Labrador Memories - 9

Saturday July 2nd - Cloudy - Nain Bay – July 3rd. - Sunny - Nain

Late Saturday afternoon after all our supplies were on board, Tom and I and Geoff and the Captain and the crew of one were off to Nain. This photo was taken as we entered Nain harbor.
Joey maeuvered the boat up to one of the large docks, and we started to settled in as best we could. The Captain and mate sleep in a room off the wheel house – there is thankfully a small washroom off the wheelhouse also – I wasn’t sure what my creature comforts were going to be.

The large square 4’ x 4’ x 4’ gray container is the freezer it is packed with ice. This is not a luxury cruiser but certainly adequate for our needs. There is a large space in the hull where all the gear is stored – I think it would originally have stored fish – but it has no smell and is dry - so has been a non-fishy cargo area for a long time. When the hatch is open it can be entered via a ladder. Down into the front half of the boat is a galley – with a oil stove for cooking and heat – an eating area built in and 4 bunks with a small hatch to let in fresh air. Not made for huge folks – I took the smallest lower one to the right and Tom was above me – the two on the right – separated by about 2’ of space - the bunks narrow slightly upwards to the bow. Quite a feat to hoist one’s self up and in. Not much head space once you're there but a book can be read – I am better below – or at least thought I was – till I discovered my bunk was below the water line and not even both Tom and my arctic down sleeping bags improved it much (Tom on the other hand was too warm as the oil stove is on constantly and heat rises) – After I lined my bunk first with our space blankets it became very comfortable ;-) knew I'd packed them for some reason. Bonus being short in this instance.

Mike is held up by weather in Goose Bay so we hope he’ll arrive tomorrow. I waited till high tide to get off the boat – others managed it sooner by jumping on the wheel house then scrambled up to the dock – being descended from Hobbits and not as spry as I should be - I had to wait till finally was a much lesser discrepancy then I too was finally free - Tom and I and Geoff walked around the small village – home to about 1200 Inuit and 3000 dogs or so it felt. They said they had culled the wild strays recently after incidents of children being attacked. The town is very busy with all the exploration. There is a nurse and they have a TV hook - up to Goose Bay to doctors. The hotel is booked solid. Not much to purchase as the first supply boat of the year has yet to arrive. The pack ice has only gone out recently.
With the nice weather people, young and old are fishing constantly it is noisy with talking and laughing sounds like a holiday mood as they sit along docks catching numerous small arctic char. They stayed to dark after 10 pm and even the children seem to come and go with no one paying too much care.

Took me ages to get to sleep as I was so cold – heard a noise on deck about 3 am but by the time I got there I saw nothing. There are just the 3 of us as Joey and Jacko are spending their last night home. Tom and Geoff sleep like the dead.

Can you see the seal on the wharf?

Later on it was butchered.

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I was up again early about 5 am. The world was calm and quiet. I watched a seal in the clear water come in and out from beneath the dock to catch rock cod from an enormous school. Must have watched for over an hour as it was quite interesting. My first wild seal. Later on the town slowly woke up and some one came down and got excited about the seal and it was soon shot and you can see it on the dock – Joey tells me they have a community freezer and all the hunters keep it stocked and any town person has access.

Geoff discovered a mess in the cargo area. The noise I heard last night was someone in there – it seems several boats were broken into last night mainly food was taken – we are missing just a food cooler and a few other canned bits – perhaps they heard me coming and I scared them off?? – so much for pre-cooking – later the RCMP returned the cooler – empty and some of the bits – they have caught the young culprits – not to many places to hide I guess.. I remember being bored and living in a remote town about this same size with not much to do - fortunately was never caught not that I did anything too adventurous either.

Later in the day the first supply ferry of the season arrived – everyone is quite happy and looking forward to some fresh products as so many things are short in town – we are just so spoilt in the south.

Terry came in by helicopter with Mike Regular and to see if we were missing anything vital from the robbery. We can now leave on our next adventure. Actually helicopters of all sizes have been busy today - the exploration season has obviously begun.

When Terry said things were going to be tight in the boat accommodations he was being generous - no wonder he had such a grin on his face - he'd have trouble getting into one of the bunks. Mike is a fairly stocky tall fellow also and he finds the bunks rather narrow. Oh well things will sort themselves out eventually.
We finally got moving about 4 pm.
Should arrive at our first destination Paul Island or Block Island D about 8 pm. Another new experience has begun.

I notice at the end of the page of blogs there is a link where you can be notified when a new post is put up – hadn’t noticed that perk before – this is certainly an easy BLOG to use – accolades to the makers.

Labrador Memories - 8 - Nain Bay

Saturday July 2nd - Cloudy - Nain Bay

Nain’s website gives more specific details than I ever could. Nain is now the most northern permanent community on this Atlantic Labrador side.
http://www.ourlabrador.ca/member.php?id=6

If you look at the camp photo in its full size it looks like the helicopter might be sinking into qucksand - there is a depression between where I am standing and the camp where a small stream runs towards the ocean. Being so flat it looks like it isn't even there.

The company has permission from the elders at Nain to camp here for this season. Nain Bay is sort of over the hill from Nain and has been a traditional camping area for hunters for a long time in Nain’s history – very old rock circles from holding down the edges of tents are scattered here and there, even bones from various animals and fish.

Such a personal pleasure to be on a salty/tidal waterfront again – something we haven’t done since our trips to Newfoundland quite a few years ago. As the tide goes out my eyes wander to the outer rocks to see if there are any signs of wild mussels.

What a spectacular setting; a long curved bay with its shoreline nestled below towering cliffs. There are several waterfalls thundering down – the largest one is from where we will get our water. Later in the summer when we are back here once again I see from the helicopter that the waterfall is birthed by a huge lake at the top. The height of the cliffs are visually deceiving until you stand near the base and look up – this is the “hill” which separates us from Nain about 400 feet in height. Across the bay is an island with more islands layered between fingers of ocean – all still have snow in the distance. The islands we are to prospect are east of Nain and towards the south a tiddle.

The 5th and last crew has arrived John O’Sullivan’s son Aiden and Edwin MacDonald.

I wandered around in awe taking photos for awhile – the beach is littered with pieces of Labradorite, large boulders with huge lenses of colour are winking at me – this is the start of a lifelong love affair between myself and Labradorite.

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As we wait for the community supper to be cooked I sit and watch the sky – with the wind the clouds are continuously changing – such a water colour sky – I felt an inner pang of sadness that I no longer can enjoy this medium –it used to be my artist venue of choice.
We bunk in with others for the night. It feels odd – but I am so tired sleep comes easily.

July 2nd - Nain Bay - Nain - Cloudy
The next day the groceries arrive as we are checking things out I discover all the meat has thawed due to the long wait prior to getting to Nain. Tom set me up a cooking area so I could cook all our meat. My reasoning is that if I cook it all now and re-chill it – we will get a better chance for enjoying some before it goes off. I am assuming that we can always refreeze the cooked things once we are on board.

We set to work checking out supplies as we are to move later this same day out to the long liner called “The Setting Sun”. We’ll live on her for the next seven to ten days as we jump about several islands to prospect claim blocks.

At 11 am the long liner had arrived. It is about 52’ long but looks very tiny out on the bay. The next few hours are spent getting all our gear loaded. Still no sign of one crew member Mike. Our tent and base equipment will stay here at Nain Bay till we are done this next segment - we’ll be eating and sleeping on the long liner.
We packed up our personal gear and are ferried by dingy out to the long liner about 5 pm. The water looks very deep and cold. The Captain “Joey” is just the cutest wee thing I have ever did see. A smiling dark curly haired blue eyed Inuit ( he later tells us his grandmother is Irish and lives in Kuujuack. He is only 19 and has been a captain for two years – my personal level of security dropped a wee bit BUT each day throughout our time on the boat we all become quite enamored with this talented outgoing young man. His crew – cousin Jacko is also from Nain but looks totally opposite quite dark and is quite shy. We will motor over to Nain Harbor for the night – hoping that Mike will show up in the morning.

I will continue that tale in my next installment – right now I hope you’ll take a moment and enjoy a few photos of this fabulous camp site.