A brief trip to France
We stayed a few more days in Hare Bay, Newfoundland. There was a wonderful waterfall at the northern end of the bay that had the best swimming holes, we just needed swimming weather. Plus the wind was not great for a passage to Miquelon just yet. We could go explore yet another, different, beautiful bay - but why, when we were really enjoying all this one had to offer? In addition, a gale was in the forecast so we decided to stay put, at least we knew the holding was good.
Finally we had a sunny afternoon, the wind dropped and we put the swim suits on.
Our time was not wasted. More smoked mackerel for ships stores! And then our week was up and the weather looked suitable for the crossing.
Miquelon and St Pierre are a territory of France. Despite being only 12 miles from Newfoundland (and 2373 miles from France), they are “full on” French. No English spoken, euro used, Boule played, and baguettes sold. They were initially settled by Basque fishermen in the 1600’s. Control of the islands over the years switched from French to British and back again, finally becoming a French territory in 1946. During prohibition they profited from smuggling to the US. In 1931 it is reported 1,815,271 gallons of whisky were transported from Canada via St Pierre to US shores. Currently the predominant industry is fishing, mostly shellfish and squid since the collapse of the cod fisheries in the 1990’s.
Miquelon, although the larger of the two islands, only has about 600 residents compared with the 6000 in St Pierre. It is geographically interesting in that there are two distinct islands: Grand Miquelon to the north and Langlade, joined by a long isthmus sand bar. It is known for the free roaming horses that wander all over the island.
We had a good sail and tucked in to the small town marina on Miquelon. There was room on the wharf between two fishing boats. Customs was closed, but we checked in the following day, good to go.
A priority was to stock up on some fine french cheese and a baguettes. With these supplies we set out to hike around the northern point of Miquelon, Cap du Miquelon.
Looking back from the cape toward the town of Miquelon.
It was very windy, blow you off a cliff windy. The hike was about 10 miles, beautiful vistas, interesting flora and some very wet sections.
The following day we rent a couple of bicycles from where else but the food truck! Fortunately the wind had abated and the sun was shining. We rode south, 25km to Langlade. The roads were relatively flat and in good condition.
Sand dunes, part of the 7 mile sand bar that links the two islands.
Half way down the sand bar the road turned to a gravel track. On a bicycle this was not a welcome change and we quickly decided to abandon plans to transtit the whole way to Langlade. We instead had lunch and a nap atop a grassy sand dune with fine views all around. Brian even managed to get a great photo of a merlin as it hunted for lunch.
The following day we slipped our lines and sailed south to St Pierre. As we approached the island we were surrounded by puffins. They are very shy but with a characteristic flight pattern. They stayed at least 50m from the boat, almost impossible to photograph.
Puffin on the approach to St Pierre.
We tied up on the marina wharf and checked in to the office. It was late afternoon, exploring St Pierre, checking out the boulangerie and fine restaurants, could wait until the following day.
The next day turned out to be a Saints day, and as such EVERYTHING was closed. No groceries, restaurants or croissant for the very hungry crew of Helacious. We survived on ships biscuits one more day. We did look around though. In the center of town there was a large surfaced area with huge orange wall at one end. We had stumbled onto a Basque Pelote game. Teams of two played, it was similar to raquetball, but with wooden paddles and no side walls.
The tournament was part of the St Pierre Basque Festival. As each side scored the announcer updated the totals and accordion and drummer played some tunes, similar to the organ at baseball games. Between each match there were folk dances. This group performed some fancy footwork and high kicks, akin to Irish dancing.
Walking around town we peered in the windows of the shuttered stores and watched a few games of boules. We were definitely in France.
We checked the weather forecast that evening. There was a weather window for our 250 mile passage southwest back to Nova Scotia. If we missed this opportunity the winds were unfavorable for at least another week. There was no choice. The next morning we did a run to the Super-U grocery store. What a treat, wine, cheese, saucisson and glorious fresh vegetables. After 3 weeks of outport shopping and living off ships supplies, we loaded up a shopping cart and wheeled it all back to the boat. That afternoon we left St Pierre, wishing we could have enjoyed a few more days there, but ready to start the journey back to USA.