Labrador: Emily Harbour & Cloudberries

It was too far from Mesher’s Harbour to Emily Harbour to sail in a day, so we decided to break the trip by stopping at Mostyn Cove at the head of Jeanette Bay. We had fantastic sailing winds and took the opportunity to roll out the staysail and check the repair in 25 knots of wind. The sail preformed as it should and the patch seemed minimal now that we were no longer staring at it on the pilothouse table. Once we rounded Cape Harrison the wind was on the nose and it was clear we were going to fall a few miles short of reaching Mostyn Cove before dark. 

With night approaching we decided to motor into the wind instead of tacking to minimize our travel time in the dark. After looking at the chart we decided to head for Ship Harbour just off the entrance to Jeanette Bay where the soundings looked reasonable for anchoring in the dark. Miss McKenzie I, a 21m fishing vessel, called us on the VHF and chatted with Krystina about where we were from, the weather and harbours in Labrador. The fisherman was heading north to shrimp but his home port was St. Mary’s Harbour in southern Labrador where he freezes Miss McKenzie in for the winter and checks on her by snowmobile. He encouraged us to stop and spend time in St. Mary’s before leaving Labrador.

 Ship Harbour In The Morning

 

It was completely dark by the time we reached Ship Harbour but true to the chart we didn’t encounter any obstacles and anchored well out to avoid extensive shoals. After spending a peaceful night at anchor, we continued on under sail to Emily Harbour. Though logic told us we should continue to make tracks south, Emily Harbour, a narrow passage between islands sounded too intriguing to pass by.

 Entering Emily Harbour 

Charting of Labrador is deceiving, the coast looks well charted but then when you look closely at the anchorages you realize they’re often either completely un-surveyed or only have a few cryptic soundings. Emily sided on cryptic with the odd sounding and underwater rock marked, just enough to either give you confidence or make you nervous approaching the tight entrance. Once between the islands the channel widens slightly, allowing just enough room to anchor without running a stern line to shore. The south end is completely blocked by drying rocks, making the north the only entrance and exit to the passage.

 Snow Dragon At Anchor, Emily Harbour 

It was nice to have a break from dense forest, the islands where rocky hills with low level vegetation and the remains of a few abandoned cabins. At first the decaying buildings gave a depressing impression of the area but once on shore the complex colors of the landscape and thriving plant life erased the sadness of the gray cabins. The hiking was easy and we had to be disciplined to turn around at sunset to make it back to the dinghy before dark.  

Old Cabin, Emily Harbour 

On the second day wind and rain kept us onboard until the afternoon. This time we decided to visit the other island. The wind was cold but at least it was keeping the mosquitoes away as we leisurely walked along the spine of the island. We were surprised to find that we were surrounded by cloudberries and enthusiastically filled our containers before heading back to Snow Dragon to warm up and then returned to shore to keeping picking. The fading light finally put an end to our cloudberry madness and we returned to Snow Dragon to make the golden berries into jam.

Two nights was not long enough at Emily Harbour but the weather was right to continue moving south. With jars full of jam and freezer full of cloudberries for smoothies we left our snug, magical anchorage and headed for Cartwright.

View From Emily Harbour

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