GOOD-BYE NOVA SCOTIA; HELLO NEWFOUNDLAND.
TRAVEL DAY
From: North Sydney/Cabot Trail KOA Campground, New Harris, NS.
To: Grand Codroy RV/Tent Camping, Doyle’s, Newfoundland (NL).
Day 27 – It was a long day today. We were up early again this morning in anticipation of the trip to NL. (NL = Newfoundland/Labrador. The two areas are grouped together into one province.) It was 47 degrees at 6 a.m. and mostly cloudy. No wind! That bodes well for this ferry trip which should last between 6 & 7 hours. Unlike the ferry trip in British Columbia, we won’t be able to access the RV during the ride. The kitties will be in the bedroom, their normal traveling place, with a litter box, food & water. We are required to stay above and cannot travel in the RV with them. In BC, they announced every two hours that people could visit their pets & access their RVs for 15 to 30 minutes during each announced time frame. The girls were much more relaxed with the visits.
We departed the campground at 9:55 a.m. We were required to be at the ferry terminal and checked in no later than 10:30 a.m. (for a 12:30 p.m. departure). Many of the RVs camping near us at the KOA departed around the same time. Are they all traveling to NL, too? We arrived at the North Sydney ferry terminal twenty minutes later, despite more road work. We recognized several of the vehicles we’d seen at the campground. The girls were already complaining from the back of the RV. Little did they know.
We approached the check-in booth and there were no vehicles in front of us. Would it be an almost-empty ferry? It took 10 to 15 minutes to get checked in. After verifying our reservation, we were issued our boarding passes. The RV/Honda tow car combo was measured – 50 feet. You are charged by the foot. We were directed to Lane #11. As we approached, we saw that HUGE trucks already filled most of the lanes. Many of the trucks were double-decked car carriers. How much weight could this ferry handle? We got in line behind several RVs, camper vans, and trailers. We let the kitties out while we waited for our lane to begin loading. Luna was on the dashboard, wanting to play with Gracie, not at all concerned by the large vehicles around us. Gracie was doing her best to ignore her.
Before boarding, an attendant went from vehicle to vehicle, checking the boarding passes. They began loading trucks and larger vehicles, then the passenger cars. There were two levels of parking decks. They loaded both levels at the same time with upper & lower loading ramps. A difficult but very organized process. There were lots of Cormorants in the area – many were busy flying back & forth, building nests at the top of the lighting fixtures.
When our lane began to move, we put the girls back in the bedroom. It took a little while of waiting in line on the lower ramp; then we were placed in our spot on Deck 3, squeezed between large vehicles. We gathered our belongings and said good-bye to the babies. We would miss them; they would miss us. We had been assigned cabin 8305 on Deck 8. The ferry was huge.
The ferry departed Nova Scotia at 12:35 p.m. (that’s Newfoundland time – it was ½ hour later now). It was 61 degrees, partly cloudy & the wind was 12 MPH, a much lighter wind than our last trip in 2019. We left our books & stuff in the cabin and headed towards the restaurant, checking out several decks of the ferry to get our bearings. We got pictures as our ferry was leaving the dock, then got seated for lunch. We were hungry.
The restaurant was comfortable and not full. There were views outside windows. The food was very good, surprisingly. We split the Thai Stir-Fry Veggies over Rice and the Fish & Chips with Sweet Potato Fries instead of standard fries. The portions were large and the service was excellent. They would be open and serving until 5 p.m. Dinner would not be served on this ferry.
We went to the outside deck after lunch; out to sea, it was much colder. On the elevator when we were going back to our deck, we encountered a crew member who had been born & raised in NL. (We find Newfoundlanders in general, to be very friendly and quite talkative.) He asked us – as people usually do – where we were from. And as people again usually do, when we said New York, he assumed we were from New York City. No, no we said, NOT the big city, but further upstate. He asked if we’d been to NL before and how long we’d be here. We said, “We were here in 2019 and we’ll be staying here until late September this time”. He said, “Well you know, I am so glad to hear you are staying awhile. I meet so many people that come to Newfoundland for one or two weeks at the most, and think they saw what the whole Island had to offer while spending most of their time in St. John’s.” “We only visited St. John’s for a day”, we said. He responded, “Well you know, this is a very big Island and you cannot see everything here in that amount of time, ho ho ho.” We said that, “No, when we were here last time, we went from one corner to the other arriving when there was snow on the ground and leaving when it began snowing again. And we loved it here, so we thought we’d come back again and visit our favorite places for longer periods of time”. We told him everywhere we were going. He said, “Are you going to see the Birds.” And we said, “Oh, do you mean St. Mary’s where the Northern Gannet colony is? We love them!” And he said, “Well you know, they’s better with Gravy, ho ho ho!” Meanwhile, we’re holding the elevator door open, trying to get off the elevator at Deck 8, and after 15 minutes he said he had to go and get back to work.
We went back to our cabin and took long naps. Our cabin was comfortable enough with two small beds divided by a small built-in desk and a stool for sitting. We had our own bathroom. Everything was spotlessly clean. After our naps we took another walk around and stepped outside. It was hazy and cold out; the sea was fairly quiet. There was no smoking inside, so the smokers were congregated on the outside deck. We returned to our cabin. Having a cabin is much safer, disease-wise, than being packed into rows of seats like sardines. (Which are very tasty in NL, like the Northern Gannets, so we’ve been told.)
We got a few pictures as the ferry arrived at the terminal in Port aux Basques, NL. It was 6 p.m., 49 degrees and cloudy. By the time everyone had returned to their vehicles and we’d driven off the ferry, it was 6:55 p.m. We got on the Trans Canada Highway, Route 1, and headed to our campground. The drive was scenic. There were mountains with some snow still on them, and there were ponds, streams, and ocean views. We drove through the area called “Wreckhouse” because the winds can be so strong, they can wreck your house. We were delayed for days in 2019 due to the heavy winds. Today it wasn’t windy, grin.
We arrived at our destination, Grand Codroy RV/Tent Camping in Doyle’s, NL in the Grand Codroy Valley. It was 7:35 p.m. 51 degrees, hazy, and no wind. There were other vehicles in line to check in – in front of us and behind us – all having gotten off the ferry, too. We picked our campsite, site #8, with a view of the water from both sides and a view of the mountains from the front of the RV. We had full hook-ups (but the 30 amp hook-up didn’t work and we had to hook up to 15 amps; we’ll see how that goes). We had reserved a spot for 5 nights. We’d never been to this campground to stay when they were open, but in 2019 when no one else was open in October when we were leaving, this campground was kind enough to let us park overnight at the gate for free, even though they had already closed for the season. We’d just needed a one-night stopover before getting on the ferry the next morning. The kitties were thrilled to be out of the bedroom. This was a nice, quiet campground. They liked it here, and we did also.
