[Editor’s Note: The Skipper sent two locations in one day, which confounded the website map. Haha. We’re working on handling that, but in the mean time here’s a pinpoint for Hebron Harbor where they tried to anchor before deciding to press on through the night. See the next post for details.]
Jenny and I received a phone call tonight from our intrepid adventures. They called on the satellite phone, and it worked about as well as a cell phone. I scribbled notes as fast as I could, and here’s the latest:
They left this morning at 5:00am to make the push across Belle Isle Straight between Newfoundland and Labrador. The seas were calm and smooth most of the day, and clear with occasional fog. En route, they encountered a pod of minke whales. At least they think they were minkes, because they only saw fins and not a tail. Apparently the options are humpback, fin whale or minke, and the later is shy about revealing their hindquarters.
Iceberg ahoy! Today they saw a really big, Titanic-sinker iceberg rising 100 feet above the water out a shroud of fog. The crew reported the water temperature went from 13ºC down to 2ºC as they went by. This monster created its own fog bank in an otherwise clear area. Beautiful, and a little scary too. It showed up like an island on the radar. We’re looking forward to seeing pictures of these two aquatic encounters!
Williams Harbour is a flourishing metropolis of 59 people, so no internet, but lots of fishermen. In other news, the crew is adjusting to boat life. Skip and Walt are brushing up on all the new electronics that went into the boat. Shane is studying the manuals for the boats engines. Kip is knitting and cooking. Pat is fighting off a cold, and winning (good news!). Oh, and they’ve decided to return the parts for the fridge and just make do with ice in the coolers.
About this time the phone went dead. Probably a cloud interfering with the satellite, or a polar bear. Stay tuned!
I just wanted to clear up one thing. The reason we are getting off the boat is NOT because of the food. Mom has earned her “Galley Master” nickname, so I thought I’d share some photos of what we’ve been eating. We’ve had hot-baked apricot scones, chile verde, corn chowder, blah blah blah. My personal favorite: nachos and milkshakes. That is a square meal if I’ve ever seen one! It was all yummy 🙂
Just a quick post to move the tack to Lunenburg. We made it ahead of schedule at 2:00am without trouble. Quinlan slept through the whole thing, while Kip and Jenny were able to get in cat naps.
Side note: I stepped into our time machine and added a post back in Southwest Harbor, Maine.