Coming (to our new) home

We motored then sailed out of Harbour Round and began our rounding of Cape St. John. Just like so much of this trip, the geography along here is stunning. With nothing but the open Atlantic to one side, it’s easy to imagine the pounding these prominences take in a big storm.

 

As usual, the wind predictions were less than accurate, so we ended up going from a grand easy sail, to zero wind that rapidly shifted to huge gusts, to a tough wind on the forward quarter once we rounded the cape that rapidly built an ugly sea. Yup … it was another one of those hard (motor) sailin’ days. Good thing we had Barnacle Annie at the helm 🙂 .

 

 

We’d now entered Notre Dame Bay, the place we will call home for at least the next few seasons.

 

We’d read in the cruising guide that the season here usually ends in late August. The weather here on the east side of Newfoundland increasingly takes on harsher tones as you head into the Fall — something we were beginning to get a sense of as another Newfoundland gale (not a hurricane — not yet 😯 ) was heading our way.

Luckily the wind and seas allowed us to enter Little Bay Islands with its two protected bays. Naturally we chose the less populated one, which is kinda unfortunate because later we learned the village of Little Bay Islands was the latest one to be resettled by the Newfoundland government. This time next year the outport that has existed for hundreds of years will be no more. Sad…

After another long hard sailing day Little Bay Islands was a welcome respite. We sailed in, all salt-encrusted once again, and looked for a good spot to anchor. Unfortunately the best spot was already occupied by a mooring ball, making it all but impossible to anchor. Fortunately the ball had this sign on it:

We both much prefer to use our own anchor gear. One never knows what a mooring is made of, but this one seemed stout. Still, with only one line attaching us, I was a bit nervous. So much to the amusement of Annnnneeeeeeee, I proceeded to tie additional lines and rolling hitches to the mooring pennant (line).

       

It was another beautiful spot. While waiting out the gale we were entertained by eagles, loons and a gorgeous fox that trotted nearby on shore. It had the colouring of Hammi (our former cat, now Mom/Kathy’s), with blacks and ruddy red browns. Unfortunately it’s hard to see in the pics .

A couple of days later the wind gods opened up a space for us to make another hop. By then we’d started to hear rumours of a serious blow heading our way — something called “Dorian”. We both thought it the better part of valour to be tied to the dock in Lewisporte when this monster hit, so we headed out to Fortune Harbour, which had a nice ring to it.

As we headed along we spotted a distant dolphin pack (school? gaggle? clutch?). We’d seen quite a few dolphins along the way now, and they’re always wonderful to watch. But this group was leaping high into the air, seeming to be just loving life:

Then, after a short while they seemed to notice us, and the whole group swam over and began swimming right beside us,

and even under us. What a treat — and a privilege.

 

And speaking about amazing wildlife, I’ve neglected to say enough about the gannets. These birds were constant companions for much of our journey, and utterly fascinating to watch. They look a bit like very large sea gulls, but with very sharp yellowish bills, and striking black tips on their wings. But what is truly amazing is how they fish.

They dive from massive heights, spearing into the water at very high speeds. It’s incredible.

 

Fortune Harbour is actually on a peninsula of the mainland. So unlike Little Bay Islands, it has a road connection to the rest of the province. Our anchorage took us down one of the arms of the harbour, past a funky looking mussel farm , ending up quite close to the road. It was odd hearing fast moving traffic after so many weeks of nothing but wind, seas, and the occasional motor boat (dory). But as with every place we’d been, this too is a beautiful spot.

Once again we were hiding from another near-gale, so planned to be there for a few days. The day before the big blow it turned warm — so hot that Ann got into her summer dress. The ensemble worked well when fitted with funny socks and big work gloves:

 

 

By now our weather router Donna Boh Bonna had been warning of this little thing called Dorian. We finally got good Internet coverage here in Fortune Harbour, so looked it up.

Yup … looked bad. We had to get to Lewisporte before it hit.

We weathered this latest storm, and then pulled up anchor for one more sail down into the bay where Lewisporte is located. Much like the testing we got while approaching Corner Brook, Newfoundland’s gods decided to make sure we were still worthy. The day went from big wind and seas, down to lighter winds, and finally back up to gale-force just as we got close to Lewisporte.

Instead of trying to enter a strange marina in 35 knot winds, we chose to anchor one mile north in behind an island. As we approached the spot I started to see what looked like very shallow (and hence very scary) uncharted rocks. Turns out they weren’t rock. They were plumes of jellyfish!

   

We were completely surrounded!!!

 

We spent one last wonderful afternoon and night swinging from our own anchor, and then headed into the big town of Lewisporte. We arrived with just enough time to get settled into our slip, and get the boat all ready for the coming hurricane.

 

 

We prepared well, and survived just fine. One nearby boat did almost lose their foresail though (and perhaps their mast) when a part of it started to unravel in the wind. Luckily a bunch of us got there quickly and were able to get it under control.

 

 

 

 

We were lucky with Dorian. It was a mere post-tropical storm by the time it hit us. Even still, the winds were ferocious, and the seas in open water would have been massive. I was glad to be securely tied up in our new home.

With the journey’s end we’ve now been working on taking our little floating home apart for winter. It’s always a sad time of year, but necessary. And we know we’ll return next season with plans to explore the immediate surrounds: “Fogo, Twillingate, Moreton’s Harbour, All around the Circle…”