fold it. Perhaps there will be a sailmaker at the end of this summer’s journey, otherwise, we will take it home for repair. (Perhaps a Sailrite machine should be considered if these journeys are going to continue. )
After our delicious traditional dinner, we wander up to The Loft where we share stories with the couple off Santana who will be heading to Chateau Bay in the morning, as are we - our last stop on our Labrador tour. I indulge in a cloudberry martini made with crushed iceberg ice. If we could just stay one more week, we could probably fill our freezer with cloudberry treasures.
We are again treated to an exceptional sunset.
