Hello from Newfoundland! This summer we decided to take Romana exploring the west coast of The Rock. We are five days into our cruise and we have made it to Cornerbrook - much earlier than expected. We had allowed ourselves 6 days to get to Port Aux Basques in case the weather didn't co-operate, but conditions have been great and so has our progress.
Later today our friends Bill and Deborah will arrive here to spend the next 10 days cruising with us. We hope to explore Bay of Islands, Bonne Bay (where Gros Morne is) and maybe even get up to Cow Head - north of Gros Morne. But I am getting ahead of myself. You probably want to hear about how we got here.
We left Pictou on Saturday, with Jeff Davis, son of our friends Rosemary and Dave, on board as crew. Jeff was keen to get a taste of life on the boat, so he came along for a couple of days. Our initial plan was to take two days to get to Cheticamp, but after looking at the weather we decided we wanted to try to cross to Newfoundland on Monday so we took a long first day to Cheticamp. Cheticamp is a french community on the west coast of Cape Breton, on the Cabot Trail. It has access to a beautiful park and spectacular drives, but on this trip we wouldn't have time to explore the area.
It was flat calm all day which meant we didn't get to sail, but we did make good time. Fifteen hours and 93 Nm later we tied up next to a fishing boat at the public wharf in Cheticamp. Unfortunately, after getting up to leave at 5 a.m. Dave and I only had enough energy left to go for a short walk before we went back to the boat to turn in, but Jeff walked up to a local pub to have a pint and hear some music.
On Sunday we set of for Bay St. Lawrence. This is a small community on the bay at the northern end of Cape Breton - a great place to leave Nova Scotia for Newfoundland or the Magdalene Islands. As soon as we cleared Cheticamp harbour, Dave and Jeff put up the sails and we had a great sail up to Cape St. Lawrence (the northwest tip of Cape Breton). It was pretty well dead downwind, so we had to gybe our way up the coast, but that was okay. We had some showers for about half an hour but nothing too bad.
We inched in to the public wharf (it is pretty shallow at low tide, and we had heard on the radio that the boat ahead of us - another Corbin in fact - had gone aground on the way in) and tied up to a fishing boat just after 2 p.m. At 3 p.m. Jeff's dad, Dave, arrived to pick him up and once again we were down to a crew of two. The sun came out and it was a beautiful evening. We had a chance to go for a walk to stretch our legs and enjoy the view before supper. That night we turned in before the sun went down, ready for another early morning departure.
We wanted to make sure we had enough light to see the myriad of traps on the way out of the bay, as they had really long floating lines on them and we didn't want to get tangled up in one, so Monday morning we got up at 4:30 a.m. and left the wharf ten minutes later. We managed to avoid the traps and soon we were clear and watching the sun rise. At first we were headed for Port Aux Basques, but after some discussion we decided to go for Codroy instead. This was only an extra 4 miles and would save us about 30 miles, 1 cape and a day sail from Port Aux Basques to Codroy.
At first the seas were really rolly and it was a bit of an uncomfortable trip. Despite the fact that there was no wind, the swell was short and the boat was rocking around all over the place. Once we got away from Cape Breton the seas calmed down a lot and we even got enough wind to get the jib out for a while to steady us. We passed St. Paul Island, where I saw a couple of fishing boats, and then it was just us as we motored across the Cabot Strait towards Newfoundland. We saw two freighters and a lot of seabirds and that was about it.
Finally we began to see the high cliffs of Newfoundland in the distance. As we got closer, I saw something white. At first I thought it was a house, but then I realized it was a patch of snow up on the table mountain! Soon we saw more patches of snow. We arrived in Codroy just after 4 p.m. (closer to 5 p.m. local time after we added the half hour) and tied up to the public wharf behind a big fishing boat. We went for a walk up the road to explore a bit, but found out later that 'town' was the other way, towards the church on the hill. A couple of locals came down for a chat, and then the very friendly harbour master, Lucy, arrived to collect our wharf fee. She told Dave that if he ever wanted to come snowmobiling he should just look her up - because "you can go for miles and miles and days and days on the land here".
We found out that they fish lobster out of dories about 18 to 20 feet long with 40-50 hp outboard engines on them. The season just ended here but they will fish some halibut and then later in the season some mackeral. Codroy is a snug little harbour behind an island just north of Cape Ray on the southwestern tip of Newfoundland. Harbours on the west coast of Newfoundland are far apart, so it is a welcome stop between Port Aux Basques and Stephenville, which would be a very long day.
Now that we had arrived in Newfoundland much earlier than expected, our plan was to get to Cornerbrook by Wednesday, to meet Bill and Deborah there. To do that, we had to cover a long stretch of coast with very little in the way of harbours or anchorages. We set off on Tuesday morning just after 5 a.m. (which still felt like 4:30 to us) heading for a small harbour near the tip of Long Point, which is a really long point that sticks up at the northern end of the Port Au Port Peninsula. From Cape Anguille, just north of Codroy, we crossed St. George's Bay (which goes in to Stephenville) to Cape St. George on the southern end of the Port Au Port Peninsula. It's a long 35 miles across the bay, but by noon we were across.
It was another calm, sunny day, but cool enough when we weren't under the dodger. As we followed the coast of the peninsula, we got some wind and we motor sailed for a couple of hours before the wind died again. Again, based on the weather, we decided to stretch our day a bit and head twenty miles beyond Long Point, to a small harbour called Little Port, located just south of the entrance to Bay of Islands, which we would enter to go to Cornerbrook.
After the wind died the seas calmed down a lot and it was a beautiful evening as we approached the coast. We arrived at the entrance to Little Port at 8 p.m. with an hour and a half to spare til sunset (and over two hours til dark). As we were getting the lines and fenders ready to tie to the wharf, the engine quit and it wouldn't start again. Luckily there was no wind, and we were drifting towards the wharf, so we managed to get our bow line to a couple of locals and we tied alongside with no drama. Dave suspected it was a dirty fuel filter, so once we were tied up he changed that and it fixed the problem.
Little Port is a beautiful harbour, with dramatic cliffs on either side and colourful dories pulled up on the wooden ramps at the head of the harbour. We went for a walk up the road and down the road to the next bay over, called Bottle Bay, to stretch our legs after a 15 hour, 94 Nm day at sea. Newfoundland is breathtakingly beautiful, and you can certainly see why they call it The Rock.
Because we didn't have far to go this morning, we didn't leave until almost 8 a.m. It was sunny and flat calm again until we rounded the cape into Bay of Islands, when a breeze picked up - on the nose of course! We motored up into Bay of Islands and up the Humber Arm, admiring the hills and islands all around us. A couple of small whales (pilot or Minke) came to greet us and we saw a motor cruiser heading out of the harbour with a group wearing tank tops while I was in my toque! Shortly after noon we tied up at the Bay of Islands Yacht Club marina, just outside Cornerbrook. Here we will wait for our friends to arrive and after covering 318 Nm in the first 5 days to get here, we will slow down a bit and start to do some exploring.
I don't know how often I will have access to internet, so these blogs may be somewhat sporadic, but I will do what I can to keep them coming.
Later today our friends Bill and Deborah will arrive here to spend the next 10 days cruising with us. We hope to explore Bay of Islands, Bonne Bay (where Gros Morne is) and maybe even get up to Cow Head - north of Gros Morne. But I am getting ahead of myself. You probably want to hear about how we got here.
We left Pictou on Saturday, with Jeff Davis, son of our friends Rosemary and Dave, on board as crew. Jeff was keen to get a taste of life on the boat, so he came along for a couple of days. Our initial plan was to take two days to get to Cheticamp, but after looking at the weather we decided we wanted to try to cross to Newfoundland on Monday so we took a long first day to Cheticamp. Cheticamp is a french community on the west coast of Cape Breton, on the Cabot Trail. It has access to a beautiful park and spectacular drives, but on this trip we wouldn't have time to explore the area.
It was flat calm all day which meant we didn't get to sail, but we did make good time. Fifteen hours and 93 Nm later we tied up next to a fishing boat at the public wharf in Cheticamp. Unfortunately, after getting up to leave at 5 a.m. Dave and I only had enough energy left to go for a short walk before we went back to the boat to turn in, but Jeff walked up to a local pub to have a pint and hear some music.
On Sunday we set of for Bay St. Lawrence. This is a small community on the bay at the northern end of Cape Breton - a great place to leave Nova Scotia for Newfoundland or the Magdalene Islands. As soon as we cleared Cheticamp harbour, Dave and Jeff put up the sails and we had a great sail up to Cape St. Lawrence (the northwest tip of Cape Breton). It was pretty well dead downwind, so we had to gybe our way up the coast, but that was okay. We had some showers for about half an hour but nothing too bad.
We inched in to the public wharf (it is pretty shallow at low tide, and we had heard on the radio that the boat ahead of us - another Corbin in fact - had gone aground on the way in) and tied up to a fishing boat just after 2 p.m. At 3 p.m. Jeff's dad, Dave, arrived to pick him up and once again we were down to a crew of two. The sun came out and it was a beautiful evening. We had a chance to go for a walk to stretch our legs and enjoy the view before supper. That night we turned in before the sun went down, ready for another early morning departure.
We wanted to make sure we had enough light to see the myriad of traps on the way out of the bay, as they had really long floating lines on them and we didn't want to get tangled up in one, so Monday morning we got up at 4:30 a.m. and left the wharf ten minutes later. We managed to avoid the traps and soon we were clear and watching the sun rise. At first we were headed for Port Aux Basques, but after some discussion we decided to go for Codroy instead. This was only an extra 4 miles and would save us about 30 miles, 1 cape and a day sail from Port Aux Basques to Codroy.
At first the seas were really rolly and it was a bit of an uncomfortable trip. Despite the fact that there was no wind, the swell was short and the boat was rocking around all over the place. Once we got away from Cape Breton the seas calmed down a lot and we even got enough wind to get the jib out for a while to steady us. We passed St. Paul Island, where I saw a couple of fishing boats, and then it was just us as we motored across the Cabot Strait towards Newfoundland. We saw two freighters and a lot of seabirds and that was about it.
Finally we began to see the high cliffs of Newfoundland in the distance. As we got closer, I saw something white. At first I thought it was a house, but then I realized it was a patch of snow up on the table mountain! Soon we saw more patches of snow. We arrived in Codroy just after 4 p.m. (closer to 5 p.m. local time after we added the half hour) and tied up to the public wharf behind a big fishing boat. We went for a walk up the road to explore a bit, but found out later that 'town' was the other way, towards the church on the hill. A couple of locals came down for a chat, and then the very friendly harbour master, Lucy, arrived to collect our wharf fee. She told Dave that if he ever wanted to come snowmobiling he should just look her up - because "you can go for miles and miles and days and days on the land here".
We found out that they fish lobster out of dories about 18 to 20 feet long with 40-50 hp outboard engines on them. The season just ended here but they will fish some halibut and then later in the season some mackeral. Codroy is a snug little harbour behind an island just north of Cape Ray on the southwestern tip of Newfoundland. Harbours on the west coast of Newfoundland are far apart, so it is a welcome stop between Port Aux Basques and Stephenville, which would be a very long day.
Now that we had arrived in Newfoundland much earlier than expected, our plan was to get to Cornerbrook by Wednesday, to meet Bill and Deborah there. To do that, we had to cover a long stretch of coast with very little in the way of harbours or anchorages. We set off on Tuesday morning just after 5 a.m. (which still felt like 4:30 to us) heading for a small harbour near the tip of Long Point, which is a really long point that sticks up at the northern end of the Port Au Port Peninsula. From Cape Anguille, just north of Codroy, we crossed St. George's Bay (which goes in to Stephenville) to Cape St. George on the southern end of the Port Au Port Peninsula. It's a long 35 miles across the bay, but by noon we were across.
It was another calm, sunny day, but cool enough when we weren't under the dodger. As we followed the coast of the peninsula, we got some wind and we motor sailed for a couple of hours before the wind died again. Again, based on the weather, we decided to stretch our day a bit and head twenty miles beyond Long Point, to a small harbour called Little Port, located just south of the entrance to Bay of Islands, which we would enter to go to Cornerbrook.
After the wind died the seas calmed down a lot and it was a beautiful evening as we approached the coast. We arrived at the entrance to Little Port at 8 p.m. with an hour and a half to spare til sunset (and over two hours til dark). As we were getting the lines and fenders ready to tie to the wharf, the engine quit and it wouldn't start again. Luckily there was no wind, and we were drifting towards the wharf, so we managed to get our bow line to a couple of locals and we tied alongside with no drama. Dave suspected it was a dirty fuel filter, so once we were tied up he changed that and it fixed the problem.
Little Port is a beautiful harbour, with dramatic cliffs on either side and colourful dories pulled up on the wooden ramps at the head of the harbour. We went for a walk up the road and down the road to the next bay over, called Bottle Bay, to stretch our legs after a 15 hour, 94 Nm day at sea. Newfoundland is breathtakingly beautiful, and you can certainly see why they call it The Rock.
Because we didn't have far to go this morning, we didn't leave until almost 8 a.m. It was sunny and flat calm again until we rounded the cape into Bay of Islands, when a breeze picked up - on the nose of course! We motored up into Bay of Islands and up the Humber Arm, admiring the hills and islands all around us. A couple of small whales (pilot or Minke) came to greet us and we saw a motor cruiser heading out of the harbour with a group wearing tank tops while I was in my toque! Shortly after noon we tied up at the Bay of Islands Yacht Club marina, just outside Cornerbrook. Here we will wait for our friends to arrive and after covering 318 Nm in the first 5 days to get here, we will slow down a bit and start to do some exploring.
I don't know how often I will have access to internet, so these blogs may be somewhat sporadic, but I will do what I can to keep them coming.