20020620
June 20, 2002
Day 42
Start: Grand Conroy RV Camping, Doyles, NF
End: Arm Of Gold CG, Bras D’Or, NS
Miles: 30 highway, 100 nautical miles on the ferry
The high today was 76f in Nova Scotia and the low was 35 last night or early this morning in
Newfoundland.
It was a beautiful cool morning in southwestern Newfoundland when we got up at sunrise. We left quickly,
in order to make the ferry to Nova Scotia with plenty of margin. As we came off the side road onto the
Trans-Canada Highway, we saw a moose galloping across the bog on the far side of the highway. That was
a fitting end to our stay in Newfoundland.
We drove to the ferry ticket booth, and paid our $240.50CDN fare. We underwent an agriculture
inspection, then were shown which line to join in the parking lot. The ferry was
disembarking the incoming vehicles as we waited.
Again, they loaded the trucks and cars first and the RV’s last. And again, the RV’s were first off. I don’t
know why they do it that way.
The ferry charged out of the harbor, passing the
Cape Port-aux-Basques
lighthouse.
In contrast to the foggy passage going out, we could see for miles today. There were two freighters, one
inbound to the St Lawrence, one outbound, to watch. We saw the spouting of several whales in the middle
distance – the sun angle was such that the spouts would reflect sunlight and were easy to see, but the
distance was too far to tell what whales were doing it. The water was as flat as the proverbial mill pond.
Breakfast on the ferry – two eggs, sausage, home fries, and toast – cost $4.99CDN or $3.27US. And it was
very good. We found comfortable seats and read our books while a terrible movie was playing on the
screen at the front of the room. Then a noisy group came along; we changed seats to the other side of the
ship to avoid their noise, but it didn’t improve the movie. Finally, we changed to a quieter location in
another part of the ship.
We went up onto the boat deck to watch our arrival at the dock in North Sydney. It’s quite a production
when the whole bow of the ferry rotates upward to open the two car decks to the ramps for leaving the ship.
We drove a few miles and checked in at the campground. Then we had a quick lunch in the little house.
The laundry had piled up, so we did that. We noticed an 18 motor home caravan that’s going to
Newfoundland in the morning. Now we know that it will be noisy starting about 6:00am, as they prepare to
leave the campground. There’s a group of smaller vehicles also going over, and there are lots of
independent travelers going as well. In fact, it’s 10:15pm now, and more rigs are still arriving to leave in
the morning. We’ll have to get up early and watch this evolution.
It was really warm by mid-afternoon, so we opened all the windows and vents in the trailer. After the
laundry was finished, Dolores took a long nap while I read outside and chatted with other travelers.
We went to dinner at Rollie’s Wharf near the ferry dock. The food was nice, but an added attraction was
that they had a group (piano, two fiddles) doing Nova Scotia folk music. We finished our dinner in the
non-smoking area and moved over to listen to jigs and reels. But the smoke affected Dolores and we had to
leave after a few songs. They were really sawing away on the fiddles.
Back to the campground then, and Dolores went in to watch TV (four channels here, but one is French). I
chatted with neighbors outside – it was just such a nice day I couldn’t let it go.
