"Egret" N4674 - Scott and Mary Flanders

Ed. note: On February 10, 2011, Scott and Mary Flanders, on board their Nordhavn 46, Egret, arrived in the Canary Islands. In doing so, Egret became the eighth Nordhavn to circumnavigate the globe. It had been four years, five months since the couple departed Gran Canaria, intent on seeing as much of the earth as possible, although not necessarily with an end goal to circle the globe. Voyage of Egret do cuments the Flanders’ entire trip, an endless adventure that has put them in touch with the most fabulous places and interesting people. Much route planning and forecasting was required in order to get to some of their ports of call. But the days of detailed planning are over…for now.“Egret” is now back in Fort Lauderdale, the place the couple called home for so many years, and, ironically, the starting point of their world wide cruising escapade that began with the Nordhavn Atlantic Rally in 2004. They currently travel hither and yon, sometimes by boat, sometimes not. Here, the latest update from the Flanders as they keep us continually apprised

July 31, 2013
Position: 60 08.40N 45 14.25W Nanortalik (Polar Bear in Inuit)

Hello mis amigos, is Greenland special or what? You just can’t believe it.

First however, let’s go back offshore and talk about the last day at sea. It was nervous times. As we reported in the last VofE during the approach, Ice Central said there were scattered icebergs up to 200nm offshore. I imagine that is a catch all and it was. We found the first icebergs at 35nm offshore. At 26nm offshore we went thru a scattered field of small ice bits. They showed up on radar as a cluster but no individual bergs even though it was flat calm and the gain on the radar was turned to max on 6nm range and the small radar was set to 3nm range. So, based on our very limited experience, to repeat this trip it is an absolute must, ABSOLUTE MUST (get it?) the last 75nm or more should be made during daylight. We had growlers the size of containers that Did Not show up on radar even though individual birds at times did. If it were choppy there would be No Hope of small ice big enough to sink your precious showing on radar. Big bergs show like ships, no problem there. During the summer, there is still some light at 2030 local (UTC-3). There will also be fog, particularly around ice. Daylight only approach, got it?

Here’s something else that is interesting, at least with C-Map CM93 (commercial charts). It is very difficult to plan a route using C-Map charts. At one scale the names of the villages are X, in another scale the names revert to the native names. Only when zoomed down is there any usable resolution, and then it works well except to move even 25nm it changes all again. Zoom up even a little bit and all resolution goes away. So here’s what I did. I announced all along we were going to arrive in Qaqortoq (Julianehab), Greenland . So I set a course for Qaqortoq. We ended up in Nanortalik, around 35nm south. Amazing. A first. I thought that Nanortalik was the Other Name for Qaqortoq. It wasn’t. So here we are. Amazing. Even after clearing customs at the local police station and walking around town, I still didn’t know. Only when I opened the cruising guide did I see the mistake. Duuuuuh. Oh well, here we is. Doesn’t matter, it’s all good.

The approach to Nanortalik was indescribable. We were in fog with 1/4nm vis approaching the coast. Icebergs would appear then disappear in the fog. There was enough vis that there weren’t any issues with missing the ice, but we couldn’t see far ahead. Then the fog lifted for a moment and exposed the high mountains and the ice grounded in a long line along the coast. I grabbed a camera and snapped afew shots then it all went white again. Those precious moments will always define Greenland to the three of us. This is the first snapshot of Greenland ’s rugged mountain coast with a HUGE tabular iceberg grounded in the distance.

There was lotsa ice on the approach, so much in fact we thought we wouldhave to take the long way around to the second entrance to the harbor. In fact, the cruising guide says the harbor is sometimes blocked by ice until the end of July. So I suppose global warming isn’t all bad. Like always, patience pays. As we moved deeper into the entrance fairway between islands, a passage opened and it was no big deal to enter. The ice on the entrance was spectacular beyond spectacular. In this photo you can see the ice grounded along the coast. And here is Mary in the entrance channel.

Approaching the fishing wharf while coasting slowly into the small harbor when a local waved us to the dock. So Mary got her lines ready and Dick set up the fenders. When that was done we pulled up and the local dock workers took the lines and Egret was tucked in. It was a tight spot squeezed inbetween the barge and the end of the dock behind Egret. A second view of the dock and the harbor entrance is here. Egret is barely visible on the extreme left near the red tug. A surprising number spoke at least some English. Mary asked where Customs was and we were told to check with the local shipping agent next door. They in turn directed us to the local police. So up the hill we went to the police station. At the station we met a Danish policeman on a 4 month tour who spoke excellent English. His local counterpart spoke some English and within no time we were checked in and were told that with a Greenland stamp we didn’t have to check into any other Scandinavian country. I’m not sure about that but it sounded good. The policemen also told us it was their best weather day of the year. The sun was out, there was no wind and it was warm. Ho hum. Of course MS deserves the best.

One issue we checked for a fellow N owner was about taking a dog to Greenland . They are planning a Greenland trip next year but they travel with a dog. “No Problem” was the reply. They can even take it ashore (I wouldn’t) but they can’t take it ashore farther north because of being attacked by sled dogs. So anyhow, it isn’t a problem to have a dog in normal Greenland cruising areas. The guide also said you can’t have fresh fruit or vegetables on boats and just a very limited amount of alcohol. Like most places there are rules and there are rules. There was no mention of anything and the police didn’t come to the boat.

Nanortalik is a small Inuit fishing village of 1,200 folks year round and 1,400 during the summer. There is a small container dock and a fishing dock where Egret is berthed. She is squeezed in between a Danish cod fishing boat unloading her catch and a barge filled with large rocks and a tug who are rebuilding an ice damaged wharf just around the corner. We’ll have more about Nanoratalik later, but during an afternoon wander to snap a few sunset photo’s, I met our Danish police friend and his girlfriend at their house and snapped a few local homes. INSERT PHOTO 6654We talked some more and before leaving I invited them to Egret tomorrow evening for a cocktail. So that will be fun.

Later. Apparently the Danish cod fishing boat has a local crew. As the boat was preparing to leave, there were wives hugging the crewmen and small children crying. I assume the crew will make the trip to Denmark and return via the airport at Greenland’s capitol, Nuuk, and from Nuuk to Nanoratalik is helicopter service only. There is no local ferry, roads or airport.

We’ll have more Greenland stories in the next VofE as this adventure unfolds. What is important now is to give this information to anyone who wants to cruise any portion of Egret’s summer cruise beginning in Nova Scotia , continuing to Newfoundland , Labrador and now Greenland . Print this and add it to your ‘someday’ file. We’ll continue with Iceland information down the road. In the meantime, we’ll let the pictures tell the tale.

Egret’s information sources for the trip to Newfoundland , Labrador and Greenland are as follows.
Nova Scotia , Newfoundland and Labrador . The Cruising Club of America Guide to Nova Scotia , Newfoundland and Labrador - three separate guides.
Greenland and Iceland . Imray, (RCC) Royal Cruising Club Pilotage Foundation; Faroe Iceland Greenland by Willie Ker.

Weather came from three sources: OMNI Bob, Bob Jones, Professional Weather Forecaster, Ocean Marine Navigation, Inc, http://www.passageweather.com/ and Weathernet from http://www.ocens.com/. The ocens weather and at-sea e-mail arrive thru the Iridium phone to a laptop using ocens software.

Iceberg information for Labrador came from: ice-glaces.ec.gc.ca., English, East Coast Block, Ice Charts, Iceberg. Pack ice charts are available but we did not go far enough north for pack ice to be a problem.

Ice Information for Greenland is available two ways. By phone: Ice Central weekdays 0800-1200, 1300-1600 local time. (UTC-3) 00299 66 52 44 We phoned Ice Central on the Iridum phone under way and the friendly lady answering spoke English and gave the ice report.

By fax: Chart #1 covers ice from Cape Farwell up to 62 degrees north on the east and west coast. Chart # 1 number is: 00299 66 53 44, 24 hours a day.
Chart #2 covers the approach to Disko Bay on the west coast. 00299 66 52 47.

The local Tourist Office in Greenland ’s larger villages has ice reports once you arrive. For example, we will get the ice report for Prince Christian Sound , the inland waterway to the East Coast avoiding hyper dangerous Cape Farwell , from Nanoratalik’s Tourist Office. The police said the Tourist Office has internet but didn’t know about wifi. We’ll see tomorrow.

The Greenland ice information came from the RCC – Willie Ker Guide. The RCC guide is a must for Greenland cruising and should be purchased well in advance for planning purposes. We also printed some Greenland information posted by another cruiser on the http://www.noonsite.com/ website. The noonsite site is a priceless source of information for any location in the world. As you stretch your cruising legs, particularly in somewhat remote areas, it pays to add your information to the site to help the folks following in your wake. We have.

So Egret is in the land of polar bears, Big Ice, small native fishing villages and spectacular scenery. The next days will be exciting. Can you imagine?

Ciao.

July 30, 2013

Position: 59 50.80N 45 41.52W 1500UTC 1200 Greenland time
Seas: slick calm with slight swell
Sea direction:
Wind speed: 2.2 knots
Wind direction: Variable
Speed: 7.3 knots
RPM: 1600
Distance to go: 23.4nmnm
Arrival in Quaqortoq, Greenland, Tuesday mid afternoon.

Hello mis amigos, ARRIVAL DAY!!! Yes!! Is this way cool or what? Late yesterday afternoon we called Ice Central in Greenland on the Iridium phone. The nice lady that answered said there is NO PACK ICE (YES!!) and scattered bergs out to 200nm. I guessed correctly that the 200nm's was a catch all and it was.

Last night was relatively clear with diminishing seas. Dick took the early watch and I took the midnight to 0400 watch then Mary came on. At around 0300 there was enough light to see the horizon. It was a long night with intense watching. There was no reading, no nothing. By 0400 it was light enough to see well. However the fog came and went. As we closed the coast and got near ice, the fog intensified. Now at noon local the vis varies from less than a quarter mile to a half mile.

We passed the first coastal bergs at 35nm. At 26nm we went thru a scattered small bit field with pieces from cocktail glass size to container size. What was Not Good, even though we have both radars turned to max gain because it is so calm, the individual car size pieces or larger didn't show on radar. We did get groupings showing as a tell tale but with this gain intensity, even birds become a targer. Because there is no wind many of the sea birds are floating in small groups. The large bergs are Very Large and show on radar as big as a ship or bigger. They are not a problem.

With the first internet available VofE we consolidated all the information for someone to repeat this trip or portions of it.

So that's it. It won't be long.

Ciao.

 

July 27, 2013
Position: 55 35.66N 51 55.73W 1500UTC 1200 Greenland time
Seas: 1-2' with 3' swell
Sea direction: NNE
Wind speed: 10 knots
Wind direction: NNE
Speed: 6.0 knots
RPM: 1600
Distance to go: 348.3nmnm

Hello mis amigos, the wind swung during the night to the N then NNW. The seas also picked up steadily during the night and were the choppiest just after daybreak with 4-5 and occasional higher. During daylight the chop gave way to larger well spaced swells with a little wind chop on top. Bob's forecase predicts the seas will lay down later in the evening and we, hopefully, see that happening a little sooner. There was fog last night continuing into mid morning and now it is sunny with no clouds. There was one large berg last night that passed at 3.5nm. It was a tense few hours as we kept strict watch standing at the console looking for debris from the berg. We saw none. Fortunately during that time there was a partial moon illuminating the ocean.

Egret's speed has been all over the place with different currents and headwinds. The low was a spell at 5.6 knots, a few times over 7 knots but for the most part it has been in the low 6 knot range. We changed course 3 times to shortcut the ice field so I don't have a miles traveled because I didn't take a GPS mileage check before leaving. The only figure we have is Egret has traveled 2801nm since leaving Ft Lauderdale at an average speed of 6.5 knots..

Small sea birds have been with us working the wake day and night. I magaged to take a reasonable photograph of one and they are true sea birds with a tubular nostril on top of its beak. These are silimilar to most sea birds that spend their lives at sea so they can drink sea water and exude the salt thru this tube. Its sorta like sea bird reverse osmosis.

So life at sea is good, we are not the least bit tired. When the salon or pilothouse cools we turn on the bus heater in the master so warm things up. The temperature inside the pilothouse is 63 degrees at the moment.

More to follow tomorrow.

Ciao

To: Captain Flanders - M/Y EGRET
Fm: O.M.N.I./USA www.oceanmarinenav.com Tel: 302-284-3268
1600UTC 29 JULY 2013

Thanks for the latest VOE which included your position and weather.

Available observations indicate light northerly winds 10-15kts from your position northward to SW Greenland.

High pressure is over Newfoundland with a ridge extending northward to/about 60N 55W. The high cell should move slowly south/east through Tue/30th while the ridge to the north remains stationary into early Tue/am, but slowly weakens through Tue/night. A weak cold front is expected to move south across southern Greenland through Tue/night with high pressure north of the front pushing southward through Wed.

Fortunately, the high ridge and weather front are on the weak side. As the front approaches, winds will tend to back to the W-WSW through Tue/pm. Winds should veer after arrival, but should remain under 20kts.

Expect along the direct route to Quaqortoq, Greenland:

Mon/29-pm: N-NW, backing to WNW-W through the overnight hours; 8-15kts. Seas 2-3ft. Swells NW-WNW 3-5ft, tending to subside to 3-4ft overnight.

Tue/30 -arrival: Winds remain light through the day, ranging WNW to WSW 08-15kts through arrival. Even a period of light/variable winds possible. Should the front move through prior to your arrival Tue/aftn, winds could become more N-NE 08-15kts. However winds are still expected to shift after arrival. Seas: 2-3ft with NW swells tending mixed 2-4ft through arrival.

We will continue to watch this pattern through arrival, but this will likely be our last scheduled advisory prior to your arrival. Please continue to advise your noon position and arrival report when known. B/Rgds, Bob/OMNI

 

To: Scott Flanders - M/Y ERGET
Fm: O.M.N.I./USA www.oceanmarinenav.com Tel: 302-284-3268
1620UTC JULY 27 2013

Thanks for the departure report. The latest satellite imagery indicates the heaviest rain appears to be just to your south (still inland).

High pressure across the central and northern coast of Labrador is moving toward the south/east and helping to force the low center (as well as the heaviest rain) across the Gulf of St Lawrence eastward. The high should continue to move east/south across Newfoundland while the ridge lingers to the north through Mon/29th. As the high moves offshore the ridge to the north should also gradually weaken through Tue/night-overnight.

As the ridge weakens/exits, a new frontal system moving across eastern Canada should reach the Labrador coast Tue/night. An area of low pressure developing along the front will form across inland Labrador, while the weather front continues to move north/east across the Labrador Sea through Wed/aftn-night. The front should take a bit more time to reach the southern Greenland area, so increasing S-SE to ESE winds should take longer to encroach the southern Greenland coast. This should allow for a more comfortable last 6-8hrs into Greenland early Wed/am.

Expect along the direct route to southern Greenland at your best cruising speed as save navigation through the berg field permits:

Sat/27-pm: Variable to NNE-N to NNW 10-20kts during Sat/evening, tending to back NNW-WNW 10-18kts through Sat/night-overnight. Seas 4-5ft still possible over exposed waters, tending to subside to 3-5ft as the winds ease tonight. Seas will tend to be lower in the ice/berg field.

Sun/28: NNW-WNW 10-18kts, locally gusty through the afternoon-eve. Could ease to as low as 08-14kts through the night-overnight. Seas: Subside from 3-5ft to 2-3ft through Sun/eve-night. Swell: Any confused swells tending more NW 4-6ft.

Mon/29: Gradually subside and back NW-W to WSW-SW during Mon/eve-night; 08-14kts. Seas 2-3ft. Swells NW-WNW 3-5ft.

Tue/30 : Continue to slowly back WSW-SSW through the afternoon then S-SSE toward Tue/eve-night; 08-14kts, seas 2-3ft with NW swells 3-5ft early, subsiding to 2-3ft through Tue/eve-night then more Southerly 2-3ft Tue/overnight.

Wed/31-arrival: S-SE, even ESE-E possible near/at arrival; but taking a bit longer to freshen; 08-15kts, chance 15-20kts by the early afternoon. Seas: 2-4ft through arrival. Swells S-SE 2-3ft.

Watching/updating. B/Rgds, Bob/OMNI

 

July 26, 2013
Position: Cartwright, Labrador 53 42.16N 57 01.28W

Hello mis amigos, eh. We have a weather delay so we’ll try to get in a quickie VofE. One bit of information we have is the ice information from the Canadian Weather Service. NOAA also has ice information but I didn’t have any luck trying to decipher the maze of links so I gave up. More on ice reports later.

We had a lost in space issue with the last few VofE postings but today the VofE site is current. What is really amazing is the last postings were forward to Doug Harlow, PAE’S web guru, who happens to be at sea on the new N120’s maiden voyage from China to Vancouver, BC. So what was sent from Labrador to Jenny Stern in Rhode Island to the 120 and back up on the website took just a few hours. Amazing!! So, if you haven’t read from bottom to top since leaving Boston, it is worth your time. What you’ll find is a simple, safe, great weather march north with just 2 one night overnighters since leaving Nova Scotia. The balance was day trips. Incidentally, the weather wasn’t always great every day. We simply waited until it was great. If you have done the baby steps and put in some miles, this is a super way to spend the summer. June thru very early September is the best of the best. If you are a U.S. cruiser is best to be in Boston or Newport by very early September when the past 2 years the weather has gone to heck. Once back in the U.S. it is simple to move in good weather and end up where ever it may be comfortably and safely.

Charting to around 53.5 degrees north is spot on. After, at least for C Map it is hit and miss. The CCA Guide to Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador are a must – 3 separate guides. There are other guides and in Nova Scotia at least they supplement the CCA Guides but if you had to pick one, I would choose the CCA. You will be docking with no shore power after Halifax but occasional 30amp for the most part and many of the docks are rough. For these you need Real Big Boy Fenders, not girl fenders. Holding is good in most areas but nevertheless you need a Boy Anchor, not a Girl Anchor. What works in the Chesapeake or the Bahamas, etc, may not work here. Don’t take a chance. You will have wind puffing to 40+ knots. Not often, but you will. Shore lines are handy as you read in one posting. Once Egret left Halifax, Nova Scotia, we only got chlorinated water once in Corner Brook, Newfoundland. The balance of city water in small villages is pond water and we took none. So a watermaker is important. The good news is the seawater is very low salinity so you will make great water quickly.

Last year there was very little ice. This year is the most ice for the past 5 years. Inland bergs move by current and wind. It isn’t a problem but at the same time you have to be Very Cautious both at a dock and on anchor. You’ll know when to take care. Icebergs are 9/1. One part showing and 9 parts under water. The large bergs will never reach you on anchor or at a dock because they will ground first. It’s the smaller bergs that have to be watched. Two bergs you saw in the VofE postings were over 200’ high. A third was perhaps 300’. Of course these were offshore and not a problem. One thing to remember is when you launch the dinghy in calm weather to take the glamour shot we all take with the boat against the ice or behind the ice, 9 parts of that berg are below water. We witnessed one large berg split in two and roll over. It was like bombs going off. A second was a mile or so away from the anchorage and it too sounded like bunker buster bombs that reverberated thru the hull. So it isn’t a rare event icebergs split and roll over. If you are near it can be deadly. When we took Egret’s killer ice shot*, I was in the dinghy and not in the boat. I would have never gotten that close to the ice but They Did and got away with it……..thank goodness. Of course if that 300’, 2 tower berg split, I may have been turned upside down by the shock wave. So just be careful.

*You’ll have to wait to see the shot. It will be later this year at the earliest.

We have heard from a few people that Labrador is the best cruising in the world. I should say I believe they mean wilderness cruising. You can’t compare Labrador to the Mediterranean because they are very different. The Mediterranean is solid culture and history but crowded. Labrador has none except very specialized local history with little remnants of the ancient past. However, I think Labrador is fabulous. It is super beautiful; the Big Ice adds a dimension we haven’t experienced anywhere, the hiking ashore is great and it is very isolated. We have only seen two cruising boats to date; one from Montreal and one from Maine. We heard there were 9 cruising boats ahead of us and no doubt most of those were trying to make it to Cape Chinley at the tip of Labrador or even a NW Passage attempt that most likely won’t happen this year because of the ice. So basically, you are exploring isolated anchorages or abandoned fishing villages on your own. It is wonderful. The few folks you meet outside the villages are fishermen from Labrador.

However, in Egret’s travels for wild wilderness, Patagonia is still number one. By a long shot. The problem is it is Very Difficult to get to. The Argentine coast isn’t for anyone who hasn’t done tons of miles for years, AND has a sure enough capable boat. The west coast down and back is much safer and even then it takes tons of miles and a super capable boat. I can’t stress this enough. In fact, I shouldn’t even write about it. People Died the year before Egret arrived in the Deep South, the year she was there and the year after. If you have done the miles for years, have a capable boat and particularly do the west coast route, you’ll be ok. Just don’t take a chance.

Professional Weather Forecaster, OMNI Bob, Bob Jones, Ocean Marine Navigation Inc, has been sending weather reports regularly along with an initial ice report. The route to Greenland is based on missing the far majority of icebergs offshore was taken from Bob’s ice report. I have included a photo of a Canadian Ice Report from the internet. This may be found at: ice-glaces.ec.gc.ca., English, East Coast Block, Ice Charts, Iceberg. What we don’t have yet is the ice report from the Danish forecasters from Greenland. We e-mailed: isc@greennet.gl and asked for a Chart #1 report that covers SW Greenland and Cape Farwell. There has been very little change since Bob’s initial ice report. As you can see from the chart, our turning waypoint will be: 54N 52.5W. The concentration of icebergs north of that is a 5 year record. The big bergs aren’t the least bit of a problem. It’s the small pieces that trail the big bergs that are car size and don’t show up on radar. A large berg shows up well. If we are still in Big Ice the first night out, we will slow to 3 knots or so just in case.

Later. We did not hear back from the Greenland Ice Service.

In any case, we’ll be giving text updates under way with the same position reports and at sea information we send OMNI Bob.

We visited the Cartwright fish boat dock today. The offshore crab traps are on the dock and the folks still fishing were readying their turbot (fish) nets for the 3-5 day offshore turbot trips. The crab traps are the stacked cones you see in the photograph.

One sad story we heard was last year a French sailboat showed up late in the season and rafted off a red fishing boat on the end of the dock (not shown in the photo) to escape a big blow. The fishing boat broke its lines and both drifted together to the shallow water rocks and grounded during the storm. The sailboat was a total loss. It was their only home but fortunately they had insurance and later bought another boat in Montreal. The fishing boat took $385,000 to repair but they too had insurance. We saw the fish boat today and it was tied with 4 – 2” lines to the dock. It won’t happen again.

Egret is tied to the face dock of the government wharf in Cartwright. There has been a steady drive by of locals, some stare from their trucks and some stop for a chat. Today a local name Ben stopped by and asked Dick if we would like to take a tour of the fish plant. Ben told us they just went thru a 2m dollar upgrade. The primary function is to process snow crab from the offshore fishing boats. This year there were 14 boats bringing crab to the dock around the clock during the season. The plant processes 2m lbs a year from the local boats some trucked in from elsewhere.

The boats make 3-4 days trips offshore then return to offload then turn around and head back to sea. The crabs are iced in trays at sea and brought in alive. On arrival, the crabs are immediately put in a cooler with more ice loaded on top. From there they go to the first cleaning station where the crabs are split in two, cleaned with a stiff brush, rinsed then sent on their way on a conveyer belt to the sorting station and final cleaning. From there the crabs are loaded onto trolleys and put into 98 degree (Celsius) water for 11 minutes. From there they go into a cooling tank with 2 degree water (C), then to a weighing station and from there to waxed boxes and into the freezer.

The entire assembly line is spotless. In fact, Ben said the workers that get the most hours are the cleaners. They come on after the assembly line shuts down and clean all night. The plant employs around 70 folks during the season. As a secondary use, the plant process whelk, a 3” snail. (Ben calls whelk, riggles) The whelk are put into the hot tank then cooled. The animal is hooked out after they are cooked and vacuum packed in 1lb packages.

Of course we asked if we could buy some crab and whelk so Ben disappeared for a bit then returned with a 5lb box of crab and 2 packs of whelk. So tonight it is snow crab that was processed on July 17th. Ho hum. This photo is snow crab for tonight’s dinner and a pack of whelk.

Was that cool or what? Egret has opened so many doors over the years we couldn’t count them.

The ferry arrives at 1500 tomorrow afternoon (Sat). The tide falls big time in the afternoon and we want to ride the tide to the coast and the staging anchorage at Grady Harbour. (There was a photo of Grady Harbour in the last VofE). So I believe we will leave this afternoon after the latest report from OMNI Bob. The next VofE’s will be text only from sea. Mary said last night she can’t wait to get to Greenland. Will that be cool or what?????

Ciao.

 

July 23, 2013
Position: Cartwright, Labrador 53 42.17N 57 01.28W

Hello mis amigos, eh. We spent 2 days in Charlottetown putzing around. So let’s see; 2 trips to the fish processing plant for bags of deep water popcorn shrimp, thick slabs of halibut and a back up box of scallops – to back up the two left from Lunenburg.

While wandering the docks we met a fisherman who just returned with 65,000lbs which filled their quota for the year. He said it was a good thing because the weather offshore drove the fleet to the dock. The shrimp boats fish between 45 to 128nm offshore in very deep water. He told us a little how he lives. During the shrimp season they fish two areas, down north for their Labrador quota and for the up south Newfoundland quota they buy a quota from another fisherman, have him aboard and fish out of northern Newfoundland. During the winter he hunts partridge, ducks, an occasional moose when he hit the moose tag lottery and traps a bit for mink. Like many Newfoundland and Labrador folks he and his wife have a winter ‘shack’ where they spend much of their time. He said you can either lease the property from the Crown for $75/year or buy it. He bought a couple acres to keep neighbors away. He says they love the life and wouldn’t trade it with anyone. His boat is the one to the right in the photo You can see in the photo how much deeper it sits in the water because it is still loaded with shrimp and the other is empty.

He talked a bit about the gear while he was telling us about getting their gear hung up for 4 hours before they were able to free it. The steel doors that hold the net open were new and cost 20k. The net is around 18k and the balance of the rig is another 20k. Something new in the industry is an electronic shrimp counter or more specifically, when the net is full it sends an alarm for the rig to be hauled back. This saves time and fuel. Instead of towing 2 extra hours with a full net excluding any more catch, plus the fuel burn it pays for itself quickly even though it cost 20k. He said within a year every boat will have the counter.

Then we met Ms Powell whose father was the founder of Charlottetown. He started a pulp wood mill. In time he had a few employees and it grew from there. Mr Powell had many vocations over the years as diverse as they come. One thing that was interesting was his wife said if they were to live in the wilderness and they had kids, she wanted a school. So an upstairs room became a schoolhouse for the local kids. Today, Charlottetown has 320 residents and the Powells own the local grocery/marine supplies/hardware/etc, etc store. And the 2 pump gas station and the fueling truck and a float plane and, and. It was an interesting stop and because it is 10nm inland from the offshore route there have been very few cruisers over the years. Perhaps one every 5 years if that according to a local.

One thing I should mention is how remote Labrador is. A village of 320 folks is a large settlement by Labrador standards. Most settlements have far less. The Canadian government has been trying for years to relocate the outlying folks to larger settlements like Charlottetown. For example, a few years ago Charlottetown got a 20 mile road spur off the main highway. Before that it was ferry service only.

Leaving Charlottetown we took a winding inland waterway down north. It popped offshore for a couple miles then ducked back inside and included the Squasho Run at the northern end. Squasho run is a very narrow passage with high granite walls on both sides. There is one narrows section but it is well marked with a pair of buoys and C Map charting was spot on. The first large bay leaving Charlottetown was filled with Big Ice. Big Ice everywhere. We were running in the flybridge with a laptop and a small puck gps receiver but when we hit the bay with Big Ice, the wind picked up and it got Very Cold so down below we went. One thing that was way cool we saw a seal hauled out on the ice.

Squasho Run was spectacular and we shared the upper end with a minike whale. It was keeping pace off the port side and when we slowed, it slowed. At times it was 50’ from the boat.

The run was 39nm which is a Big Run these days and after Squasho Run we checked the charts and just seaward on the stbd side were two unnamed bays. The first appeared to be shallow so we gave the second a shot and it was perfect. After anchoring for a day shown in this photograph we backed into a narrow slot in the rocks and took two lines ashore. The new spectra lines are sooo much easier to handle than the ¾” polypro lines we used in the past.

There are fish trap floats around the bay and a small net off the point at the entrance. We saw a skiff coming by every few hours to check the net. On one trip he hauled a nice salmon from the net. So this morning we had the dink in the water and when he came to check the net, I ran over to see if he would sell a salmon. He said he couldn’t sell one but as I was leaving he called me back and gave us one. Was that cool or what? Later we saw him head to the small cove to the west and we went over to invite him over for a beer.

Mary, Dick and I spent the day climbing both sides of the bay high into the hills. We took a few snaps of flora art. The photograph is a close up of simple lichen growing on a rock. From a standing position orange lichen seems to be a flat patch of color. Up close you can see the detail. The shell shard is from a whelk, a seawater snail that was dropped on the rock by a gull to crack open. The flying teeth were voracious in the calm areas and in the wind it was wonderful. This is the first time we wore bug suits. What a pain those are. The suits are a full jacket with pulls at the waist and wrists. The head net with a built in cap can be unzipped when it is windy and there are no teeth to eat meat and leave welts. Of course they are super hot and visibility is poor thru the screen. Not being able to see properly isn’t particularly good when you are climbing.

The fisherman returned for beer thirty. What an interesting person even though it was hard to understand what he was saying. He started fishing with his dad when he was 4. He said they all do. He has been fishing the same patch for 31 years, took over his dad’s two boats and shanty in the next bay over. His main fishery is offshore for crab. The salmon nets are strictly for food for themselves, not for sale. Since he met his crab quota he has been fishing for 3” snails called whelks. Other times he fishes a small cod quota. In the winter he races sled dogs in 5 dog teams for sport. And so on. It was a super interesting visit. Leaving, he asked if we would like another salmon. Of course. Here’s Mary and Dick with a fresh from the sea silver salmon. We plan to leave in the morning and when Dick is removing the shore lines, he’ll leave a few beers next to where his net runs ashore. The fisherman will be surprised and of course we are thrilled at our good luck. We had one filet from the salmon in the photo this evening and there was quite a bit left over. Of course it was delicious.

Later before dark I took a photograph of the dinghy hanging on the hip. We began raising the dink to the hip the past couple years and should have been doing this from the beginning. There are several reasons. First is theft which isn’t an issue in most places, but you never know. Second, if you have to move for any reason during the night, the dinghy is never an issue. Also, if you need the dinghy in a hurry for any reason it is a quick drop away. And there is no fouling. The dinghy bow line is tied to a boat deck rail and the dinghy stern line (tied to an 8” cleat mounted inside the transom) is tied to the winch on the cockpit cap rail in Egret’s case but it could be tied anywhere. In extreme wind we tie a third line forward off the inboard towing eye to keep the dinghy from sailing.

While we’re at it, let’s talk about dinghy lines. The dinghy is an AB Inflatable 10’, aluminum bottom dink with a sub floor. We had additional towing eyes added to the sides in addition to the welded bow eye. The towing bridle is a simple affair with the center line slightly longer than the lines to the towing eyes on the side. This keeps the dinghy towing straight if you happen to be towing. Towing from the bow eye only, particularly in rougher water can be a disaster with the dinghy surfing away and going up side down. The three towing bridal lines are tied with 5/16th yacht braid with bowlines to a single stainless steel ring. The bow line (painter) is tied to the stainless ring as well. You can see the bridal set up in the photograph. The net covering the bow is for extra abrasion resistance for rocks, ice or whatever. In the covered storage compartment forward we keep a hand held VHF, 2 life jackets, a 5lb Manson Supreme anchor (the world’s best small anchor) with 3’ of 5/16 chain and a separate 100’ length of 5/16th yacht braid. We use the anchor only occasionally but in the event the dinghy engine quits we can quickly anchor in deep water until we can get the engine going. Drifting out to sea wouldn’t be much fun. As of yesterday we are carrying a second anchor, a small grapnel to tie to the dinghy bow line to throw ashore while dealing with the shore lines.

Currently Egret is under way along the 25nm coastal trip to Bateau Harbour*, 3.5nm from Black Tickle. The wind has been puffing from the low 20’s to 15 knots just now. There has been no spray on the glass and no large waves. There are the usual, ho hum, whales everywhere, lotsa grey seals in groups of a dozen or so and sea birds galore. Puffins are starting to show up but they are very shy and don’t pose well. The puffins are so fat they run across the water flapping their wings looking sorta like flightless steamer ducks from the Deep South. Ultimately the puffins crash dive when they get tired trying to lift off. If Bateau Harbour doesn’t looking interesting, we’ll run around to Black Tickle. We’ll see.

*Bateau is boat in French.

OK, so Bateau Harbour is a tiny, crumbling seasonal fishing village for a few folks. The dock is in very poor shape and only the end is marginally good enough and that in only good weather. If weather came we would anchor. The locals said that winter storms and ice have ruined the dock. Most homes are abandoned and collapsed or will be. We met 4-5 guys here for the weekend that are here alone doing boy stuff like catching a few salmon, working on their homes or perhaps getting together at night for a few.

After getting docked and yupping it up with locals, Mary whipped up a left over lunch of salmon, halibut, rice and added some red bell pepper & celery. This she mixed in a white sauce and let it simmer. Of course she had a couple loaves of fresh baked steaming hot baguettes from the freezer. Was that good or what?

After lunch, Mary, Dick and I went for a hike about town and up in the hills. Dick went out first and returned in a hurry for the %$@@^& bug suits. After suiting up here we are swatting bugs looking like spacemen. We felt funny poking around the abandoned homes with others here so we just climbed the hills and kept to ourselves. It would help if the weekenders would take a weekend and stack the remains of the flattened houses into a huge pile and set it ablaze. The rusty bed frames and the odd bits of metal whatever could be carried out to sea and dumped to be a habitat for a few years before they rust away.

So that’s about it for Bateau Harbour. We are dragging our feet and not heading much farther down north until we get the weather go ahead from OMNI Bob to pop over to Greenland. The trip will take around 4 days or so. More on that later.

OK, so Egret departed Bateau Harbour after being weathered in for a second day of wind, fog and rain. We left in almost zero wind but the downside of zero wind was a bazillion mosquitoes and flying teeth were out and about. It was bug suit city as Mary and Dick took care of dockline and fender chores. Of course you know who was inside all compfy wumpfy. Within 5 minutes after leaving it was puffing to 25 knots then rose to a high gust of 44 knots. Mostly it was low to upper 30’s sustained. Fortunately it was a front moving thru and the seas were no big deal but there was spray going over the boat. So after a while of plodding into seas forward of the beam and only making 3.8 to 4.4 knots we gave up on the original destination and looked for an anchorage with protection from the north. As luck would have it, there was a tiny fishing village named Spotted Island Harbour on Spotted Island just a couple miles away. There are a few hazards along the way but the C Map charting* was reasonable and eyes never fail. On entering it was obvious this is another village from the past and the government wharf was in shambles. In any case, we wouldn’t have tried to dock in that kind of wind and TK is a far better alternative. Mary fired TK down in 40’ and sent out 175’ of chain plus snubber. After TK did his deal we set a shallow water alarm at 25’, a deep water alarm at 50’ and a GPS drag alarm set at .3nm. After a few hours the wind has dropped to the mid 20’s, occasionally gusting higher.

*We are running out of hyper accurate C Map charting. The next anchorage as well at the trip inland to Cartwright have minimal or no soundings and only islands marked. We will ONLY head into Cartwright in fair weather with good visibility. The water is clear and shallows are easy to spot. We will also leave a track we can follow out if we have marginal weather on departure.

Later before dark Mary found a better anchorage just across the way with no swell. So we moved and anchored off an old fish plant in ruins. The bugs moved in as well so we didn’t put the dinghy overboard. The sunset that night was spectacular with a mix of brilliant orange, yellows, reds and purples mixed with the dark grey of the storm clouds.

We sent an e-mail to OMNI Bob (Ocean Marine Navigation – OcMarNav@aol.com) saying we are ready to make the crossing to Greenland with the first good window. As always, Bob wrote back quickly then followed up with a forecast that says there may be a chance later in the week, perhaps Thursday to head across. So in the meantime we’ll stay tucked in and hope to move in the morning to the next step toward Cartwright Harbour where we can mail the CCA Newfoundland and Labrador Cruising Guide update photo’s and find wifi to fire the CCA Guide text and this VofE into space.

OK, so today was another whaley day. We didn’t even have to call them. The first pair of humpbacks rolled so close in front of the boat we had to crash turn to port to miss them. There were spouts everywhere. Later in the 39nm trip to Grady Harbour we had small minike whales all around the boat. They paid us no mind, they were feeding in singles. Seabirds were everywhere. What a sight. They would pop up to the surface from no where then would be looking around in panic. Finally they would try to lift off but Egret was running into the 5 knots of wind there was so they were trying to fly off wind and at best they got a foot or two over the surface before they crash dove. In this shot you can clearly see they use their wings as paddles early on trying to clear the surface.

As we mentioned before, C Map charting is now reduced to showing rough drawings of islands and some rocks are just a black dot. So we took it easy and exaggerated each turn but in the end it was no big deal. Grady Harbour is nothing more than the tickle (pass) between Grady Island and Little Grady Island. 53 48.25N 56 25.62N There is little left of the seasonal fishing shacks on Little Grady and less left of the old fish plant on Grady Island. Around the corner is an abandoned Norwegian whaling station brought to Grady Island in the early 1900’s only to be abandoned relatively early. The heavy steel boilers, storage tanks, winches and other items still remains. So Dick and I explored both sides of the harbour like the boys we still are. Mary stayed to clean her little home.

It is interesting about choosing photographs to tell a particular VofE story. As we move thru the days and report our findings, we are full of enthusiasm for that day and what photo or photos we choose to show. However, as the days move along we write about new stuff and we are super enthused at the time about That Day. So like now, we have to pick and choose. Do we delete photo’s to show newer stuff? Old stuff was new just a day or 4 ago. It’s a dilemma. So we do the best we can. Of course I think you should be taking your own photographs of Labrador, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, the U.S East Coast, and farther south and east and west. From your own boat. So you can save all the photographs like the ones you won’t get to see from us this week. Sorta like the Big Ice grounded on a rock in front of Egret just now. Or the whaling station, or the tickle from top to bottom showing everything we described in a single shot. Or Dick turning a windlass by hand we found ashore that still works. Or the whales or birds or more Big Ice. You get the picture.

So while we’re cruising between the whales and ice to Cartwright, Labrador, let’s talk about cameras. This could cost you some Pesos but we feel there are places to spend BU’s and not. Photographs are your memories. They become your heritage, who you are, where you have been. To me it makes sense to have good tools instead of sorta good enough tools. All sorta good enough cameras including cell phone cameras are good enough to send e-mails at super low resolution. But when you begin printing your images in larger frameable sizes you took for years with a girl camera, you will be very disappointed. Film always gave you the resolution, digital does not. And its not just about pixels.

A popular item many pros include in their website is “what’s in the bag” (camera bag). Of course we boys always want to know what the pros use. In our case we use Nikon. Nikon and Canon are what the Far Majority of pros use. There are exceptions but not enough to count. Nikon and Canon are like Ford and Chevy. During the past 15 years of one-upmanship, the pendulum swings a little to one side or the other. Both are great systems and the best there is. So we’ll talk about Nikon, at the higher end where most gravitate after spending jillions getting to where those who stick with it evolve. I know we just sent well over $5k worth of lesser stuff we thought was great at the time and received a check back for $1300. Before that we sent another batch of stuff and ended up with peanuts. So if you are interested, we’ll save you a ton and get to the bottom line with recommendations. Canon has pretty much the equivalent items at roughly the same price if you choose Canon, but again, we’ll only talk about Nikon because it is what we know.

I have started using pro lenses nearly all the time. Mary doesn’t. We both use the same camera. Mary’s photos are around half of what you see in VofE. They look great and they are. However, what you see in VofE is about .5% of full resolution. Pro lenses are much better. They are stupid expensive and are stupid heavy to carry.

We started off until a year+ ago with what is called crop frame cameras or DX. The latest Nikon crop frame camera is a D7100. It is a great camera and far better than the pro cameras not long ago. However, it still isn’t as good as a full frame camera. But again it has 1/3 more reach with the same lens. But then again, its less forgiving at long focal lengths because of camera shake. The pixels are very small and can receive information just so fast. So if in the millisecond longer it takes to receive the information there is any shake, the photo won’t be tack sharp. In my very first photo with a full frame Nikon, I could see a remarkable difference. I kept a crop frame to use with a hyper expensive long telephoto lens for the extra reach but I quickly found I was better off digitally cropping the photo with full frame than keeping an original with the crop frame. So off it went in the last pile of stuff along with Mary’s crop frame.

We buy and sell most camera equipment at Adorama, a big NYC discount house. We also buy from B&H Camera and Video. They are within a mile of each other in downtown Manhattan. Adorama gives a free 30 day no question return. B&H may but I don’t know for sure. Their prices are so low that if you are in the UK for example and decide to buy my set up, you can fly to the U.S. and back free for the difference and then some. Same with New Zealand. I bought a lens in NZ that cost $1,600 that Adorama sells for $569. I sold it to Adorama for $400 because I don’t use it any more. Just for example.

OK, so what’s in the bag?
Scott’s stuff.
Nikon D600 full frame, 24m pixels.
Nikon 16-35mm, f4 wide angle lens.
24-70 f2.8 telephoto lens.
70-200 f2.8 telephoto lens.
200-400 f4 super telephoto lens.
For an all purpose walk around lens, I occasionally carry a 28-300mm f3.5 – f5.6 lens

Mary’s stuff.
Nikon D600 full frame, 24m pixels.
Nikon 16-35mm, f4 wide angle lens.
28-300mm f3.5 – f5.6 all purpose lens.

Tripod head. Really Right Stuff BH55 ball head.
Tripod. Manfroto 55 series carbon fiber.

Yes it’s expensive but it cost way less than the expensive learning curve in the last 7 years of serious photography. Waaaaay less. Don’t bother with off brand lenses for either Nikon or Canon.

So for a start I would recommend Mary’s set up. It works well. If you find you want to take the next step, buy mine. I will say the 200-400 f4 lens is stupid expensive and I rarely use it. It is a remarkable lens. I did use it today on birds and whales. But I hardly ever carry it off the boat or out of the Bubba truck because it weighs over 8 lbs with the bag. And then don’t forget you are carrying 2 more heavy lenses plus a tripod because the big lens is very difficult to hand hold.

For photo editing we use Adobe Lightroom 4. We make minimal changes & try to set up the camera to take a quality shot the first time. We also shoot in jpeg fine, not raw. Pros mostly use raw but the file sizes are huge and each photo takes time. I do most adjustments in 20 seconds or less. Not an hour. However, an altered raw photograph is better than mine if you print it poster size.

The Scott Kelby book on Lightroom is great. He also has a very good series of Digital Photography 1 thru 4 that is very worthwhile. There isn’t any technical, just what I would tell you to do in each situation without all the fluff. It doesn’t take long using what he teaches to catch on. The biggest single thing you can do is just go out and shoot. Mary and I shoot nearly every day. We throw 95% of what we shoot away. All the while we are fine tuning our framing and what we know looks best.

So anyhow, we have been on an 11nm leg and I had the time to pound out this camera stuff in case you have any interest.

It has been another banner day for whales. A few minutes ago there were 4 humpbacks feeding close to each other just off the port side. Now Mary is on the foredeck pointing like crazy because there are two in front of the boat and I better start paying attention.

There were 3. The third rolled around 50’ to stbd. We ran thru the boil. That’s too close. More later.

OK, we’re on the dock in Cartwright and have internet for a few minutes. We hope to leave Thursday for Greenland. We’ll see.

Ciao.

July 16, 2013
52 46.41N 56 07.33W Charlottetown, Charlotte Harbour, Labrador

Hello mis amigos, eh. The 26nm run to Battle Harbour was a hoot. First of all it was sooo flat calm we ran with centered Naiads the entire way. There was Big Ice here and there. The largest was several stories high. As we were leaving the harbour a small minke whale popped up next to shore. Of course we’re so spoiled now we only pull for the big stuff. So after leaving the cut, I started calling; here whaley, whaley, whaley and guess what? Sometimes you need to rethink what you wish for. Up popped a hugetus fin whale that rolled just in front of Egret’s path. Holy stuff!!!! I pulled the engine out of gear and spun the wheel hard to port. And then the turkey lips decided to stay a while and parallel the boat just a boat length or so away. Holy stuff again!!!! Finally it moved off to stbd and that was the end of that particular whaley. There were whale spouts here and there all along the way. Three were working back and forth along an offshore ledge so I suppose they were scooping up small bait fish called caplin by trapping them against the rocks. The sun was out and it was a magic 4 hour ride to Battle Harbour among the whales and ice.

There are 2 entrances to Battle Harbour; one from the south that is super narrow, shallow with granite sides and no way to turn around once committed. So we passed on that one. The next one is from the north by going around 3 large offshore islands. Of course I was in the flybridge with no charting, no guide that I should have memorized and I saw what I thought was the entrance. So in we went. I knew from the guide that up to 90 fishing schooners at one time were in the harbour and they entered from the north to a point when they could be warped into the inner harbour. The water is so clear that under water rocks and ledges appear to be various shades of green. There was lotsa green in the narrow channel. Not much dark. But still we had 40-50’ or so and in we went, no problem. Yup, missed the north channel. So now there are 3 entrances.

The 2001 photo of the dock that was pictured in the guide has now collapsed in the middle. Docks in Newfoundland and Labrador are built by building a square or rectangular ‘crib’ on shore out of logs, sinking it to the bottom and filling it with large smooth rocks available locally. From this foundation a deck is built. The cold water in Newfoundland and Labrador is low in salinity and has little shell growth like in warmer climes so wooden docks last for years. In this particular case, some dim bulb built cribs to sit on a flat bottom and the bottom was steeply sloping granite. So after sinking the cribs there was a large overhang over rock. They shored up the outboard side of the cribs with 8’ x 8’ timbers. The shoring timbers have been attacked by a new type of warm water worm that arrived with the warming of coastal waters causing the cribs to collapse and spilling the interior rocks. So the dock is barely usable so we passed and went to another dock.

This photo shows Egret’s dock and the collapsed wharf to the north. The majority of Battle Harbour is shown in the photograph. The refinished homes for the most part are owned by the Battle Harbour Historic Trust, however many of the homes are seasonal homes for locals and from that pool comes the Trust workers. A group of folks persuaded the government to pay to restore what was once the unofficial capitol of Labrador. So from 1991 to 1996 the Canadian government paid to upgrade the properties and put in the current infrastructure. Since the government participation ended, the Historic Trust has been trying to keep the ball in the air and make the trust site self sustaining by renting cottages, dockage and a restaurant. It is surprising how many folks come and spend a few days here. Some are adventure travelers looking for something different, others are Canadian residents looking at their heritage and some are students from universities like the University of Miami, Florida that sends a group each year to study the geology.

While docking a local trust worker came up to take the lines. After docking he handed us a sheet with the rates and I nearly choked being the squeaker I is. The rates were $2/ft+15%gst. Gasp!!!! We don’t go to docks. However on this trip to Newfoundland and Labrador the docks are free or nominal like in Bonne Harbour where the rates are $1/meter/night. So we paid at the store and went up to the former Canadian Royal Mounted Police building where there is wifi and sent off the last two VofE postings. The trust administrator lives in the cottage so we got talking and it turns out Egret was the first boat at the new rate and prior to that it was $.50/ft. Big difference. So in the end we spent quite a lot of time with Catherine, both at her office and aboard and discussed a plan to bring more yachties to Battle Harbour. It’s a long story, Catherine said she would refund our money and we declined but stayed a second day. As chance would have it, another CCA boat from Maine (Weather Gauge) with 7 guys aboard for a boys month out, gave a modest donation above the dockage as well.

So of course when two yachties meet in a remote location, we went over to invite their group to Egret but they beat us to it so we spent a few hours with their crew in the cockpit of Weather Gauge. Lotsa fun. And then, 2 outboard boatloads of Newfoundlanders stopped by to spend the night in the Bunk House (11 bunks) and they invited the two boats and locals to the bunk house for an impromptu jam secession. Oh ho hum, it was another great evening spent with 3 Noofies flying high on rot gut rum belting out Noofie country music. Was that great or what? The group of 7 long time friends cruise the Labrador coast every year in their outboards, running from the northern tip of Newfoundland to the closest Labrador landfall then work their way down north and up south the coast.

Does down north and up south the coast sound a bit strange? Well, when folks head north it is down north because the SW winds blow them down north and they have to return up wind or up south.

Battle Harbour has a number of buildings with informative displays explaining life during the 1800’s on. We can’t imagine how difficult a life it was. Because of a single entrepreneur, Battle Harbour became the center of the fishing industry along the Labrador coast. Battle Harbour had the first hospital, first school, first Anglican church and the first Marconi Station. The first Marconi Station transmitted Morse code only but later it became voice. From this Marconi Station, Robert Peary announced to the world he had reached the North Pole in September, 1909.

A local buying center was called a Room and Battle Harbour became the unofficial capital of Labrador because they controlled much of the coastal fish trade. The local store over a period of years, not only sold goods but ended up brokering the fish for the fishermen. The system was called the Truck (credit) system. The store would advance the fishermen their supplies for the season and set the price for fish at the end of the season. At season’s end the store would tally up the supplies minus the fish and more credit was given or taken. No money ever exchanged hands. Hummmm. This was a way of life for Labrador fishermen and their families for over 150 years.

There are a few hiking trails around the island, including one to the top of the highest hill where there are the remains of a seaplane wreck. The seaplane with 3 aboard took off from the tickle(entrance passage) to the harbour, turned up south, hit fog and didn’t clear the top of the hill. So we hiked, snapped a fewphoto of flowersand abandoned boats, and later ran into the matriarch of the island, a lady who spent 23 winters at Battle Harbour. It was interesting to hear her talk about her experiences, 5kids and so on. All five kids were born in her home on the island. The hospital burned in a fire that destroyed much of the upper buildings and the new hospital was moved to Mary’s Harbour, 11 miles away where Egret is today.

Mary’s Harbour, population 385, is home to the worlds most mosquitoes per cubic foot of air. Mary, Dick and I are all lumped up with big welts, not the usual small red spot. Of course we had bug suits on board but we dinghyed in and didn’t bring them. Big mistake. We didn’t find Mary’s Harbour interesting. The highlights were finding wifi at the local hotel and a hugetus breakfast.

So after leaving Mary’s Harbour the Egret crew went exploring. I put in a course to nearby Fox Harbour and a longer run to Petty Harbour. Fox Harbour was similar to Mary’s Harbour with fewer homes so we split after taking a photo of the town dock and ran a few more miles to Petty Harbour.

Before we describe Petty Harbour, I should explain one reason we go out of our way to visit places even though we know we won’t stop for the night. The various Cruising Club of America (CCA) guides are cruising notes from members over the years. This is not a professional publication in a sense, but a compilation of cruising notes that are available to the public. Some of the postings in the CCA Labrador Guide go back to the 60’s. So we record what we see, take photo’s of town wharfs, report their conditions and so on. So ever since making landfall at Newfoundland and now Labrador we have been compiling written and photographic upgrades to the guide.

One highlight we expected to see even before leaving Florida was Whales and Big Ice. So far we have shown a few snaps of what was Big Ice at the time. That was Girl Ice. Kindergarten Girl Ice. Maybe even Toddler Girl Ice. Today we ran into Boy Ice. Manley Ice. Dangerous Ice. Of course you would never run into Boy Ice at sea because it’s radar image would be hugetus. Icebergs are 9 to 1. 1 part above water, 9 below. We have now seen small ones split and or turn over. It’s a big deal. Most cruisers take glamour shots of their precious against ice in one form or another if they are in ice country. Its cool stuff. With Boy Ice you have to be Very Careful.

So it was super calm, the sun was out for the most part and we launched the dink. Mary and Dick took off in the boat and I in the dinghy with a hand held VHF and a camera with a pro lens. At first we planned to run Egret in front of this amazing piece of Big Ice, and I would snap away. Then the sun went behind the clouds for a while but I snapped away anyway just to get the angles right and so on. It wasn’t right. So then they took Egret behind the ice and I would shoot between the two Giant Towers of ice connected by an ice bridge. That was the shot. Mary and Dick ran back and forth for half an hour before the sun came out and we got The Shot.

So here’s the deal. Many of VofE’s photo’s are simply to tell a story. They are sorta like snapshots. Others are more artistic with good lighting. We like those the most but the snapshots tell a better story. This shot defines Newfoundland and Labrador’s Big Ice. We’re not going to show it on VofE. We will show some great photo’s of Big Ice, but not this one. I’m saving it for something special. Bottom line: you’ll have to wait.

Hogans Cove, Petty Harbour. 55 24.40N 55 40.57W is a circular cove off the long narrow Petty Harbour. There are a couple in tact seasonal fishing shacks on the waterfront and more in disrepair. Mary fired TK down in 49’ and we sent out 175’ of chain. When the afternoon sea breeze shut down the mosquitoes moved in so we watched a movie and that was the late afternoon, evening. The setting was super pretty with high hills around and easy hiking. But we were lazy and didn’t go.

Just before dark we heard a very loud noise as if a plane of some sort was very close overhead. There were vibrations coming thru the hull. It was intense and lasted probably a full minute. Intermixed with the dull roar was booming and loud popping. We thought it was the twin tower iceberg we photographed earlier splitting in two and turning over. The next morning we saw it was another very large iceberg where one top tower sheared and giant ice blocks fell on top of an ice shelf between that and a taller tower. The weight of the ice was reverberating thru the iceberg sending shock waves under water. It was waaay cool to see it after the fact and to know exactly what happened.

Monday. So after a lazy breakfast after the excitement the evening before, up came TK with kelp and a little mud, and off the little lady went. We explored Hudson Cove inside Murray Harbour that was just a 2 line mention in the guide. We added a little information to the guide but did not stop and ran another 40nm to Charlettetown in Port Charlotte Bay, a multi fingered deep bay. There is no cruising guide information on Charlettetown so we’ll add a bit. I imagine most folks bypass Charlettetown because it is a 10nm run to the west within the harbour.

Ok, after the Big Ice rambling there are whale stories to tell. Most of the whales so far have been small minke whales and much larger fin whales. Today was humpback day. There were literally tons and tons of humpbacks feeding in groups of 3 to 5. They were everywhere in sight. For the first time ever we saw the humpbacks lying on their backs and slapping their flukes; first one side then the other. It was wild!! We ran thru whales for miles including into the outer bay of Charlotte Harbour. So here’s a humpback waving hi there and another diving next to its buddy.

Along with the humpbacks were the first groups of seals. They were feeding in groups of 12 or so. The boat would push them to the top and they would race away on top leaping part way out of the water. It was only after I zoomed in on a couple photo’s I saw what they were doing. Don’t their heads look like Labrador retrievers? Do you think ancient seals morphed into labs?

The run in was super pretty with scrub trees trying to take hold in the usual sparse Labrador landscape of low greens and bare rock. There is a well marked narrows section and the trip in was simple and straight forward. Of course everything is easy on sunny days and no wind. But then the sun went away, a light fog moved in and it started to blow horizontal rain. To port on entering the inner bay is a very large fish factory, a multi fingered commercial dock lined with ocean going trawlers and straight ahead seemed to be a small, small boat harbour. The wind dropped from the low 20’s to around 12 knots and the rain let up a bit so in we went and docked. There was no real room so we tied to the end of the dock and are sorta blocking a couple fishing boats. A local said no problem when we asked so we’ll see.

So there you have it. A couple more days among the whales n’ ice n’ Labrador delights.

Ciao.

July 11, 2013
Position: 51 59.56N 55 51.36W Henley Harbour , Chateau Bay , Labrador

Hello mis amigos, eh. I don’t know how I can explain how we feel but we are exploding with enthusiasm for these amazing new places. For a short time we are going to change the format for VofE. The information is coming so fast we are going to give rapid fire, short VofE’s to pass this along. If you haven’t subscribed to receive VofE updates as they are posted, now is a good time. There is no obligation and no cost. However, nothing is absolutely free so you must be patient thru the next paragraph when I climb up on The Box.

This VofE posting and the coming rapid fire postings are what long distance cruising is all about. What it not about is STUFF. Newbies and newbies to be get hung up on STUFF. STUFF isn’t important. Cruising is important. NOT STUFF. NOT TALKING, BUT DOING. What is important is getting out and seeing what Mary, Dick and I are seeing is more important than the latest STUFF. You cannot BUY what we saw yesterday or today. You can buy STUFF but so what? What have YOU SEEN? Stuff in boxes? So what? The past two days in Red Harbour , Labrador and today in Henley Harbour , Chateau Bay , Labrador can’t be BOUGHT. You can’t write a silly check to see what we saw and are seeing. Plastic either. You can not buy this, you must earn it. A boat is just a tool. A tool to freedom and a tool to explore. So let’s talk about exploring. It is 1956 local, 1826 EST. The sun is 3 fingers over the high hills to the west. Egret is tied to a crumbling wharf in a Labrador out village* of perhaps 30 homes abandoned in 1995. She is surrounded by crumbling homes, wharfs, and Big Ice. It is one of our best spots ever. The quiet is absolute. There is no wind. There are no people for miles other than the Egret crew. Mary, Dick and I are LIVING HISTORY. In 20 years there will be nothing left of what we saw today. You Cannot Buy This, you Must Earn It. STUFF ISN’T IMPORTANT. Seeing what we are seeing IS. Seeing it sooner than later is IMPORTANT. STUFF IS NOT IMPORTANT. Having more STUFF or a BIGGER BOAT isn’t as important as going sooner and smaller than saving years for more STUFF or a BIGGER BOAT. This is something you NEED TO DO after your baby steps. You get the picture.

* A Newfoundland or Labrador out village is only accessible by boat. There are no roads.

OK, let’s do Red Bay , Labrador . As we mentioned in the last VofE, Red Bay has 170 residents, down from 200 just a few years ago. As a local said, “the young are departing for opportunity elsewhere and the old are departing”. There is hope for the survival of the village because it was recently declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the 1500’s Basque whaling influence. There are now 3 cruise ships tentatively slated to arrive this summer, a first. So if the 1400 folks from one cruise ship arrive as predicted they will most likely hit the museum and the local restaurant/gift shop. That sure beats the few cruisers that pass thru each year or the few wandering folks with campers.

The first photo shows the C Map view of Red Bay and where Egret is berthed. The second photo shows an overall view of the bay with The Basin to the left of the photo, Penny Island – the small round island partially hidden in the middle and Saddle Island at the right of the photo. Saddle Island gets its name from the two higher hills on the ends and the low ground saddle in between.
First we explored Saddle Island . Saddle Island is where the Basques’ set up their try works to boil the whale blubber into oil. There are 5 sites of the 3 pot works along the shoreline. There were between40 to 60 ships a year that spent 8 months in Red Bay harvesting whales and turning the blubber into oil before returning to northern Spain . One whale filled 100 barrels of oil and each ship carried 800 to 1,000 barrels of oil. So if you do the math, over the 30 year period of heavy Basque whaling they took around 9,600 to 14,400 whales on the low end during this period. So no wonder whales were scarce considering a whale can live to 60 or more years.

From a business standpoint, whaling was a high profit – high risk venture. From detailed records from the 1530’s, one dieing whaler’s will tells a significant story. The whalers made big money for the times taking the risks they did, not to mention the extremely hard labor. The very detailed will mentioned monies owned and monies to collect. What was also interesting is his donations to perhaps 10 different churches before his wife and daughter received the balance. The records are still in tact in the Basque region of Spain as we saw in a short video in the museum. Investing in whaling at the time would be something like investing in an oil well off the coast of Nigeria . It is scary stuff but the profits are there if all goes well.

There is a shipwreck on the east end of Saddle Island called the Bernier. In 1963 the Bernier delivered a load of coal to Red Bay . It was forced to overwinter because of a mechanical problem. The ship was not repaired the following year and in fall of 1965 it washed ashore. Hummm, I smell a rat. Let’s see, new owners, a single delivery then no fixey the problem and…….oh no, it’s wrecked so let’s call the insurance company. Or something like that.

Penny Island was just as interesting. The entire island has been abandoned since the 60’s from what we could see. The fish plant is mostly in collapse as are the majority of homes. One home we explored had 5 small bedrooms upstairs, a cast iron stove, washer with a clothes wringer on top, scattered paperbacks from the 50’s and 60’s, preserves still on the shelf and a rotary phone on the wall. The fish plant had an antique 6 cylinder diesel that turned a wood capstan for hauling dump boxes up a rail system from the waterfront. One interesting detail from the standing portion of the fish house was the natural wood knees bracing the roof beams, just like in boatbuilding. There was a number of decaying abandoned boats pulled up on the shoreline. The entire island is a piece of Labrador history and it needs to be cleaned up with the trash removed. However, it is still privately owned and there is no interest from the family to change a thing. Fortunately we yachties can visit at will by just pulling the dink up to the beach and having at it.

Most of the homes along the top of The Basin were owned by the folks in town. The fishing families fished during the season and hunted and trapped during the winter. The weather was less severe at the top of The Basin during the winter and it was closer to the hunting grounds and firewood so the folks moved back and forth with the seasons. In the second photograph you can see both sides of the town. The Basin is to the left and the seaside portion is to the right. In between both villages you can see ‘tepees’ of wood poles. We found the tepees are the traditional local way of drying wood for firewood.

One thing common to northern climes is the profusion of summer flowers. However, these flowers aren’t tall like flowers farther south. There is too much wind to grow tall. One interesting adaptation is a species of pine tree complete with pine cones that grows in a flat – splat type configuration on windy slopes rising perhaps 3 inches above the ground. However, in more protected areas they may rise to 3 feet with a few tops reaching 5’. Purple wild irises, tiny yellow and purple flowers are everywhere. In boggy places are spongy mosses and plants very similar if not the same as in southern Chile. However the soil is thinner in Labrador and you don’t sink as far into the mosses.

While Mary was fixing dinner, Dick and I ran across the bay and climbed Tracy ’s Hill that overlooks the entire harbour as well as the tickle (passage) into the harbour. The boardwalk is 1.7km long and rises 500’ so it isn’t a difficult climb and along the way were signposts to read while we caught our breaths. We caught some movement coming from the far side of an upland pond and it was a young bear streaking and freaking as it split. It was Dick’s first time to see a bear. A little farther along a chipmunk popped up to give us a peek. So Dick got to see his first chipmunk. At the top of the hill is a rock called American Rocky. During WWII, local volunteers would man the rock looking for suspicious ships or planes entering the Strait of Belle Isle . Prior to that, American Rocky was used to spot whales and so on.

Egret departed the next morning for Henley Harbour inside Chateau Bay . But that’s another story.

Ciao.

July 12, 2013

Position: 52 16.41N 55 35.14W Battle Harbour, Labrador

Hello mis amigos, eh. The next stop along the way in Labrador was Henley Harbour in Chateau Bay . 51 59.56N 55 51.36W. Henley Harbour is a Labradorean out village abandoned in 1995. (An out village is only accessible by sea. There were no cars, no roads, no bicycles, no scooters, no nuttin but feet for ground transportation). There are a few seasonal fishing cabins in repair but the far majority of the 30 or so dwellings are in disrepair, some to the point of collapse and others on their way. Some of the homes safe to enter still had the dishes in the cupboards and stuff laying around. Central to each home was a wood burning stove. Most had electric, none had refrigeration we could see and many had washing machines with an external wringer. I’m not sure where the electricity came from but we did see a few small generators and didn’t see any municipal wiring. There were water hoses up to a quarter mile long. We followed a super long one and it ended up in what appeared to be a spring that didn’t freeze like an upland pond.

So for two days, Mary, Dick and I wandered at will, totally alone with only the sound of the wind and zero manmade sounds whatsoever. There are perhaps a dozen small boats turned upside down along the waterfront. Each house had its own dock and there was a second shed alongside or waterside.

Within the harbour there are two small islets with homes connected by now defunct bridges. At low tide you can walk between the two but we used the dink. There was a waterside shed on one of the islets where it was obvious the fisherman simply turned his back to this lifestyle and left everything as it was. No fisherman simply leaves multiple expensive nets to decay or tools or important stuff but this person did. It was a very sad sight.

The church stands on a hill by itself. The church is now crumbling and the interior is a shell. There is a lane leading to the cemetery lined by rocks. The cemetery is on the other side of a hill overlooking a back bay. Every headstone but two were smooth white marble and the inscriptions were clear and sharp. What was unusual was virtually every person buried, perhaps 50, had the surname of Stone. We saw no other cemeteries on the island. The earliest headstone we saw was 1903 and the most recent was 1982. Many were children and young women. There was a father and son lost on the same day. Their inscription read: Sad and sudden was the parting. Hard and cruel was the blow. How sadly we missed you both……..


Ice comes and goes within the harbour. The larger the ice, the sooner it grounds and simply melts. While we were walking we heard a loud BOOM and a huge iceberg inside the outer bay exploded and split into two large pieces. The two halves moved quickly away from each other trailing a debris field of smaller bits. One particular piece of ice was sculpted into three spires. When we first arrived it wasacross the bay and later in the afternoon it moved in front of a still habitable home. By the next day this piece had drifted farther into the bay and the three spires were diminished to nubs. In this relatively hot weather, its upper 60’s to low 70’s F during the sunny days, ice doesn’t last long. Dick picked up a chunk stranded on shore and hacked it into manageable pieces for cocktails. In a taste test, Dick proclaimed the ice to be 10,250 years old. He said 8237BC was a vintage year for ice and we should be so lucky. Of course we had to celebrate our good fortune with 8237BC ice in the cocktails. You know, we had to agree with Dick. It was a good year.

Across the harbour is a massive basalt table called the Devil’s Dining Table. Locals called it Castle Island . Along its mid point are the last homes of the village.

The dock where Egret is berthed is crumbling. The north face where the CCA Guide to Labrador recommends is no longer usable. However, the west side is still in good nick so after first tying to the north face we checked the depth with a piece of line and local debris then carefullybacked in. The east side is usable but only by warping the stern around using a short bow line to the bollard. There is no room to turn into the side. This is a government wharf and it has the usual government furnished boom for offloading fishing boats. This is the view of the dock and beyond out of the pilothouse glass just before dark.

Behind the wharf are two buildings now mostly empty. One had unique traps that appear to still being used. They are simply 5 gallon (20 liter) pails turned upside down with cement on the lid, a 6” hole drilled in the bottom with a conical net. The sides have been drilled with a hole saw. I assume they are lobster traps but don’t know for sure. The other building had piles of discarded fishing nets. Behind the two buildings was the remains of a large freezer and an antique 6 cylinder diesel generator and compressor.

Today was a windy day with a SW wind puffing at around 18-20 knots until late afternoon. So it kept the flying teeth away and we didn’t even have to use bug repellant or use the bug shirts. The sun has been out for days now and it is almost dreamlike to enjoy exploring in solitude and no signs saying No. All we left were footprints and all we took was photographs. I hope in the years to come many more cruisers have a chance to enjoy seeing this village before it is gone with the wind.

What’s next? Battle Harbour , Labrador . But that’s another story.

Ciao.

July 8, 2013

Hello mis amigos, eh. Disaster City . I lost an entire VofE posting by mistake. There is no way I can recreate the feeling and all the information a second time. While under way, I have a lot of time to write and this particular posting was up to around 4,500 words or around 20 magazine pages including pictures. Bummer. So instead of spending another day trying to recreate the posting we’ll give a short recap and move on to the next posting.


We did a big deal on fuel mileage we won’t repeat but this technical information is super important and deserves the time. This is a series of e-mails to Lugger Bob – Bob Senter – Northern Lights/Lugger guru and everyone’s go to guy for L-N/L issues. Bob, as always replied quickly and stayed on top of the issue until my questions were answered.

Hi Bob, Scott from Egret here. Egret's 6068 Lugger has a fitting taking oil from the top of the filter thru a high pressure hose to the front of the Naiad pump. The factory hose has started to weep. The hose fittings are the flat face type with an O ring on the fixed portion. We had hoses made here in Nova Scotia that don't match the original. The original hose has a 1/4" diameter hole in the fitting face and the replacement has an 1/8" which substantially reduces the flow.
My question is; does the pump need that extra flow or is it just to lubricate a gear or a bearing? The vane side of the Naiad furnished Vickers pump gets it's oil from the cooling tower. I called Naiad and said they don't furnish the hose, just the pump.


(Bob) There is supposed to be a restrictor at the auxiliary bearing housing end of the hose. It doesn't take much oil to lube the bearing and shaft. Some manufacturers do without it entirely but suffer wear and failures. I would have preferred it at the filter end to reduce the pressure on the hose and increase hose life but that was engineered long before I joined NL/Lugger. Without a restrictor, you will divert too much oil from the engine's lube system and there is some potential for starving the critical components. Please let me know if you need further assistance with this hose issue.

Best regards,
Bob Senter
360-531-1444



(Scott) Bob, thanks for the quick reply. Here's what we found after I removed the original hose. The original hose is Aeroquipt. The replacement is Gates. Both are engineered hoses. I used drill bits to determine the restriction difference between the two hoses. It was interesting. Even though the Aeroquipt hose had a much larger opening, the restriction at the fitting neck itself is slightly less than 25% larger than the Gates. The Gates was restricted to 3/32 and the Aeroquipt was less than 4/32 (1/16th).
So far using the new hose we have run the engine for 45 minutes at idle with no leaks and no noise from the Naiad pump. Also, we left the original O Rings in place even though they are surely hard. The Gates O rings appeared to be slightly larger and I didn't want to take a chance on destroying the original O ring without a replacement. We carry an O ring box but I'm sure they are not Viton or whatever Aeroquipt or Gates uses.

Here's something I'm going to add to the next Voyage of Egret posting. The original hose was super hard and cracked deeply in places when taking it off. Only the inner core was in tact. Particularly on older boats equipted with Naiad's, in my opinion this hose should be changed every 5 years or so.

Scott,

(Bob) I strongly agree. I think all hoses on any marine application should be subject to rigorous inspection by the time they are 5 yrs. old. Cooling system and external flexible lube hoses should just be replaced at 5 years.

(Scott) And to add another bit of information, because of the slight restriction in the Gates hose vs the Aeroquip hose, we gained another 4-5lbs of oil pressure with hot oil. What this means is that when coming to idle with the Naiad’s still on while docking, the oil pressure alarm isn’t chirping because of low oil pressure. In the past we had to turn off the Naiad’s while docking to keep up the oil pressure. So it appears to be a win-win.

OK, back to cruising. The lost VofE included the trip north from Baddeck in Bras D’ Or Lake to the Newfoundland mainland. We waited for good weather so the trip was calm and uneventful.

N64 Ocean Pearl should be half way to Ireland by now. We can’t wait for Tina’s (Tina Jones – Ocean Pearl) next posting.

Egret departs later this morning from Norris Point in Bonne Bay for Red Bay in Labrador . We waited 3 days for the weather to lay down in the Strait of Belle Isle . The wind has been cranking to the point a large research trawler docked in front of Egret until the weather got more reasonable. It is about a full day’s run, 149.8nm, to Red Bay so we’ll leave at 1100 to arrive mid morning in case there is fog, plus the last bit of the trip there may be ice and it would be sorta nice to see it before we start chipping away at it with bow.

In the meantime we have been hiking here and there around town. A local drove us to the next town to see the sights and when we were walking back we were picked up by an ex yachtie couple and driven back to Egret. One thing lead to another and we were invited to Jean and Barbara’s house for dinner and the next day they loaned us a car for a few hours.

So up the coastal road we went. It was an interesting drive. The scenery was pretty but what was so

 

July 3, 2013
Position: 49 31.03N 57 52.55W Norris Point, Bonne Bay, Newfoundland

Hello mis amigos, eh. Ok, so hopefully the lost postings are behind us and we can move on. The evening before departing the Bay of Islands we watched Fargo on the TV. So since departing this morning at 0530, we have been speaking Min ne sooooo tan. Yaaaaah. Even Dickiedoo has it down pretty good even though he struggles with normal English. You know, like he says daie instead of day. And so on. But we have spent so much time with Dick over the years we sorta pretend to understand him.

OK, so we hand steered by turning the autopilot knob out of the Bay of Islands. The 6 hour offshore portion to Bonne Bay was calm with intermittent fog. On Dick’s watch he had two boats traveling together come straight at him out of the fog. One was a sailboat and the other was a fishing boat. They appeared to be traveling together but in the end, everyone missed each other so that was good.

The CCA Guide to Newfoundland says that Bonne Bay is one of the most beautiful spots in Newfoundland. We have to agree. The highest mountain in Newfoundland is Gros Morne, which is inside the Gros Morne National Park surrounding most of the bay. Small villages are scattered along the shore. Unlike farther south, some of the homesare painted in primary colors making the shoreline super colorful. We first tried to dock at the small village of Woody Point but there wasn’t enough water at the docks so we did a cruise down the S. Arm of the bay, turned around and ended up at the public dock in Norris Cove.What a great spot, eh? We hiked up a trail overlooking the village and southern part of the SE Arm. This is slate country. There were flakes of slate everywhere on the trails and thehillsides. So we putzed among the trees, snapped a few shots of pine cone art, tooka nap, hiked a secret trail back to the village, played in the flowers, and found the local grocery store that was miraculously open on July 1st – Canada Day. Of course we had to ask if we could come back in 2 weeks and pay for the groceries. The lady was soooooo nice, yaaaah, that she didn’t want to say no. So we told her we would pay in cash and she was sooo relieved……yaaaaah. We took a loaf of bakery bread off the shelf and she said she had fresh bread in the back baked today. Is that nice or what?

So then it was off to the Cat Stop on the water for some suds and a bit of wifi. Tina from N64 Ocean Pearl had just posted her latest blog. They hope to leave tomorrow (Tuesday, July 2d) for Ireland. You need to follow this blog on the N site from these well traveled folks. Tina tells it how it is and the postings are informative and a lot of fun. So here we sit on a Noofie dock surrounded by lobster traps and a steady stream of folks driving down to the dock to look at this strange boat.

OK, so here’s a few snaps of Nooofie waterfront scenes. These lobster traps have pink identification tags. The traps just to the left have bright green tags.

This morning we saw a fuel truck fueling the tour boat next door so we asked it we could get fuel as well. No problem. Egret topped up with 631.9 liters at $1.30C/ltr. 168.1 USGallons - $4.94USP/gallon. So she has enough fuel to make it to Iceland without fueling which includes a bigreserve. However, we plan to fuel in Greenland where fuel is subsidized by Denmark and its waaay less than Iceland’s fuel price. So we buy where we can and save when we can.

The last photo is one to remember. I This photo was taken at the Bunker Hill Burying Ground in Boston. The Patriots lost the battle of Bunker Hill but at a huge cost to the British. American independence began on this hill. If you are American, Happy Independence Day from the Egret crew. If not, please share our good fortune.

Ciao.

Ed. Note - The glossary of Egretism terms will be posted on the Captain's Log home page for easy reference.

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