Sunny and warm in West Newfoundland, with a productive day in Corner Brook

Back then we had nothing but rain; now, thankfully, it’s lovely warm and sunny. For the first four days we’re anchored in the sheltered bay of Neddy Harbour, close to the little village of Norris Point. Only when there’s a stronger south-easterly wind does it blow over the mountain and makes it a bit rough here, as we noticed one night. But with a south-westerly offshore wind (which is usually the case), it’s wonderfully calm here throughout the fjord. We need to do some shopping, so we cycle 9 km to Rocky Harbour, as there’s a small local supermarket there. The distance isn’t too bad, but we have to cross a hill, which is particularly steep on the way there, rising 160 metres. I set off on my normal bike, but soon find I can’t manage it any longer, so Toine takes over and I carry on on the electric bike ☺️. On the way back, Toine is on the electric bike and pulls me up by the straps of my rucksack, which works really well 😃. We’re exhausted by the end of it.

We’re also going out for a lovely, sophisticated dinner with some good wine to go with it. That’s a real treat. Good that we are not stopped for a alcohol check on the way back in the dinghy 😎. Other than that, we’re not doing much, apart from a short walk at Norris Point, and we’re really unwinding after all that sailing over the past few weeks. Suddenly, there’s nothing we need to do. That comes naturally to Toine, but it takes me a while to find a new balance, and then I miss home a bit more. But that feeling soon fades when I get stuck into the photos to make some photo albums that I can have delivered to Inge. A few more parcels are on it's way in the meantime, including some from Toine 😃.

For our second stop, we spend the night at anchor deep within the fjord. We’re near a campsite with some nice entertainment on shore. The weather is warm and sunny, and for the first time we leave the bimini up all day. I go for a walk on shore while Toine does some odd jobs on the boat. It’s a beautiful spot here.

Our third and final stop in Bonne Bay is a little way back, at the end of a cove near the entrance to Gros Morne National Park. From here, we can head to the start of the 17 km hike up Gros Morne (800 m). We can already see the summit from the anchorage. We set off early the next morning in the dinghy to the shore and walk the 1.5 km along the road to the start of the hike. The hike consists of two sections: an ‘easy’ section of 4 km (a gentle 400 m climb) and a ‘difficult’ section – a 9 km loop that first climbs steeply up the mountain and then descends slightly less steeply along a very uneven path with lots of boulders. And then another 4 km, gradually descending back to the car park, followed by 1.5 km along the road back to the dinghy. We just set off, not yet sure whether we’ll tackle the difficult section as well. When we get close and see that we have to scramble up through a rocky gorge, we think, ‘No, we’re not doing that’. But when we actually reach the start of the rocky gorge, it looks less steep after all, and we decide to just go for it (according to the signs, that difficult loop takes at least 4 hours). The climb up is perhaps the easiest part of the walk for me 🤔 but it’s already quite tough for Toine. It’s a bit colder at the top and we walk through the clouds for a short while. We know we’ve still a long way to go, so we don’t stop for long at the top. The first third of the descent goes very well until Toine suddenly twists his right ankle badly and fully. It’s very painful – will he be able to carry on? It turns out that, with the help of the walking poles (and keeping his foot firmly in his high-top hiking boot), watching carefully where he puts his foot, it’s just about manageable. It becomes increasingly difficult and painful as he severely twists his ankle twice more 😥. By walking slowly and with a great deal of willpower, we eventually make it down. We’re so relieved when we’re back on the boat ☺️. It was a wonderful walk, but the last 8 km were a real struggle for Toine.

The next day the weather is calm, with no south-westerly wind for the time being, so it’s time to head a little further south – 40 nm on to the Bay of Islands. Toine isn’t able to put much weight on his ankle, so it’s nice that it’s a gentle motor-powered trip. After 8 hours at sea, we drop anchor in the sheltered bay of Woods Island. The entrance is a bit tricky, with shoals on both sides, but this is well described in the cruising guide. We’re wonderfully sheltered here and stay for three nights. Time for Toine’s ankle to recover; fortunately, it’s getting better every day 😃. For me, it’s a good time to spend two days carrying out major maintenance on the Hallberg Rassy Connection website (which I still maintain) That involves quite a bit of research, but with the help of ChatGPT, I’m able to implement the necessary changes and test them in a test environment. Toine has made further progress in ordering a new boom vang.

Our food supplies are starting to run a bit low. For example, we’ve been out of bananas for over a week now (they’re essential for our breakfasts 😉). The vegetables are also running out and we’ve run out of dark chocolate 😉. So we’re sailing 12 nm further into the bay to a small marina near Corner Brook. It’s a small town with a large supermarket and a hairdresser. We can also book an appointment there for our second shingles vaccination 🤗. It’s a lovely marina with a pleasant amount of activity around us. For the first time in ages, we’re connected to the shore power again. Toine had prepared everything very well so that we could also charge using 120V, and it’s all working perfectly. He’s also programmed something in Victron with the help of ChatGPT so that the Mastervolt shore power charger (which we use for 120V) stops charging more gradually. He’s also set it up so he can switch the battery charging via shore power on and off remotely. That’ll be handy when we’re in the Netherlands for a week later on. We’ve now confirmed that we’ve secured a berth for that week at Shining Waters Marina, just south of Halifax 😃.

The short visit to Corner Brook is very productive. On the first afternoon, Toine stays on the boat to service the engine (which is certainly due after 300 engine hours), while I cycle into town. It’s 7 km from the harbour along a footpath/cycle path that follows an old railway line; so it’s a fairly flat ride 😃. Corner Brook itself is entirely set up for cars. I’d like to buy some clothes and had already given up hope of finding a shop until, in the shopping centre, I happened to walk past a fantastic shop next to a large supermarket. I went completely wild with all the summer clothes marked down by 50 per cent and ended up coming home with 11 items 🤔🤗. I’m absolutely delighted with them; it’s been a while since I last bought (and was able to wear) summer clothes.

The next day, we cycle into town together. First to a drugstore where we buy a good ankle brace for Toine (on Ellen and Jan’s recommendation). Next, we head to the hairdresser’s, which is a half-hour’s cycle away – mostly uphill. Let’s just say that’s a good workout 😅. Once we’ve both had our hair cut, we cycle (downhill) on to the pharmacy, where we get our second shingles vaccination. We’re helped very kindly and they’re very interested in our sailing trip. Finally, we do some shopping in the big supermarket and then cycle back to the boat. A very productive day! Once back at the boat, we cast off straight away to sail back for another two hours to the anchorage at Woods Island. If we feel a bit sick tomorrow because of the vaccination, we won’t have to do anything.

We then spent three days in the sheltered bay of Woods Island, waiting for a north wind to sail the 200 nm to Nova Scotia. On the first day, I feel quite flu-like because of the vaccination. Toine isn’t affected by it, but his foot needs a rest after the intense day in Corner Brook. We fiddle around a bit on the boat. The same goes for the second day, when the weather is a bit rough with strong winds and rain. Woods Island was inhabited until 1962 and is now only a summer destination. During my walks along the shore, I speak to a few people who tell me about life here. Once again, the people here are very friendly. On the third day (today), the weather is lovely and sunny, with plenty of wind in the afternoon. We call Pieter and Eline and realise once again that life can take very different turns. What a pair they are, with such immense optimism – Eline facing a gruelling course of treatment and Pieter struggling with chronic back pain!!

On these quiet days at anchor, we regularly think about the next stage of our journey. The first step is to sail on to Florida and the Bahamas from early October, before the end of this year. We have now decided that we will spend 2–3 weeks in the Netherlands over Christmas, rather than having the girls and their boyfriends come to visit us in the Bahamas. The weather in the Bahamas is already rather unpredictable at this time of year (with colder temperatures and more low-pressure systems coming in from North America). This is not set to improve given that this is a very strong El Niño year. We’d rather avoid that uncertainty, and we also look forward to spending the Christmas period with other family members in the Netherlands. We’re also considering staying in the Caribbean Sea for a year in 2027 and only heading through the Panama Canal to the Pacific in early 2028. Instead of early 2027, as we’d had in mind for a while. This is also due to the strong El Niño year, which has a particularly negative effect on stable trade winds in the Pacific. But also to slow the pace down a bit. We’ll see – the advantage of travelling by sailing boat is that you have plenty of options and don’t need to commit to anything too far in advance. We’re still looking for a place in Florida where we can safely leave the boat for 2–3 weeks over the Christmas period. So much for the slightly more distant future… back to today…

At last, there won’t be any south-westerly wind for the next few days 😃. Time to sail on to Bras d’Or Lake in Nova Scotia. That’s 200 nm from here, and we expect it to take us 1.5 days to get there. Our plan is to set off tomorrow morning and, if the forecasts are correct, it should be perfectly sailable, with a beam reach at first and then a broad reach. We’ll see how it goes – either way, it’s time to carry on! We now have 3.5 weeks left to reach Shining Waters Marina, south of Halifax.