Wednesday, August 6th – LaPoile

We felt a little sad for the remaining residents of Grand Bruit when we left.  It was resettled 4 years ago which means the community voted to relocate, with government help, to other towns.  It usually the case that resettlement votes are not unanimous, and Grand Bruit was no exception – several resident we met did not want to resettle, and live in the town from April to September.  They have no electricity, phones, internet or any other connection to the outside world.  Nor do they have running water.  Their homes appear to be in good shape, but many others are already falling into disrepair.  There’s no ferry service, and we heard a couple of generators running, but the gasoline has to be brought in by small boat.  By our standards, a pretty tough life. 

The day started out overcast with fog threatening, but we went for a walk on the hills (on overgrown footpaths), and the weather brightened up.  We brightened up as well when we saw wild blueberries, and picked some for our breakfast tomorrow.  As usual in the area, we saw several pretty inland ponds.  We also saw some sleds which will presumably no longer be used. 

We set off for LaPoile, 47 41.05N 058 23.75W, with clear skies but no wind.  On the way, we stopped to try our hand at Cod Jigging again.  After 17 minutes we had 2 2lb cod in the bucket! 

We docked at laPoile, and had leftover cod sandwiches for lunch.  Perhaps today’s catch will have to wait until tomorrow before we eat it. 

Ron set about filleting the fish after lunch, trying to emulate Joe from yesterday.  A guy named Ray showed up on the dock and Ron admitted this was his first filleting attempt.  Ray came to the rescue and offered a few tips.  All in all, the filleting went well, although I suspect it will be a little bonier than yesterdays.  While Ron was filleting his fish, Teresa went for a walk and spotted a load of cod fillets hanging on the washing line to dry. 

The highlight of the afternoon was the arrival of the ferry at about 5pm.  It docked on the end of the wharf we were tied to and unloaded a great assortment of supplies and a few people.  A couple of palettes looked like they were intended for the small store, so we tried to see what they contained and what might be fresh tomorrow. 

We have been without internet for quite a while, but the local school had guest wifi, so we were able to post a few day’s worth of blog, catch upon email, and learn that Hurricane Bertha was heading away from us, towards the UK.  (We had not even known we should have been concerned.) 

Ships Log: 4210.5, Todays Log: 9.5, Seasons Total: 622.5