On the Way to Cape Breton

"Ordeal by Water"

I had never visited Newfoundland....in spite of living next door in Nova Scotia for the past 28 years. Regardless of my good intentions, the opportunity to go just never seemed to present itself until recently when my eldest son Chris moved to "The Rock" with the Royal bank in Corner Brook. He, his wife Cindy and daughters Andrea and Samantha had settled nicely into their new home but all were anxious to have visitors from home.

So, when Chris called to extend his best wishes for my birthday he urged me to come over for a visit as soon as possible because "the longer you wait the worse the weather gets" he said ominously. He couldn't have been more right! We waited....and the weather got worse... just like he said it would!

We decided to wait until our summer season had died down enough to allow us to get away-the 14th of October seemed like an appropriate date...the weekend after Thanksgiving....the tourist season usually drops off dramatically after Thanksgiving weekend. So we set off for the Ferry to Port au Basques which was scheduled to leave North Sydney, N.S. at 11:30 on Thursday morning.

At one of our stops on the way there we happened to strike up a conversation with a couple who, upon hearing that we were heading for the Newfoundland Ferry, offered us 12-hour sea-sickness pills and Gravol "just in case you run into rough weather"!!!! Another ominous prediction indeed....which did nothing to allay our anxiety about the five to six hour crossing ahead of us.

At another stop closer to the Ferry the elderly shopkeeper offered a heartfelt "Oh dear!"upon hearing that we were scheduled to board the Ferry that morning. We should have taken these warnings to heart and turned back....but ignorance is bliss...we continued our journey with an increasing sense of high adventure mixed with foreboding.

We arrived at the Ferry Terminal in North Sydney dutifully one hour before scheduled departure time only to be told that the sailing would be delayed by one hour because the crew had to "double lash down" all vehicles because of impending rough weather. Upon hearing this encourageing news we promptly swallowed the two 12-hour sea-sickness pills our new-found friends had given us. Bring on the rough seas - - - - We were ready for anything now!!. Well, we waited in an endless line of cars, trucks, campers and 18-wheelers for the signal to begin boarding. We waited, and waited, and waited....all the while the weather was getting worse....rain and wind lashing down keeping us confined to our car, wondering what was going on.

After three hours of this our curiosity combined with the call of nature forced us out of our vehicle through the rain into the Terminal building. The first thing to greet us was a large display dedicated to the sinking of The Caribou in 1942 in which 167 lives were lost....not exactly a reassuring sight for us already queasy would be travellers. Everyone else seemed to be in a "devil may care" holiday mood....the ticket agents response to our anxious query about sailing time was "Oh we'll take another look at it in an hour. If you like beer or maybe coffee you might as well relax and enjoy...we could be here for a while". "Don't they have weather forecasters in Newfoundland?" we found ourselves asking each other....planes and boats are scheduled all over the world....do they all "take a look at it in an hour"?

We sat in our vehicle for another couple of hours before venturing out and wresting the information out of the agent that we would be boarding shortly but would probably not be leaving until the morning....at this point we pulled out of line with the warning "We sail at eight a.m so you'd better be back here by 7:00!" ringing in our ears. So off we headed to spend the night at a wonderful Country Inn in Sydney Mines...we enjoyed the lavish comforts there with the abandon that a condemned man must feel enjoying his last meal!!!!

We arrived promptly at 7:00 am thoroughly refreshed and ready for anything; and feeling very smug and superior with the realisation that all of the other passengers had boarded the night before and had spent what we imagined to be a miserable night aboard. We were ushered on immediately....no more waiting now...we will be leaving shortly. We waited and waited and waited while the captain took another look at "it" every hour...finally we felt some movement as the boat finally pulled away from the pier at 11:30 am...and we settled down for the five hour sail to Port au Basques with the realisation that our 12-hour sea-sickness pills had worn off hours before! Hey! This wasn't so bad - a little rocking and heaving but not uncomfortable at all...we were getting our sea-legs and feeling quite pleased with ouyrselves when we sensed that the boat was turning back and was now heading back toward North Sydney! What's going on????? Need we have asked?

The Captain was taking another look at "it" before making the leap from the tip of Cape Breton across the open sea to Newfoundland. How long could this go on??? "He'll keep sailing back and forth in the lee of Cape Breton Island until he felt it was safe to make the crossing. And that we did .... back and forth....up and down....all day and all night. Our five hour crossing became a 22 hour adventure...arriving at 7:00 am on Saturday morning. But I'll leave the details of that "night of nights" on the "Joseph and Clara Smallwood" for another time. Suffice it to say that we arrived safely and made the return trip through the first winter snow and gales of the season. Indeed a trip to Newfoundland in late October is truly an "Ordeal by Water!" but nevertheless a memorable and enjoyable one if you enter into the spirit of it.

By: Adrien Blanchette

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