Last Stops in Labrador, October 8, 9 2024

Tuesday October 8, 2024 Nain Labrador

I’ve been to Nain before and this time was completely different. Last time we had Tom Gordon aboard and he arranged all sorts of musical experiences for us, the Nain choir singing Moravian hymns in Inuktitut, a chance to look at the old hymnals, and the brass band playing from the roof of the church. We saw various crafts and I remember Richard learning to play a game with some of the older kids from the town who were acting as guides.

Brass band Nain, 2015

Richard learns a game 2015

This time we saw more of the town itself. We walked a lot of it guided by Maria whose home is here and we will do the last days of the journey without her. She seems to know just about everyone in town. People stopped their trucks to say hello and if we met anyone on our walk they stopped to talk with her or walked with us a bit before going on their way. We saw the building where the Arctic ice research takes place. It was set up in order to provide a safer environment for the people of Labrador as the climate changes and the ice becomes more unpredictable. I asked Maria when the ice used to be thick enough to travel on and she said that usually it was safe by the end of November. Last year it was the end of January and she mentioned that she liked to go to her cabin for Christmas but that wasn’t possible last year and likely wouldn’t be this year either.

Although she knows many people in town she doesn’t see much of her family and lives alone with her dog. Onboard earlier, she told us her story of a life disrupted by colonial governance and hardship and how she has managed to retain her kind heart in spite of it all. She comes across as quiet and when she speaks she commands respect. I didn’t know what to say to her when the tour was over so I wished her a good winter this winter and many more good winters in the future. She smiled, looked toward the mountains, paused for a moment and said she would remember that.

Captain at the wheel

Back on board we had a tour of the bridge. Our captain, whose name I should have written down, is from India and reading between the lines, he had a tough job to get to the position he is in now. He said he had seen many bridge tours where the captain didn’t really tell you anything and declared that his would be different, and it was! He started in front of a large bank of controls and said, “This all looks pretty complicated, doesn’t it?” We agreed it did. He gestured to all the controls and dials in their grey background and said with a sense of gravitas, “All of these control the windshield wipers.” We laughed. He took us around the bridge clockwise, explaining each lever and piece of technology. The wheel is smaller than the one in a car and it looks quite unassuming, not at all like the huge oak contraptions that we are used to on sailing ships in the movies. It gets the job done and that’s the important thing. When he had finished the tour, which took about an hour and a half, he let us look into his cabin which is only a few steps behind the bridge. Barbara told me later that she saw whales blow when we were on the bridge. I was looking at all the dials, screens, and levers so I missed them.

At the gathering before supper Gary, the ornithologist, told us how he had rescued a eider duck that crash landed on the deck this morning. He said it was none too happy when he picked it up, took it to the rail and gave it a little push, telling it that it would be much happier in the water. I’m not exactly sure what a duck does when it’s not happy but I can imagine all manner of scenarios, none of which are very pleasant for the rescuer. Probably in his years working for The Canadian Wildlife Service Gary has had all manner of encounters with them so for him, it was just another day at the office.


Wednesday October 9, 2024 Indian Harbour Labrador

Indian Harbour

It was a good day at Indian Harbour. I walked with the birders. We didn’t see many birds, just a few specks in the distance. I left the group after a while to do a little wander uphill and take photos. One of the things I’ve really enjoyed about this trip is the chance to walk the hills by myself. I love Richard’s company and I miss him. It’s quite a different experience to be responsible for my own route finding, not that it’s very difficult when there are no trees in the way. It’s also satisfying to arrive at a spot where I can look down on the ship, winded and pleased with myself. I love looking around for interesting colours and textures to photograph.

Colours and Textures

It is so difficult to convey a sense of the place and I admire the professional photographers onboard who manage such beautiful images. Of course, they put in the time and effort, both to practice the skills and to bring the magic of post processing to their images. It’s great that at the end of the trip they share some of their images with us. I remember on some of the first trips we took, 8 or 9 years ago now, there was someone sitting at the back of the lounge with a computer and a hundred plus USB drives shaped like polar bears madly copying information and images for us. Now we get a link in our emails. So much simpler.

Last Labrador Landing

This is our last landing before St. John’s. We are outrunning a storm and the waves are supposed to be 3-4 m in height. I know that’s not huge by nautical standards but it will be enough to get the good old Ocean Endeavour rocking and rolling. I’m thinking back to the first trip we took when the OE had just been refurbished and, unbeknownst to us, the stabilizers weren’t working. We weren’t in big waves that time but we certainly felt the swell. I appreciate stabilizers. I’m debating whether or not to take some gravol. I haven’t taken it in the past and I’ve been fine but you never know.

The silent auction was fun although there wasn't anything there that I felt like bidding on. At supper Janet shared her chocolates and she gave me a book of songs that she bought at the auction. We had a totally hilarious meal. None of us was drinking but we were definitely the rowdy table. Janet cracked us up with the comment that her husband didn’t know why she bothered buying bras when a pair of tube socks would do. (Apologies Janet if you’re reading this and didn’t want it shared but it’s just good of a comment to leave out.) 

Barbara noticed one of the waiters making hats out of napkins and asked him about it. After the waiters had shown us how to make innocuous things like a rose and a boot, one of them asked if we wanted to see the naughty one. Of course we were horrified. NOT! I think at the height of the hilarity we had four waiters and a supervisor all competing for the title of ‘best naughty napkin’ trick. By that point we found almost anything funny and turned our attention to Janet’s dessert which was cheesecake but a very, very, wobbly iteration thereof. It shivered and quivered as the ship rocked and rolled and I ended up taking a video of it. I showed the video to Christine who was at another table and she laughed as hard as we did. It’s good to laugh at something silly until your sides hurt.

The waves are getting more enthusiastic and I need to put a few things away so they don’t go sailing around the cabin in the middle of the night. My camera is already safe in my backpack but my tumbler and water bottle need restraining. The worst seas are supposed to be around 3:00 am and I plan to be soundly sleeping by then.