People, Food, Fun

We had been watching the predicted path of Hurricane Erin. For a while, it was supposed to hit Newfoundland but as it got closer, the models converged and showed it going East. But to be safe, we decided to go to the NE end of Placentia Bay, Arnold’s Cove. We stayed here for a while and did some boat work as we were getting some strong southerlies after the hurricane passed. There were several nice hikes and the rock formation below is called “Screaming Woman”. We had created a plan to meet up with Graeme and take the boat to Nova Scotia to overwinter and get the some painting done. We headed south, and anchored in Baine Harbor for a few days as it was raining and we had southerlies. We then went to St Lawrence where we met up with Graeme. The harbormaster, Scott, was very nice. He drove Al to the gas station to get diesel and Graeme and Al fished for mackeral off the pier for dinner that night. Then it was off to St Pierre where we finished stocking up, including getting the maximum bottle of wines per person. We had an ok weather window to East River Shipyard, just past Halifax, approximately 350-400 miles. It was a bit of a slog, we did 24 hours the first day and only did 160 miles where we checked into customs at Louisbourg. We did about 14 hours the next day and 13 hours the day after that and anchored in downtown Halifax. Here we had a beautiful sail in and a fantastic view of the big city. It was pretty foggy the next morning and Graeme and Al had to worry about Naval bombing practice which was announced over the VHF. But the fog started clearing around 11:00 and we had a great sail to East River. We have a few days to prepare the boat for overwintering before it gets hauled out and we fly home!

From Fortune, we sailed/motored 50 miles around Burin Peninsula and anchored in Little St. Lawrence Harbor. We then spent a couple days in Burin. Burin is a charming town with a boardwalk around the bay and very nice trail up to the highest point, called Cook’s Lookout Point. From Burin, we went to Oderin Island, and then to Merasheen Island. In Merasheen, we found the charts inaccurate – it showed 20′ and we ran aground. Luckily, we were going slowly and we still had an hour of rising tide. We floated off and tried another direction but stopped at 11′. Luckily where we decided to anchor had good holding as we ended up getting 2 nights of 25+ knots of wind. We then went to St. Kyran’s which was a very protected bay. The church was built in the 1920s and is an amazing bit of architecture. The community was relocated to more populous areas through the government’s resettlement program in the1960s and the church abandoned. Some community members celebrated the parish’s 150 year anniversary in the abandoned church in 2006. One can see the amazing view the parishioners must have had in the last photo below.

We stopped in Lewisporte on our way back from Gros Morne National Park. Lewisporte has a large port and we had hoped to overwinter here but they couldn’t accommodate our boat. We looked online for live music and found the Citadel House. It is both a live music venue and record label and they had two groups performing that night. The second group, the Dandelion Few, was amazing, with a lead singer from Ireland who had married a singer/songwriter from Newfoundland. Then it was on to Fortune where we caught the ferry to St. Pierre where we met up with Graeme and Janna’s family and spent the day in Miquelon before we all came back to Fortune.

In the northwest corner of Newfoundland is the National Historic Site of L’Anse aux Meadows, the only authenticated Norse site in North America. The Visitor’s Center shows many of the archeological findings and some of the Viking village has been recreated, including actors demonstrating everyday life. We did a little hike along the coast line and found a delightful surprise, fairy homes created from the imagination of children. After leaving the village, we went to dinner at the Norseman Restaurant and had the best dinner in Newfoundland. We saw what looked like the Leif Erikson statue in Ballard and saw that it is a replica given by the Leif Erikson International Foundation of Seattle to Vinland in 2013.

After meeting Graeme and Janna and their family in St. Johns and turning Dogbark over to their capable hands, we left in our rented car for Dildo. Dildo is a quiet fishing village that got world wide attention on Jimmy Kimmel shows. Jimmy ended up receiving honorary mayor status and he gave the community Dildo block letters as seen on Hollywood Hills. Nearby Dildo is the Newfoundland Pony Heritage Park where they are trying to protect and preserve the rare and endangered Newfoundland Pony. We spent several days in Terra Nova National Park and Gros Morne National Park. The trails were well kept, the outhouses spotless, and the trails surprisingly uncrowded. We did not see a moose but saw a moose exclosure that demonstrates how an overpopulation of moose harms the forest. We also saw a ruffed grouse and spruce grouse chicks. Terra Nova National Park is on the east coast and Gros Morne National Park is on the west coast, separated by a 5 hour drive. They both contain hundreds of coastline which have numerous lookouts and trails.

We ask our crew: If you had one piece of life advice to give, what would it be?

The following is an update from the boat people, coordinated by the land person known as Talia. Today the crew opened up the halfway box, a traditon running strong on Dogbark for all passages. Mom and I picked everything out and today since the boat is half way to AK, they finally get to see what is inside! Enjoy the update from Graeme!

Yesterday our friends Jeff and Cheri offered to bring us along to tour their neighbor’s ukulele factory. Of course, we said yes because who wouldn’t want to tour one of the most successful ukulele buisnesses in the world?