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1930 Monday, August 7, 2023
At 0530 my cell phone alarm roused me from my bunk. JJ and were up early. A kettle went on the stove for JJ's morning tea while the two of us cast off lines and left Battle Harbour for the long run across the Strait of Belle Isle from Labrador to Newfoundland. Our destination, St. Anthony, lay some 60 nautical miles away on the other side of the Strait.
Belle Isle, whose southern tip lighthouse is shown in the above photo, was named by the French explorer Jacques Cartier on his first voyage to the "New World" in 1534. He thought the island was exceptionally beautiful. The island sits in the middle of the entrance to the Strait, or passage between Labrador and Newfoundland. The Strait is also the most direct route from ports in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to Europe; but, only used in the summer months when it is relatively ice free.
Today we did pass quite close to a 1,000-foot long cruise ship, Coral Princess, that was entering the Strait, perhaps bound to Quebec City or Montreal. We pondered that she may have been doing a cruise in Iceland or Greenland. The Coral Princess is in a photo below.
Most of our day was filled with sailing on a broad reach in a moderate northeastern. The wind started light, the built. Most of the time we were sailing with a reefed mainsail and reefed jib. A couple of times we surfed down growing seas at speeds of 9.2 knots. It kept us busy on the wheel as the sea state grew along with the wind. A photo below shows Tazzarin under sail.
We made our landfall in Newfoundland just off of the lighthouse on Quirpon Island, shown in the last photo. Back in 2019 Annie and I, along with my nephew Duncan and his wife Emily, spent two nights in the lighthouse keepers cottage on Quirpon. So, it holds a special spot in my memory.
By the time we reached 15 Mike's further down the shore, we reached the entrance to St. Anthony. As we rounded the point under sail the anemometer showed gusts up to 39 knots! It made for an exciting finish to the long day.
We plan to be in St. Anthony for a couple of days to explore a little and to refuel, take on water and buy groceries in this town of 2,000 people. We left here last month for Labrador with 33 gallons of fuel in the tank and another 30 in jugs. We also had 90 gallons of water in our two tanks. We still have some fuel and water; but, certainly need to take on more!
Bill
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