After spending a day (an afternoon really!), with Tim and Pam at Peggy's Cove, we headed off to catch the ferry to Newfoundland. Catching the ferry in North Sydney and taking it to Port Aux Basque was to be a 6-7 hour ride, depending on weather etc. The Sleigh's live in Hammonds Plains which is about 30 minutes out of Halifax. North Sydney is on the east side of Cape Breton. Being from the West coast you may think it would be a couple of hour drive, but in fact it was a 5 hour drive. We were out of the house by 0800 and heading first north towards Truro (I hear you can purchase a good pair of Stanfields fromTruro!) and then east to Cape Breton.
Cape Breton is an island and is where the famous Cabot Trail is. We will be doing that drive after we get back from Newfoundland. The drive to North Sydney was beautiful, and was really similar to northern Ontario.
The ferry was not leaving until 5:00 pm but we were told that we had to check in by 3:00. Sounds very "airline" to me! We got there by 1:00,,, and no Ray was not speeding and we had lots of fuel, but it was Sunday and there just was no traffic to speak of. Once we "checked in" and got our boarding passes (see what I mean,,,,,airport), we were allowed to leave the grounds and go for lunch, but would have to pass through security leaving and on returning. We did as we were told and walked into the town of North Sydney. Not much to see on a Sunday as nothing was open. But we did find a little restaurant on the water where we shared a salad and had a good old beer from Nova Scotia,,,Alexander Keith India Pale Ale. I already knew that I would have a tough go of it on the ride, so thought that having a beer and a Gravol would knock me out!
Returning back to the ferry line up, we decided that we would have time for a nap in the truck before boarding. Ray promptly fell asleep, while I fidgeted and squirmed until there was no way I would sleep. How does Ray do that? Just fall asleep in seconds? Maybe I was over thinking the ferry ride? Anyway, by 4:00 they started to load the ferry and as we were in the line up first, we were first on board.
After parking where we were told to park, we gathered our things and went to go up on deck. All of a sudden I saw Carol Powell in her uniform, gesturing to us with instructions as to what we would see on which deck. I really must have been overdosing on Gravol, because it wasn't Carol, but her twin sister! Carol, if you are reading this you have a twin who also wears a uniform,,,a ferry uniform,,,well it is the same color! I wanted to hug her before I realized that it wasn't you!,,
Onward and upward we go. As we got up onto the main deck we quickly realized that this was no BC Ferries! It was gorgeous! Rich carpeting, glistening shellacked floors (almost gave me a migraine with all that shininess!),,, the dinning room had crisp white linen table clothes and the lounge area had beautiful rich coloured chairs! "Carol" had told us where we could find the "air" chairs, so we made our way up to that deck. We passed through the area where the berths are (we are getting berths for the way home). The berths were nice with bunk beds and a desk and all crisp white bedding! I could have laid my not so pretty little head down on one of those pillows!
Are you wondering what the air chairs are? Well they were huge comfy chairs that lounge back, just enough to tease you. They actually look wide like a first class airline seat. They also had trays on the backs of the chair in front,,,just like an airline seat! See what I mean about the airline theme here? Anyway, I did manage to sleep for awhile and Ray was dozing. About an hour later I woke with a start and was not feeling so good. Made a trip to the lou, but could not seem to settle down. Ray said maybe I would feel better if I had some tea or soup, so we staggered down to the cafeteria . The ferry was rolling and heaving, I thought I was drunk! Seriously it was awful! I sat down and when I glanced towards the window, the sea was rolling up and down like crazy! I felt like I was in the movie The Perfect Storm! I downed another Gravol. I felt just terrible! I was fidgety and just could not relax,,, my eyes would hardly stay open from the Gravol! This ferry that we were on is longer than the BC Ferries and I think a bit taller. Not as big as some of the cruise ships that I have seen in Vancouver, but big enough. I was such a wreck by the end of this ride that I have sworn off cruising for ever! Only one problem,,,,
I still have to get off this island!
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