Rob-n-Hild, Eastward Ho!

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Forteau - Snorri Cabins, Noddy's Bay Driving: 185.3 km. 2:29 hours. Elevation maximum 142 metres (Labrador). Sailing: 37.5 km. 3:11 hours.

Well, we made it on the last ferry out of Blanc Sablon to St Barbe, well for the next few days at least. We got an email early in the morning that there would be only one crossing today (as there had been the last few days to be fair) and that reservations for both crossings would be prioritized as long as we were at the ferry terminal one hour before departure. With departure scheduled for 9.30, we were glad to be only staying a 20 minute drive away as we had plenty of time to have breakfast and pack before we had to leave and we were actually quite early at the terminal, just to be on the safe side.

The ice has been packed between St Barbe and Blanc Sablon for over a week now and the only way the Qajaq (pronounced kayak)could get thtough was by following a Coast Guard icebreaker! As we sat on the dock we were following the progress of the two ships on a marine-tracking site and then we saw them coming in, with the icebreaker peeling off as the ferry came into the quay.

It took a while to load everyone - especially as the crew were trying to get all the waiting cars on board, given that this was going to be the last crossing for a while. We had a late breakfast on board - probably more like lunch actually as we didn't get going until after 11.30. When we did, we had to follow the icebreaker quite closely and still needed to bash the ice out of the way. Check out the sound of the ferry hitting the ice in the video.

Another site Hild has been checking is an iceberg tracker which plots sightings of medium and larger icebergs and we found reports of three icebergs in the general area of the ferry. We went up on deck to look for them and we figure these two are 459 and A42. We couldn't see anything that could have been BBC - doh!

We docked just before 3 and were lucky to be one of the first off - Mary Jane is so small that she had been tucked in the middle row which had to leave before the cars in the outside rows could pull away! It was a nice clear day, but the wind was picking up - the same wind that was expected to result in cancelled ferry crossings until Sunday. Anyway, we were safely here on Newfoundland now and we drove Northwards to St Anthony where we had seen a plce to look for more icebergs. We thought we could see them through our binoculars, but the photos we took didn't look like anything. However the lighthouse was very pretty, as you can see.

After that we drove on towards our stop for the next two days - Snorri Cabins at Noddy Bay. This is close to the area of the first viking settlement in North America which is now a historic site and everything around here is viking related. More of that tomorrow.

Coming up: L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site

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