The Coast

Since I enjoy winter and snowmobiling, we decided to go back to the Lower North Shore for a vacation this year. We had a great time snowmobiling on the Route Blanche Snowmobile trail, went to the Saint Augustine Carnival, and got to watch a hockey game.

The conditions were great since there is so much snow this year. I also think that the season will last much longer than normal, since it will take some time to melt. If it does turn out this way, there will be some excellent spring snowmobiling on the Coast this year.

I will be adding more details on our winter adventure soon, and I have also uploaded some of our photos on the Lower North Shore Web Site too.

On my recent vacation to the Lower North Shore, I met Alexandra and Karl who are walking the entire length of the Route Blanche, from Kegaska to Blanc Sablon. They are from the Quebec City and Lac Saint Jean regions, and I am not quite sure what made them to decide to undertake this adventure, but they seem to be having a great time.

We met them between La Tabatiere and Saint Augustine, and it had been four months since they left Natasquan. Once they reach Blanc Sablon, they plan to take the Relais Nordik, which is the local ferry, back to Sept Iles, or Rimouski. They were making good progress, but still had a few weeks to go until they would reach Old Fort Bay.

I really like their approach, since they were trying to keep everything as traditional as possible. Karl actually made their Komatics himself, and much of their clothes and gear was also traditional or hand made. They did not take a radio or satellite phone with them, and they got their weather forecast and news from people stopping to talk to them on the trail. They spend most of their nights in a small tent that was heated with a wood stove.

They will definitley be in good shape once they reach their final destination, and I am sure that they will have some interesting stories. i am looking forward to hearing from them again, once they get back to “civilization”.

We just booked our winter vacation on The Lower North Shore. We had a great time last year, and are looking forward to hitting the snowmobile trails again this year. This is definitely a snowmobiling paradise with lots of trails, such as the famous “Route Blanche”, or White Route/ White Road. There are also very few fences or man made obstacles to get in your way; just lots of lakes and mountains to explore.

In most of the villages, the roads are also not plowed and you can drive your snowmobile in the village too (as you can see in the photo below).

Here are some more photos from our snowmobiling vacation last year. I just can’t wait to get bback there again, and will include more pictures when I get back.

I have been going through the latest issue of the Chevery news, and have been reading about some of the activities planned for CoastFest 2008. A year long festival like this is a great idea, and hopefully it will encourage more former Coasters to visit the Lower North Shore next year. Every time I go back for a visit I have a great time, and I seem to be getting hooked since I am going back more frequently.

I was living in California for a few years, and during that period it was difficult to visit the Coast. I ended up not going back for 5 years, which I always regretted since we had such a great vacation on the Coast, just before we moved. When we went back in 2006, we enjoyed it so much, that we ended up buying a small house in the village of Mutton Bay. It is funny but paying our own bills and getting the place fixed up, helps us feel closer to the Coast even when we are not there. It is also great to have our own place when we do visit, and we can personalize it with some of our favorite knick knacks. We actually refer to the house as our cottage, although it is definitely not a traditional cottage location (as you can see from the photos below).

Since the vacation in 2006, we have been going back more frequently, and we went back once in the summer, and also in the winter this year. It was the first time that I had been back for a winter vacation in a long time, and I really enjoyed riding on snowmobile again. It is also a great time to visit, since there are lots of carnivals and hockey tournaments, and you can meet more people during these events.

I wish that I could spend more time on the Coast during the winter, but because of time constraints we take most of our vacations in the summer. This is the best time to go out on the islands in the gulf to see the whales and porpoises, and to pick some berries if they are in season. We spend most of our time hiking around the hills, riding on my father’s boat, and eating fresh seafood. The summer vacations are always very relaxing, and we always come back feeling well rested, and energized.

I would encourage anyone thinking of visiting the Coast, to take advantage of Coast Fest 2008 and to visit next year. Hopefully, some of our recent experiences are helpful in helping you to make up your mind. Maybe you will end up buying a small house too. Here are a few additional pictures to help make you home sick.

For more information on CoastFest 2008, you can go to the coastfest web site, or read more in the Chevery News.

I have fallen behind on my Blog updates this fall, and I am just now getting to the last post related to my summer vacation. On the last day of our vacation on the Lower North Shore, we decided to go out in the boat again to see if we could find any porpoises. It turned out to be the best day yet, and we saw a huge school. I have included some of the best photos below.

This photo shows one of the porpoises jumping right out of the water.

This is part of the school that we saw. There must have 30 of them in the school.

Here is another photo of porpoises jumping.

This morning, it was cloudy and cold when we woke up, so I also got to light a morning fire for a change. After breakfast, we went for a short walk through the village, and then got ready to go and visit my parents. Unfortuanately, when we tried to start the car, the battery was dead, so we had to get a boost from our neighbour Jim. After that, we were on our way, but without any real plans for the day.My mother told me that the Nordik Express was at the wharf, so we got into the car to see if we could see any damage from the accident in Harrington Harbour. When we got to the wharf, they had already unloaded all of the freight for the village, and were now loading frozen fish from the local fish plant. We looked along the side of the boat, and could not see a hole, but someone working at the fish plant told us that the hole was below the water line. We also found out that it was a thirty foot hole, and was in one of the ballast tanks, so this is why they were able to continue. With both ballast tanks filled up, the boat was very low to the water, and it looked like the ship would not be able to go into very rough seas.

After lunch, Ellis came by for a visit, and asked if I wanted to go on his sail boat today. Since I didn’t have anything else planned, I thought that it was a good idea, and we went out. After we got out on the water, the sun started to come out, and it turned into a beautiful day. We didn’t actually put the sails up, and just went around with his outboard motor. We steamed around for a couple of hours, and went to Red Bay, Old Post, and down near Big Point. It was a very nice and relaxing ride.

After dinner, we packed up our gear, and went back to our house in Mutton Bay. We were a little sad that this was probably going to be our last night on The Coast until next summer. Of course we could still get to enjoy the wood stove for one more night. Sitting in the small living room with the wood stove crackling is definitely the thing that I enjoy the most about this house.

I definitely indulged too much last night, and I had a throbbing headache when I woke up early this morning. I drank lots of water, which usually works, but I just did not feel much better. I also couldn’t sleep anymore, which is what I really needed.We decided to drive down to see what my parents were doing, but they had already gone out fishing for mackerel. We got ready ourselves, and just as we were about ready to leave, they showed up with some cod fish that they had caught. My father told us that it was an absolutely perfect day on the water, and said that he would take us out again, if we wanted to go out. They had also seen a couple of whales, so we thought that it would be a great time to go and try some whale watching.

Just as we left Red Bay, we saw our first whale, and we went off to get a closer look. The water was very calm, and it was very easy to see whales from far away. The whale must have taken a very deep dive, since we didn’t see it again, but we did see some porposes off near one of the islands. Unlike the whale, the porpoises stayed near the surface, and also came very close to the boat. I have never seen so many porpoises in one place, and so close to our boat before.

We just could not believe our good luck, and I took lots of pictures, and video of the porpoises. Since the water was so clear, we could also see them as they were swimming underneath our boat, which is something that I had never seen before. They move so fast under water, and can change direction in an instant. I was really amazing to watch.

After watching the porpoises for about ten minutes, we went out to Gros Isle to look for more whales, but did not see any. As we were coming back to Red Bay, we saw another one in the Cove, and tried to get some photographs of it too. Again it seemed to take deep dive, and we just decided that the porpoises were enough for today, so we headed back to Red Bay.

The salty air made me feel better while we were whale watching, but I still spent the rest of the day nursing my hangover, and took a nap in the afternoon. The kids also just played with each other, and seemed to be tired too. All of this fresh air and fun was starting to tire us out.

I did go by to see Ellis later in the day, and he told me that we could go sailing on Sunday or Monday if the weather was good. I can’t believe that we are already down to just two days of vacation left, but sailing would be a good way to wrap things up, before we get back to the grind.

It is raining tonight, which this just makes the evening by the wood stove so much more enjoyable. The kids did not even put up a fight when we put them to bed at 8 p.m., and I think that they must be realy exhausted. I am goin to make it an early night too.

Today was an absolutely beautiful day. My wife and I decided to go for a long hike in the hills above the Western side of Mutton Bay, to get some exercise. All of the nice seafood meals, and late evening drinks by the wood stove, were starting to add a few pounds, and I was looking forward to some exercise. I also thought that it would be a great opportunity to get some photos from the top of the hill, and I was not disappointed.We headed out across the plain near our cottage, and then proceeded to climb up to the main hill, which is near a point out in the gulf. As we climbed the higher and higher, the views became much more spectacular, and we just kept saying “Wow!” as we reach the top of each smaller hill on the way up. There are just so many beautiful spots along that particular path, and there are lots of large boulders where you can stop for a break, and just stop and stare at the ocean.

We also found some excellent berry patches along the way, and my wife quickly filled up a small margarine container with bakeapples. We both ate lots of berries, and it was really great to just snack as we walked. In the more sheltered areas, the bakeapples were starting to get a little over ripe, but at the higher elevations, and in the open, they were just perfect.

We also saw a couple of owls or hawks along the way too, and I managed to take a picture of one of them. I guess the noise that we made as we were walking startled them, and they took off from some bushes in front of us. They just seemed to float on the wind in front of us, and they looked absolutely magnificent just hanging there.

After we reached the highest peak, we deicided to hike back down to the water, and then walk along the shore instead of just retracing our steps back the way we cam up. We had to be a little careful on the way down, since we were not familiar with the area, and the moss can sometimes be slippery. There are lots of cracks and cliffs where you can hurt yourself if you are not careful, but we did not have any problems.

The hike back along the shore was also very nice, and much less windy than on the top of the mountain. It was also a great opportunity for my wife to collect some firewood to make some picture frames. She got the idea for the frames from the Stage Restaurant, and it should be a nice project when we get back.

Just as we were walking back into the village, one of our neighbours told us that the Relais Nordik had hit a rock in Harrington Harbour. Apparently, this happened last night as the boat was coming in through a narrow passage, just outside of the Harrington wharf. There was a hole ripped in the side, and all 150 of the passengers would have to get off of the boat in Harrington. Luckily, nobone was hurt, but it must have been very scary for the people on board.

Since the villages of Harrington, Chevery, Tete a la Baleine, La Tabatiere, and Saint Augustine are isolated, the Relais Nordik being out of commission is a big deal, since it is the main way that these villages get their supplies. We were already having trouble getting a few items, such as eggs in the local stores, and there would probably be more shortages soon. I would imagine that they will have to quickly get another boat running to replace the Relais Nordik, if the damage is as extensive as it sounded.

We continued back to our house for luch, and then went back up on the hills nearby again to enjoy the rest of the beautiful day. The kids were running around on the moss, and eating more bake apples. The bakeapples seemed to give them short energy boosts and they would run for five minutes, and then stop and eat some more. I also showed them how to roll down the mossy hills, which was a game that I used to play when I was a kid. It basically consists of climbing to the top to a hill covered in moss, and then lying on your side, and roling down to the bottom. Once you get to the bottom, you are pretty dizzy, so the goal is to try to stand up right away, and try to run back up without falling down. It is great fun.

This evening, we had invited several of our old friends over for our first house warming party. Two of them brought guitars, and we had a great time. I am not a singer, by any stretch of the imagination, but at one point I was singing part of a John Prine song. My cousin left at around 2 a.m., after many beers, and a late snack of local shrimp that I had in the fridge.

This was definitley the best day of our vaction so far.

Today was my wife’s birthday, so we decided to have a Lower North Shore birthday celebration for her. After the kids gave her some of their handmade cards and gifts, we packed up a lunch, and took my father’s boat down to Blais Island, which is just East of La Tabatiere. The main reason that we went to this island, was because it was very windy, and we did not want to go too far in my father’s 16 foot fiber glass boat. Besides that, it was a little cloudy, but it was warm and it looked like it could clear up later in the day.

In addition to being close, Blais island is a nice location, since it is relatively sheltered, and there are several small beaches where you can light a small fire with drift wood. I really love drift wood fires, since the wood is so dry, and it burns so easily. You also do not need an axe to break it, since you can usually just smash it against a rock to break it into smaller pieces. We picked a small rocky beach that was in a windy area, where we would not get bothered by any flies. We put all of our gear, and food on the flat rocks near the water, so that we would not have to worry about sand getting into our lunch. After lunch, we started roasting marshmellows and hot dogs for dessert.

Once we had finished lunch, the sun came out, and everone used the nice weather to explore our little isalnd. My wife went for a walk along the shore, and then slept on a rock near the water. The kids went picking raspberries, bakeapples, and blue berries, and had a great time playing in the moss and small bushes. I stayed on the rocks, and kept the fire going with driftwood. After picking berries, the kids went to the beach, and started playing in the water near the shore, and skipped rocks. They all had their rubber boots, and splash pants on, but this didn’t make much difference, since after about five minutes, they were in the water up to their knees, and the boots became buckets. They all had a great time though, and said that the water was not that cold, which was a little surprising.

By about mid afternoon, we decided to head back, since everyone was getting tired. We dropped the kids, and my mother off at the Sands, so that she could drive them back home. My wife and I stayed in the boat with my father to go back to Red Bay. As we left the sands, I knew that it was going to be a rough ride, since this relatively sheltered area was already pretty choppy. As we cut across La Tabatiere, we saw a relatively large sail boat quickly heading to the wharf in La Tabatiere, which was probably also a bad sign. At first I thought that it might be Jim and Sharon’s sail boat, but it turned out to be someone else that we did not know.

After passing Old Post, the waves started to get very large, and I have to say that I was a little scared in the small boat. The waves must have been eight feet high at that point, and sitting in the front of the boat, it felt like the front of the boat was going to go under some of the waves. My father did an excellent job of navigating around the rocky points, and the small boat actually seemed to be an advantage, since it was relatively easy to mavouver over the larger waves. Once we finally reached Red Bay, I was very happy to see calm waters again.

For dinner, we were planning to go to the Stage for my wife’s dinner party. I decided to take a shower before going to the restaurant, and I could taste all of the salt water from our boat ride back, washing off of my face. When we got to the restaurant, I ordered the seafood pizza, which was excellent, and is probably the best pizza that I have ever had. They also had a home made birthday cake ready for us, which was also delicious, and nicely decorated. I also had several coolers with my dinner, which went very well with the pizza, and help top off a very nice day.

We then went back to the cottage, and I took some photos of Mutton Bay at night, which I have included here. My main regret on this trip, was forgetting the camera adapter for my tripod, so I had to use the bridge railing, and rocks for a tripod instead.

After being stuck in Blanc Sablon one night because of fog, we were concerned the next morning, when we were delayed again because of fog. The lady at the Air Labrador desk told us that the rest of the Coast was clear, and that we should be able to take off, once the pilots gave the O.K. Everyone traveling with us told us that it was normal for Blanc Sablon to be foggy early in the morning (they actually said that it was always foggy in Blanc Sablon), and that it would probably clear up.

After about one hour, the fog started to clear, and we were able to take off from Blanc Sablon. As we flew up the coast, the weather kept improving, and it was a beautiful sunny day when we landed in La Tabatiere. The kids were extremely happy to see Grandma and Granpa, and we were also relieved to be starting our planned vacation. We drove directly to our house that we purchased in Mutton Bay on our last vacation, which my wife had not actually seen it yet. There had been numerous renovations done on it over the spring, and summer, and we were also looking forward to seeing how everything looked. As we drove down the hill into the village of Mutton Bay, and I saw how pretty the village looks in the summer, I was really glad that I had a house of my own to stay at in the village. As we pulled up to the house, the house was now white, instead of the original brown colour, and I was hoping that the rest of the renovations would be as nice.

The inside of the the house, was also much nicer with all of the touch ups, and my parents had added numerous touches, such as a clock, and little trinkets, which made it feel much more like a home. The master bedroom had also been painted a brighter yellow, and the other bedrooms had been painted lighter colours too. Overall, we were very happy with our new cottage. The one problem that we had was with the water in the house. There was plenty of it, but it was reddish, and smelled pretty bad. The water supply for the house actually comes from a small marsh in the back of the house, and I think that the smell is from all of the peat moss in the marsh. We found out later that the trick to fix this, is to add a bit of Bleech to the water in the storage tank to remove the smell. Of course you will not be able to drink the water after this, which we were not planning to do anyway, but it was fine for the toilets, and washing dishes (this is a cottage after all). My parents had also brought plenty of bottles of drinking water too, so we would not be short of water.

The kids spent the rest of the afternoon playing on the rocks in the back of the house, and also picking bakeapples in the front yard. I spent a little more time working on the water situation, and tried a different storage tank, to see if the water smelled any better. It seemed to have a slight smell coming directly out of the well too. It seemed to get better if we let the water run longer, but I just decided that my vacation was too short to spend time worrying about the smell of the water, when we were not going to be drinking it anyway.

We spent the rest to of the day exploring the hills around the house, and then we went to my parents for a nice meal of cod fish, which one of the fishermen living near our house gave to us.

The property came with two sheds, and one of them had about three cords of firewood in it. After dinner, I opened all of the windows, and then lit a fire in wood stove, and watched the sun set over Baie Du Bateau. SInce we did not have a radio, or T.V., I drank a beer, and read a book, and went to bed early.