Mile 1001: Bay du Vin (Miramichi Bay)

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Bay du Vin Current Location: Anchorage on south shore Date: June 25 Mile:  1001 Locate: Ramble On Locate: Finnish Line 2.0 Google Photo Album

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A bit of a milestone at this point:  over the last 37 days we've covered 1001 nautical miles (1854 kilometers) most of which was in the province of Quebec alone. This distance is about 37% of our total estimated mileage.   Going forward from here, we will be working towards a more leisurely average of 15 nm/day as opposed to the 27 nm/day average that we have been doing so far--essentially half the pace.   This is all part of the plan as the stretch from Tadoussac to Miramichi has relatively few ports/harbours and anchorages are mostly non-existent.

Today was a long day of over 90nm from Grand-Riviere to Bay du Vin (within Miramichi Bay). To get to our intended anchorage with reasonable sunlight we had to leave early ... like when-the-fishermen/women-get-up type of early. And since we were in a purely fishing harbour last night, this is exactly what happened.

Sunrise

Our departure was 4am, and by the time we stuck our heads out of the cabin, the harbour was already mostly vacant. All of the smaller lobster boats had already left and we departed in calm conditions with the last few boats. If there is one thing that describes today it will be "lobster pots"!

Field of fishing boats and floats

From the point we left the harbour until well past Miscou Island, we were constantly in sight of 20+ fishing boats and sometimes double that. The density of boats increased dramatically as we approached Miscou Island such that we were crossing paths with friendly fishing boats and their crew--many waving when we were close. One of them was very friendly and called Finnish Line on the radio wanting to know where we were coming from and where we were going (perhaps thinking "who are these crazy sailors passing through our fields of lobster traps"), and wished us a good voyage.

early morning work

friendly fishers

Now, the density of fishing boats was something we've never seen before, but way more mentally challenging was the number and density of lobster trap floats! We were dodging them for most of the day with only a few reprieves when we were at a somewhat greater distance from any nearby fishing port.

typical float

We may have dodged a couple hundred floats each, maybe more. When we were deep into Miramichi Bay, and approaching Portage Island, the problem became noticeably worse as the sun was lower in the sky. The wind was up to 20+ kts and distinguishing floats from 3-foot wave shadows was becoming very tricky. It was like slalom skiing where the turns suddenly appear in front of you every 20 seconds. We are all mentally exhausted from having to focus so intently.

While not something we needed to do every day, it did shed some light on the intensity of the fishing that goes on around here.

Finnish Line in good form

fun sail!

The last half of our day was blessed with a nice close reach with steady winds that built to 20+ kts. Most of the sail was lobster pot free and SO enjoyable--almost making up for the amount of non-sailing progress we've done over the last few weeks!

looking back on mine field of lobster pots

We dropped sail to pass by Portage Island and into the inner bay. The water was flatter, and the bay is very shallow.

We are now comfortably anchored in the southern corner of Bay du Vin. We were planning to a motor up the winding Miramichi River to spend tomorrow night in Miramichi, but calling ahead found out that the 3 possibilities were not really options. Ritchie Warf only allows day stops, the Miramichi Boating and Yacht Club can only accommodate boats up to 25 feet, and Station Warf Marina is under construction. They said we could tie up for the night, but there are no facilities or services available at this time.