Goodbye to the Belle Desgagne!

Aug 30, 2019

We packed up our belongings in our tote bags, left them at the purser’s desk and went in for our last breakfast aboard.  It was a bit sad to say goodbye to so many folks that we had met on this trip.  We sat with Robert who is travelling solo and also going to Newfoundland.  He had visited Newfoundland before and had enjoyed it so much that he was doing it again.  He is from Georgia and is pulling a tent trailer.  He had boarded the ship in Natashquan.  We would be crossing paths throughout Newfoundland.  Our other breakfast partner this morning is Dave Sevard. Dave is the local Liberal candidate and is on his election campaign travelling to all of the settlements. His home is Baie Comeau.

The crane was working hard to offload the containers destined of Blanc Sablon, including our truck and trailer.  Many of the passengers who were not disembarking were taking an excursion into town so there was a flurry of activity at the gangplank.  It was beginning to rain and Debbie and I sat up on deck 8 patiently waiting for our containers to be unloaded.  Ours would be near the last to be offloaded.  I finally saw our Santa Fe in the container dangling for the end of the crane’s hook and being lowered onto the dock.  We went outside in the rain and I started to put the kayak racks back onto the truck, with the help of Wayne, who we had met onboard.  

Wayne and his wife Rita were making the round trip. Rita had taught school in her early career in an isolated settlement north of here. Wayne and Rita now live in Nova Scotia.

Finally the trailer’s container arrived and we also found the kayaks in a separate container just near our truck.  In about a half hour things were loaded, hitched. Good-byes said, and we were off on the next leg of our journey.  We stopped in at the ferry office next door to reserve a spot on the Sunday afternoon crossing.  We had decided, after talking to folks on the ship, to spend a few days north of Blanc Sablon and explore the lower region of Labrador. 

We stopped in at Buddies Groceries in Blanc Sablon and stocked up the trailer for the next week.  After visiting the local Tourist information office, we headed for Pinware Provincial Park to secure a campsite and make it the home base for our travels in the area.  We had several interesting places that we wanted to visit.

Our campsite backs right onto the bay and the waves were rolling onto a beautiful red sandy beach.   You could see the village of Pinware across the bay.  We were planning do some exploring in the late afternoon, but we were both tired and decided to take a nap.  The nap was obviously needed as we finally awoke at 5:30!  We walked along the beach in our mosquito netting jackets as the black flies had suddenly taken a liking to us.  We watched several seals bobbing about in the water in front of us.   Gannets were diving into the water, fishing.  These birds fly about 50 feet above the water, and when they spot a fish, they fold their wings and dive straight down into the water.  It was a magnificent thing to watch.  

We were both hungry so Debbie cooked for the first time in a week and it wasn’t long after doing the dishes, a short read and some blogging notes and it was off to bed.  

It had been a busy day and a very active week.  We talked about our week on the Belle Desgagnes, and we both concluded that it was a trip well worth taking.  We had seen some many interesting places in this part of Canada and had met so many great people.  We agreed we will always remember this trip.