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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Labrador: Mesher’s Harbour

                                                                                               The wind was too light to test the repair on the way to Mesher’s Harbour, instead we used the calm to run our engine at a higher rpm to burn off any carbon build up. By the time we arrived at entrance to Mesher’s Harbour the wind had picked up just in time to make getting into the bay challenging. Our cruising guide explained that their was a shallow bar and suggested staying 60ft off the starboard side rocks to keep enough water under the keel. The wind strength and direction made it impossible to safely go as close as 60ft to the shore. With the wind pushing us sideways we also needed to cross the bar at a higher speed than we would normally choose to do when crossing a shallow bar to avoid being blown down onto rocks. The one consolation was the guide said the bottom was soft mud so at least we wouldn’t do damage if we bumped bottom. 

With Frances at the bow, Krystina kept Snow Dragon as close to the shore as she could and made it over the bar without seeing anything less than 3.5m on the depth sounder. We didn’t see any sign of the river the guide suggested anchoring by on the north side of the bay and decided to anchor on the south side based on aesthetics. Aside from a small cabin that looked well maintained but not currently in use, the area was wild forest. An unusual sight for us after spending the previous months in areas where trees are few an far between.

 On our way to shore we took the dinghy over to look at the sandbar which was easy to see in the clear water. The bar did appear to be mostly mud but there were a few scattered boulders that would not have been a good idea to hit. Not ready to walk amongst the dense spruce and larch trees we opted to explore one of the rocky islands at the entrance to the bay which only had a few shrubs and trees to negotiate. It was a delightful temperature for an early evening wander and we ended up taking our jackets, hats and gloves off. Without needing gloves it was much easier to pick the blueberries and cloudberries we found amongst the vegetation. The sun was beginning to set but what really drove us off the island were the mosquitoes who were out in force. Little did we know that the bites we received would annoy us for a week.

Krystina Picking Berries With Rifle For Bear Protection   

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Labrador: Makkovik Population 360

Once Snow Dragon was settled at anchor in Makkovik Bay we launched the dinghy and headed for shore since we couldn’t raise any officials on the radio. We tied up at a wooden pier that had seen better days, and we gingerly walked along on the supports to reduce our chances of crashing through the weak boards. After not touching land for 7 days it was a strange feeling to walk along a pier that was actually moving underneath us. The sign on the neighboring pier said, “Caution boards bad on warf. Enter at your own risk,” a comforting sight knowing we would have to return to our dinghy. Frances still felt the ground was moving once we reached the dirt road but the swaying feeling quickly passed.

The town was surprisingly quiet for a sunny afternoon. We walked up to the grocery store but the chain on the door told us it was shut before we got close enough to read the sign in the door saying they were closed for Labor Day. In true Snow Dragon fashion we arrived in Makkovik on holiday.  

We braved the wooden pier and returned to Snow Dragon to make our post passage breakfast, a tradition we follow regardless of our arrival time. After eating our fill of eggs sunny side up, sausages, bacon, fried onions and toast we went to bed still not knowing the local time or being officially checked into Canada. 

In the morning we were woken by the arrival of Astron a coastal freighter. Krystina got up to double check we were well out of their way and the crew gave a friendly wave. Makkovik is an Inuit Community that is only accessible by plane or sea. In the winter it is possible to reach Goose Bay, the nearest larger town, by snow mobile. It’s a 7 ½ hour trip that the locals enjoy doing. 

Later a couple on their way out to fish stopped by Snow Dragon to welcome us, bearing gifts of hat pins. One was a Canadian flag, another the Newfoundland and the local Makkovik flag as well as a polar bear charm. They explained the polar bear was the official mascot of the community and asked us if we needed any information about the town. Krystina used the opportunity to ask them for the time which turned out to be only an hour behind Greenlandic. 

Torn Staysail

Frances Repairing The Sail

After our visitors departed to go fishing, we continued repairing our staysail which we had taken off the furler that morning. We used the pilothouse table as a makeshift sail loft floor as large flat surfaces are in short supply on a boat. Initially the damage was intimidating but once we applied the sticky back sailcloth to both sides, it began to look much more manageable. It was a full day’s work, over 4 meters of hand sewing and a bit of blood sacrifice to secure the patches but once done the repair seemed much more minimal than expected. The hardest part of the process was maneuvering the sail onto the table and then out of the pilothouse.

During a break in the sail repair, we headed back to shore to find out if we could check in to Canada. Once again our timing wasn’t brilliant and we ended up arriving in town as offices and stores were closing for lunch. Instead of going back to Snow Dragon we decided to hike out to the point where we had seen a lookout with a flag. Not wanting to walk through people’s yards we decided to go along the beach but when the owner of the house near the viewpoint saw us, he welcomed us to use the trail that runs through his yard. On our way back into town 2 Golden Retrievers ran up to us, though we were in Labrador, goldens seemed to be the breed of choice in Makkovik.

Eventually we ended up at the RCMP who were extremely helpful and helped us get our CANPASS number even though the official they had to call wanted us to sail directly to St John’s Newfoundland over 600 miles south, to clear in. The RCMP officer diplomatically told the official he was mistaken and that it could be done by phone. It was helpful that the official could see that Snow Dragon was already in the computer system from her time in British Columbia and finally relented and gave us our official CANPASS number that registered Snow Dragon for Canadian waters.

We thanked the RCMP and then headed for the grocery store hoping to buy fresh fruit and vegetables. The store was large but after looking and shelves of Pop-Tarts, marshmallows, Chips and other heavily processed foods we realized we were out of luck. After a bit of searching we managed to find 2 sweet potatoes, onions and dried dates. At the checkout we asked if we could get cash back as we wanted to make a purchase at the local craft store and were told the store was out of cash but to try the town hall. The town hall did not have any cash either, we went back to the craft store and asked if their was any chance they could take US dollars. They agreed and we made our purchase of handmade mittens and a novel, Confession In Moscow, by Michael Johansen who lives in Labrador.

Makkovik Bay 

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