Travel day! Up and at it early with car packed and check-out before 7:00 AM. Stephenville turned out to be a great stop… getting us off the road at a decent time while leaving us in cracking distance of the ferry ⛴️ terminal for Friday morning. Janie grabbed a fine photo of an abandoned hangar from the once bustling Harmon US Air Force Base. All in, a beautifully scenic drive south on Hwy 1 to our destination, in Port aux Basques.
We were in ferry queue in plenty of time, and got in a short walk, sorted the car, and packed a bag to take up on deck. Janie completed a NFLD Tourism survey on the phone while I fixed us up some granola / yoghurt to hold us over. The call to board came about 1:30 minutes ahead of scheduled departure, and we were actually parked onboard 20 minutes later. Nice that we loaded quite early this time around 👍.
New to me, Janie had booked “Reserved Seating” on the MV Highlanders for the return trip to North Sydney. Very cozy little set-up with lots of space, TV’s and big recliners to lay back in. Only thing extra that we really could have used was some power to keep iPhones charged. All good though and a little more controlled environment for travel (needed a Key Card for entry to the area).
With calm seas and sunny skies it was a long time before Newfoundland faded off to the stern of the boat. To the starboard the silhouette of the northern part of Cape Breton became more evident and provided a nice backdrop for the last portion of the 6 1/2hr sailing. Janie had packed an awesome snack that we busted into at about hour three, and there was more quiet than talk! Thankfully, an uneventful drive home put us at the doorstep just before dark. Great trip!