Icy Water, Warm Hospitality
Leaving Fleur de Lys we drive south through the Baie Verte Peninsula, passing the ugly piles of waste from the asbestos mine abandoned 30 years ago - once a sign of the area’s booming times, now a symbol of suffering and death.
VOCM radio keeps us entertained as we travel through the fog along the narrow 2-lane highway. (We are reminded of Mark Critch and his dad who was an announcer at the station!). A moose is spotted grazing beside the road, well camouflaged amongst the scrubby growth.
It is raining when we arrive in Lewisporte at 4:30. (Hope you are recognizing a theme in the weather.) We find Seabiscuit but don’t linger except for a short stop at Paul’s Convenience Store for bread, milk and lovely romaine lettuce - 2 for $5!
Our final destination
After the short drive to our rented cottage at Embree, we unload the car’s contents. We will stay here a week, travelling back and forth, daily, to work on the boat. The cottage is as we remember, spacious and comfortable.
Supper is the lobster from Shediac, along with Alfredo pasta and tossed salad.
It is good to be here, despite the weather. We travelled almost 4,000 kilometres, with some side trips we are glad we did not miss. Safe and sound, we are prepared to begin the necessary cleaning, provisioning, mechanical work and any other jobs that crop up.
Mike and Anne on Pachina Mia are still living on the hard, under their winter cover. It is good to see them and to hear about their winter, house-sitting across Canada, and what their plans are for the summer. They won’t travel as far as us but first must deal with a problem with water coming out of their keel.
We meet Kashmir’s crew, Michael, from PEI. He and Mark seem compatible and fortunately for Mark, Michael is a good cook! Kashmir is in the water but Mark is still tackling a long list of chores before they can depart for Labrador, including installing lithium batteries.
It is nice to see the marina staff again, too. Sheena, Brian, Robert and Reg - all so welcoming - some of the friendliest, hard-working marina workers we have ever met.
The next few days include many visits in the clubhouse, where Mike and Anne sit by the window, working on their laptops and chatting with whoever comes by, and once in a while, quietly strumming their ukuleles.
Usually by 5:30pm, we have gathered again for dinner preparations. We enjoy our meals along side the other sailors, including the people from Que Sera. She is a 16-meter aluminum sailboat which wintered in St. John’s after crossing from France last summer. Equipped for sailing to the North Pole, the French crew are preparing for their journey through the Northwest Passage to Alaska. (They do depart on June 20, heading for Greenland where they will be joined by five other sailors/scientists.) Their work, other than navigating and maneuvering through ice and other extreme conditions, will be to run experiments studying climate change effects on the north. We feel honoured to have met them and to spend time with them.
Tuesday June 13 is a day to remember - firstly, the sun came out and secondly we drove to Twillingate to see the large ice bergs reported to be sitting in the bay. It’s about 90km from Lewisporte, but we are glad we took the break from our work to visit a place we have never been.
As soon as we cross onto North Twillingate Island, we find the first berg “stuck” against the side of the road at the causeway. It is smaller but we can see other, much larger ones, further north in Twillingate Harbour.
Long Point Lighthouse
Towering Bergs
We drive to Long Point Lighthouse on North Twillingate Island. It is very cold and windy but the sun is out as we make the walk along the cliff, past the lighthouse. Visibility is perfect and the panorama is spectacular. Not only can we see four large icebergs, but the rocky shore below is awesome and unforgiving.
It is getting late and we are hungry. We know delaying for supper will put us back on the highway during “moose-o’clock”, so we grab a quick bite at Mary Brown’s and get back on the road, arriving in Embree just at sunset. Tired but exhilarated.
We spend the rest of the week doing maintenance, provisioning and preparing for life on the hard - parking lot sailing - after we move out of the cottage on Saturday morning.
Friday evening we are treated to a roast beef dinner, hosted by the Commodores of the yacht club, past and present. There are over 70 in attendance, including our local Coast Guard contingent, for a very enjoyable evening of good food and conversation.
