Newfoundland~We’ve Arrived and Discovering Adventure!

Thursday July 18th

Our Ferry to Newfoundland

Yesterday, we crossed at St Ann Harbour using a ferry that could handle one tractor trailer and cars on both sides of it. Today we crossed the Gulf of St Laurence on a ferry that held 21 tractors end to end and many rows wide. This ferry was eight lanes wide. It also has four of it’s nine decks of parked vehicles. It is a giant and I’m told that it is a fairly new vessel. It was a long voyage over to Newfoundland. The six hours would be long enough, but we had to be in line on the dock at four am. We slept in the camper. That was a lot better than all of the people who only had their cars. This story should have ended here, but we forgot that the incoming

Inside ferry 8 lanes wide

ferry had to unload. This started at midnight and than they loaded all of the tractor trailers starting around 1:30 am. To top off the noisy neighborhood there was a humongous down poor around, well lets say between 10:30 pm and walkup call over the loud speaker at 4 am. Did I mention that Helen set her phone alarm for 3:00 am just to make sure they didn’t leave without us!
Once we were underway, we tried to sleep in the lounge at the rear of the ship. That didn’t work exactly as planned. It was a little to cool with the A/C. We moved up to the internet lounge  and things were fine from than on. Helen and I struck up a conversation with a couple from Rimouski. Pierre and Claire Sirois made the time go by quickly for us and them. He is retired, runs a maple sugaring operation (family style business) and also cuts 50 cords of fire wood  on his wood lots. They gave us a lot of info on Newfoundland. This is their third time for visiting this Island.
We landed in Channel Port aux Basques at around 12:55 pm. The time changed again. First there was an hour difference, but oddly here enough we added an extra half hour. First stop… at the visitor center for more maps and suggestions on places to visit close by. Second stop was in the back of the camper for lunch. We just about flipped a coin on deciding if we should stay the rest of the day here or move further up TCH (Trans Canada Highway). All of those tourist on the ferry headed north. Monkey see monkey do. Tonight we are in West Bay at a small Provincial campground called Piccadilly Campground. It is quiet, peaceful and I’m nearly asleep
That is what we did and saw!