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Despite 1) falling rain, 2) a forecast for thunderstorms, 3) an exposed run through the edge of the North Atlantic 4) uncertainty about anywhere to land the tender, and 5) a potentially difficult re-entry to Little Bras d’Or channel into a strong ebb current against a freshening northerly wind, the shorter and admittedly slightly more…

From Newfoundland we made a 150-nm, 24-hour passage to Bras d’Or Lake in Nova Scotia. In addition to looking for a good weather forecast for the run across Laurentian Channel between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, we also needed to time our arrival at the entrance channel, Great Bras d’Or. The current at the narrow north…

Newfoundland is a world-class cruising destination and we’ll certainly be back for more. Our initial plan for cruising the province was to circumnavigate the island, hitting the highlights. But after our first taste of the beautiful fiords and amazing view hikes along the south coast, we were hooked. We decided instead to spend our time…

Bay de Vieux was a microcosm of our Newfoundland trip and a fitting final anchorage. There we enjoyed fabulous scenery, dramatic waterfalls, an excellent view hike and chatted with some friendly locals from nearby Ramea. Trip highlights from August 27th follow. Click any image for a larger view, or click the position to view the…

When we go to sea in Dirona there are usually only two people on the boat. That means automation and reliability are super important to us, and we want early warning of problems or unusual conditions. Maretron N2kView is a good-value display system that has worked very well for us and allowed us to incrementally expand what…

The narrow entrance channel to Grey River is a gap in the cliffs only 450-ft wide and hardly is visible until you are right up to it. We’d timed our entrance for low-water slack as an ebb current against wind and swell can generate steep and rough seas outside the entrance. Even without any opposing…

We entered La Hune Bay past a stubby light perched above a helicopter service pad on a steep, barren cliff. The light and the abandoned community of Cape La Hune gave the place an even more remote feel than some of our other anchorages, as if nobody had been there for a very long time….

You’d think by now that we might be getting tired of yet another view hike with a waterfall. Not yet. But even if we were, Aviron Bay would perk us right back up again. There we anchored off a one thousand-foot waterfall and climbed to the clifftops for sweeping views of the anchorage and surrounding…

We’d been told that we couldn’t really say we’d been to Newfoundland without sighting a moose, but we’d not seen one yet. We’d seen moose dropping and moose tracks, but no moose. We have been up on the highest points in the area where we can see for miles in all directions with unbroken hills…