June 10th - Newfoundland Ferry

We arrived at the ferry dock early. It was a matter of sitting in the RV at the campsite or sitting in line at the ferry dock. Being a "Nervous Nelly" I opted for being at the dock. Here is a picture of us in line.  There were about ten RVs in front of us.

We had to be in line two hours ahead of departure but were their well in advance of that. On the left in the picture is a row of cars as long as the row of RVs. Here is a picture of some of the 18 wheelers waiting to get loaded.

About twenty 18 wheelers were loaded on the ferry either by yard dogs or by trucks with drivers. (Yard dogs are small trucks that load trailers. The trailers are dropped in the lot then loaded by the yard dogs and then picked up by trucks on the other side.)  Here is a picture of us with the ferry in the background as we walked around to kill time.

Entering the ferry dock and loading Marge was really easy and well-organized as you can imagine since they do this everyday when the weather allows. We pulled up to a kiosk, showed them our tickets, and they directed us to which numbered row to park in until ready to load. The 18 wheelers were all loaded first and most went in on the upper deck (up the ramp you see in the picture). The RVs went underneath in a lower level. Everybody loaded in 45 minutes, pretty slick. Once loaded you go up to the lounge for the trip. No one is allowed on the parking decks until you arrive and are ready to unload. You have to turn off your propane and put a tag on it so they know you did it. If you have pets, they have to stay in your vehicle. A lot of people cannot take the longer (17 hour) ferry because of this. On the Alaskan ferry they let people go down once every four hours to walk their dogs. Not here.

It was a six hour plus ferry ride. Upon entering Newfoundland we gained another HALF HOUR in time. Here is a picture of Kellen in the lounge area. While they had Wifi on the ship, it was bad and wouldn't let you connect to any social media sites like Facebook. Kellen ended up spending most of the time watching old movies in the movie theater onboard.

The ship had a nice restaurant and we had a nice sit down lunch looking out the window as we sailed along.

Here is a picture of Port Aux Basque, Newfoundland as the Captain backed the ferry into the dock for unloading.  It is really a small town.

Kelly made reservations for us at Grand Codroy RV Park about a thirty minute drive from the port so we headed straight there. Fortunately on the website the owners gave directions on how to get there rather than following your GPS. Alice (the owner) checked us in and gave us all kinds of information on what to see in the area. We will be here two nights. Here is a picture of our RV site and the view from it.

It didn't get dark until 10 p.m. and it was light at 5:00 a.m. The Wifi is slow, particularly when loading pictures so I am up at 5:00 a.m. making this blog post before others get on and slow it down. Today we will have a relaxing day touring the Easternmost part of Newfoundland.  Kelly and Kellen are both already constantly cold. I've had the little milk house heater on high all night and it is about 62 degrees inside, about 50 degrees outside. It is still sunny but tomorrow it is supposed to rain.