Emerging into Civilization and a New Home

It’s ironic that as our journey comes to an end, the last few days of cruising the Newfoundland coast have been some of the best sailing we’ve seen in our 7,000 mile journey.

The day we left Musgraves Harbor, we saw even higher winds reaching the low 20’s which made for a busy day of sailing! Luckily we didn’t have far to go and dropped anchor in a beautiful little pocket called Puddingbag Cove.

I swear gnomes live there. The tiny trees with the tiny homes and these large rocks. I so badly wanted to go ashore to get the scale of it. Puddingbag Cove had lots of little shallow nooks to explore and would have been a great kayaking spot if it weren’t for the high winds. Instead we spent the afternoon on the boat relaxing. Journaling, reading, music, just all the things we haven’t been able to do in a while with such a busy sailing schedule.

A local resident, Lee, saw Dogbark come in and found our blog and sent us some interesting facts about Puddingbay Cove:

“The area where you are anchored was once an entire community complete which church etc. There are also some remnant of what I believe is a whaling station. The single small building which you can see by the old wharf has an interpretive map of the original community of ‘Safe Harbor’.” Thanks Lee for saying hi and hailing us!

The next day was another sporty one with high winds. A broad reach across Bonavista bay and at one point we saw 14.8knots of boat speed. We sailed by a couple islands for puffin viewing, but we didn’t have much luck, just lots of bird poo. I thought I saw a shark at one point, but turns out it was a sunfish and we nearly ran him over he was just floating along at the surface below the waves. We also found a krill!

We sailed into Catalina and tied up with the fishing vessels. With a mid afternoon arrival, we had plenty of time to explore so Sarah and I took a cab and wandered around Bonavista.

Our driver Anne was a very friendly life long Bonavista resident. I marveled at the tall pine trees as we drove by and Anne told us we were driving right through a hunting area and it was moose hunting season. We kept our eyes peeled but there were no moose sightings. Bonavista was quaint with many well kept historical houses. It was quiet and clearly the end of tourist season. We found ourselves at Mifflin’s Tearoom for a homecooked Newfoundland experience. Pot roast with yorkshire pudding, fish cakes, and curry cod pieces!

We looked for an elusive IPA for Sarah but didn’t have much luck. The local homemade ice cream shop was also closed so I was quite sad! We went for a night cap at Ragged Rocks, but found ourselves falling asleep by 8:15 so we made our way back to the boat.

Our last day on the water was the best day of sailing yet. Comfortable easy sailing and we got to enjoy some time on deck in the sun and sailed by a few fishing vessels. The trees were getting taller along shore and we saw more airplanes flying overhead. We even saw a ferry!

Coming into Conception Bay, we saw our first sailboats out on the water (aside from the NWP folks) and masts sticking out over the breakwater of the Royal Newfoundland Yacht Club. We were home!

We were greeted at the yacht club by some members including a fella named Greg, who got this photos of Dogbark sailing in front of his home! Thank you Greg!

We took a few arrival photos and then celebrated with dinner at the yacht club. It was surreal to be sitting so comfortably on the patio in 70 degrees, overlooking other boats in the marina just before sunset. A very soft Labrador Retriever named Harley (Davidson!) looked on from the garden.

Glass of wine in hand, I watched kayakers glide in the sunset light and sailors enjoying some time in the cockpit at the dock. I was surprised how easy and familiar this all felt. Almost as if we never left civilization and have always had these creature comforts. I mean, in my personal opinion I felt like Dogbark was a luxury cruise through the Arctic. But what a thrill it is to have a flushing toilet and food in abundance.

Everyone has a different reason for sailing. We all have shared a journey, but we’ve all had our own personal experiences and takeaways. For me, this journey has helped me learn how to build a home within myself again. I’ve reconnected to a wild, free, and unapologetic spirit inside – and for that I will forever be grateful. I’ve seen a part of the world that not many people have seen, and marveled at the wild and natural earth that surrounds us. I’ve been humbled by the resiliency of plants and humans, and inspired by the natural landscape of the earth. It’s not lost upon me how incredibly privileged this all has been for me and I will be eternally indebted to Shauna, Al, and Graeme for sharing this with me.

I hope that my ancestors are watching from above with some delight. Without the sacrifices of the generations before me, I would not be able to live and dream big. I suppose many of us can relate to that sentiment. However it came to be, we are all so glad we found our way to the water.

There is a race tonight at the yacht club, but despite my enthusiasm and excitement for the idea of racing Dogbark, we’ve been assigned to put her away for the winter. Her headsails came off and are flaked and stowed away. We’re cleaning everything up as we did when we first got on board in Sitka, and it feels like a nice way to end this journey. It really makes this all feels so complete.

Dogbark has many new adventures ahead of her next season, but for now she will take some well deserved rest and winter over at the yacht club with her caretaker Matt.

We’ll explore some more of St. John’s this week and I still have a couple more blog posts in the works, so this won’t be the last you will hear from us! Thank you to everyone who has been following and cheering us along, we’re all looking forward to some hugs and long dinners back home.