La Scie (LA-ssie)
Fleur de Lys to La Scie is only 21nm or 39 kilometres but we decide we would like to visit Harbour Round making today’s journey only 19 nautical miles.
We leave at 9:30 under a sun and cloud mix, wind expected to be 10 to 15 knots and possibly favourable for a nice sail. By 9:45 we are under full sail without the rattle of the engine. This is going to be a great day.
The ice berg in Coachman’s Cove is visible as we cross Baie Verte. Perhaps this will be our last.
As we round Cape St. Martin, everything changes. The wind is now 20 to 25 knots with swells twice what we had started out in. Heeling to 30 degrees is unsettling. Things are flying around the cabin, including the pans we store in the oven. A wayward winch handle drops from the companionway cabin top, hitting the bottom step on its way down. (Small repair needed.)
Perhaps we should stop in Pacquet - we have never been there. Instead, Harald goes forward and reefs the main and I steer off the wind. The ride is slightly more comfortable and we continue to Harbour Round, in Confusion Bay.
This harbour is not to be confused with the Round Harbour on the east side of the Baie Verte Peninsula. We had a very uncomfortable night there last year when the wind turned to the east, slamming us against the wharf all night.
Harbour Round is described as a “landlocked anchorage with excellent holding” but there is also a wharf we are welcome to tie to if there is room. This is a fishing harbour so we do not know what to expect until we are actually in the basin.
The entry is narrow, opening to Penguin Island on port side and a marked shoal to starboard. The wharf face is empty so we head to there, even though this wharf does not appear where it should be on the chart.
Nobody approaches us, but two fishermen head out in their boat rigged with squid-jigging equipment. We have not seen this until now and are intrigued by the apparatus used to catch the squid. Soon there are three similar boats in the harbour.
After a short walk along the wharf we realize this is not where we want to spend the night. We have a cold drink and a snack and head back out. We visited Harbour Round.
The short seven miles to La Scie is a comfortable ride, with the wind and seas following us after we round the northern cape and turn east to our destination.
Coming into the La Scie channel feels like coming home. This will be our third stay in this busy, but friendly harbour. We are looking forward to visiting with Clyde and Marilyn, the harbour masters, taking in some hikes and of course, laundry, getting groceries and maybe there are blueberries to be picked.
Arriving at the floating docks at 4:15 there is a little confusion with grabbing lines, wind and centre of lateral resistance. Two fisherman have just arrived at the dock and are happy to assist with our lines as I dock the boat, solo.
What’s wrong with this picture?
We are happy to be on the inside of the first slip, away from the wind but the wake of the passing small vessels still sends us rocking. The floating dock is a welcome change from the many wharfs we have tied to: easy transit on and off the boat and no tide or docking line changes to consider. (One less thing to think about)
Tuesday is bright and sunny - a perfect day for hauling the four garbage bags of laundry to the harbour master’s office, where I can also sit and run computer and phone back-ups and blog updates. We are first, however, visited by Clyde. We tell him we’ll be up shortly and look forward to catching up with him and his wife.
By 10:30 I have settled in downstairs in the office, running back and forth to the laundry, while Harald works on other chores at the boat.
We have a lovely chat with Clyde and Marilyn, not only about our fun in the last month, but we also hear of Clyde’s moment of fame, eighteen years ago, when the town was gifted a dead minke whale, which was caught in a net further north. This subject is raised after we ask about the photos in the gallery downstairs. There are several from the day they cleaned the whale, at the local dump, leaving the bones in a crate for six months, in seawater at the head of the bay. The sea lice and other sea creatures cleaned the bones to pristine condition.
There is a local project in six communities, looking to preserve whale bones, rebuilding the skeletons and putting them on display for locals and tourists to visit. We have seen one of these displays at the humpback museum in King’s Point. La Scie is now awaiting funding to continue with the project, looking for the experts to assemble the bones, currently stored in a container across the bay, so they too can be on display.
Clyde was mayor at the time and featured in an episode of “Land and Sea”. You can find this, and more detail, on YouTube at “Whales Tales and Trails”. (Season 20 Episode 25) I know he would like to see the project completed after nearly two decades.
We ask about the catching of squid and Clyde tells us two years ago there was 1 million pounds of squid offloaded in this harbour. They are smaller this year and not as many. He has already caught, skinned and frozen his winter supply. I ask him for a photo - he obliges along with sending me one of his capelin drying earlier this summer.
Some fishermen we chatted with at the dock allow me to take photos of their squid jigging gear. This relatively small operation is efficient, yet expensive. The gear (see photo) can cost $25,000 but can catch several hundred pounds per haul, several times per day.
I share this with you, hoping you find it as interesting as we do!
With some laundry still drying on the lifelines, we spend Wednesday hiking and buying groceries. Marilyn suggests the hike to the small lookout on the southeast side of the town. We walk about a kilometre and a half to get to the start of the trail just behind the United Church but find another trailhead through the woods, heading north.
We venture along the boardwalks, crossing a stream and eventually end up at the lookout on the north shore, after another 1.7km. But there are Blueberries!
Some self control is needed. We stop when our containers are almost full and make the walk back down the hill, through the campground and on to the grocery store. $99 fills the bags we can carry. No meat. We are grateful for the offer of a ride just before we climb the last hill toward the floating docks.
The sky turns heavy as Harald prepares to barbecue our marinated mackerel. A short, but heavy rain shower treats us to a lovely rainbow.
Our dinner is very late but we invite our surprise visitor to join us in the cockpit.
Harald doesn’t recognize him but I hear his voice from the galley and think it’s Keith. He is carrying his book, “Diary of a Fishing Master”, and realizes he knows us once he gets close to the boat. We had such a great conversation with him last year, we do not want to miss the opportunity for another.
He has already had his supper of cod tongues, but tells us to go ahead. He is happy to visit anyway. We met Keith Bath last year, in La Scie, just moments before we were readying to leave the the dock. The seventy-seven year old fisherman has not slowed down. His was the only boat from La Scie that fished the Grand Banks this year, catching pollock.
Keith is a well-respected, successful fisherman, known through all the communities we visited this summer. His humble nature, pleasant smile and hearty laugh makes listening to his stories all the more enjoyable. His two hour visit is too short. “Next time you’re here, you’ll come to the house and my wife will cook dinner.” We don’t know if there will be a next time so we want to keep this evening close in our thoughts. Keith promises to return before we leave in the morning, with a few meals of frozen cod.
