Back in Newfoundand!

The change from Labrador to Newfoundland is profound yet in many subtle ways. First is the smell.  The “smell” in Labrador was (as best I can describe) like “crisp clean linen” and the occasional hint of woodsmoke! Arriving back in Newfoundland, the first thing we noticed was the smell of pine trees, and as we got closer the smell of the seashore, kelp, and a hint of fishiness.

Visually, the change is obvious.  In Newfoundland the hills are now covered with scruffy pine forests, which extend right down to the shoreline, between the rocky precipices, with occasional narrow rocky beaches at the shore, otherwise a straight cliff.

Another real change was not waking up in the morning to a cabin temperature of 6C with condensation dripping off the hatches and having to run the heater for an hour before wanting to rise!  Water temperature went from 9C to 15C and we felt like we found ‘summer’! Downside of this warmth is that our bilge is no longer a reliable refrigerator, so we need to relocate the yogurt, beer and wine!

St Lunaire was great, with the bay to ourselves for 2 nights as the weather was unsettled, and we had to reset our anchor so we didn’t swing into the rocks.

This not only has this resulted in us motoring way more than we would like (if we waited for a favourable wind we would still be in Labrador) but it also means anchoring requires more care; a soft bottom, a good set and enough swing room to rotate 360 degrees.  If not, a dock was the preferred security.

Monday, July 7, 2025

We headed south to St Anthony (pronounced in 2 syllables, not 4). It is the largest town in the northwest peninsula (pop. 2000).  It is the regional medical centre, the Coast Guard Base and a still has an active fishing fleet. It is also famous for L’Anse aux Meadows, the famous Viking settlement, a ½ hour away.

At St.Anthony we replenished our fuel, water and food. It’s not that we were running low on anything other than fresh produce, but Steve is a true ‘boy scout’ and “be-prepared” sailors! The only other sailboat was Randy, a local, beside us on the only yacht dock available (others were fishing fleet docks).  We got a good dose of Newfoundland hospitality – good advice and a huge tray of fresh cooked shrimp!

We ran 3 hoses from the Grenfell House building in order to fill the water tanks, then we made several calls to arrange local fuel delivery. We then moved Tikaani to the fishing dock, called Jamie and…voila, he filled the tanks from his truck!… paid in cash since no acct. We stretched our legs hiking the peak trail by the lighthouse (626 steps up), and walked the town from end to end.

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Next, we set our sights on Conche Harbour (60 nm south). Wind was on our nose (very unusual winds this year), so we motored. It was great for wildlife spotting as we sighted dolphins, minke, seals, and humpback whales. But most glorious was upon entering Conch harbour, there was a juvenile Humpback ‘playing’. He did all the behaviours as we approached – tale waving, fin waving and breaching. We were actually worried he would come ‘play’ with Tikaani! Once again, we found a spot at the end of the fishing wharf and were the only visitors in town.

Conche despite being a very small community, is famous for the “French Shore Tapestry”, a 227 foot tapestry completed by local women (assisted by JC Roy), over 3 years. It depicts the French shore history and Joan, one of the weavers, had many more stories to share as she toured us through the centuries.  No pictures allowed thought.

Wednesday, July , 9, 2025

Next stop…Great Harbour Deep (42nm south). It was recommended by Randy (St.Anthony)…”go right up to the end and through the narrows to the back channel”.  This we did. It is truly a “northern Fjord”. Right up until we entered the back channel, the depths were over 90m to 150 m, with the hills rising steeply up each shore.

With no other boats around, the wind whistling down the narrows, we passed ‘abandoned’ cabins and an abandoned (1800s) lumber sawmill. We entered the back bay through this very narrow channel, 10m depth, when our navigation system ‘wobbled’ and the chartplotter decided we were on shore and heading up the cliff…hmmmm.  It was challenging enough without the navigational glitch, but we focused on staying midchannel, dropped anchor mid-bay in 5m and found peace!

Turns out there must have been a large magnetic anomaly (banded iron formation) near the  channel, that threw our compass for a spin, because it rectified when we left.

The worry was worth it! It was an incredibly beautiful and sheltered with a small river at the top – lots of rocky shallows though. We watched a Bald Eagle chased by Ravens and an Osprey standing watch. There were moon jellyfish and larger red tentacled jellyfish… yuck! We swung on anchor 360 degrees over the 3 days there; just shortened chain to avoid rocks (boy scout in action!).

The water temperature in the bay was 15 degrees (woohoo!) so we had a swim/dunk! We could have stayed a week but we have much more of NFLD to discover!

Friday, July 11, 2025,

We hauled anchor and set off across Whites Bay to La Scie. Again, we departed in no wind, with a mild headwind of 6 kts building through the day; sea state flat.  We arrived La Scie – only yacht, so got onto the floating dock. No sooner had we poured our cider and beer, then another OVNI arrived, a 435-from the UK, and then a Boreal47 arrives, couple from Germany. In the night another aluminum custom arrived (45’)!

Saturday July 12, 2025

La Scie is a busy, friendly harbour town, with boats coming and going. We were offered fresh Cod from locals, dad and son who went out for a morning’s fishing! After ice cream, groceries and hardware store, we decided to head to a quiet anchorage. After checking out Rogues Harbour, the difficulty of putting down an anchor in 20m of water with no swing room, resulted in us heading to the Bay of Islands. And here we are!! Blow up Muskoka 2x (rocks and treats) and no people and you have an idea of what it is like…. Once again, the seals, minke and a bald eagle to greet us! And fresh Cod for dinner!

PS – Spot Tracker is not reliable… so here is the track from Great Harbour Deep to La Scie off our B&G Nav system.