Ferry ride to Nova Scotia

 August 16, 2023

Ferry Terminal

Port aux Basque, NL

I get to ride first class on the ferry.  Momma was able to book a Pet Friendly Cabin so I can ride on Deck 8 in the room/cabin with Momma and Dad.  

The gang had already scoped out the route to get to the ferry terminal.  TCH 1 takes you right to the gate.  A breeze to navigate to.  They had also had a conversation with a gate employee asking for a suggestion of where to park if they arrive early. 

The issue is, with a 6:30 am departure, arrival needs to be between 2:30am and 4:30am.  After hearing all the tales of moose on the windshield and knowing that moose are not only more difficult to spot when it is dark out, but they are also more active at night increasing the probability of a moose encounter, it is best to travel in the daylight hours.  The employee said, if there is room, we could arrive in the evening before dark and wait on the lot.  So that is what we did.  

We rolled out of the campground at 7:30pm and arrived at the terminal gate just after 8pm.  We breezed right thru the arrival check in and we were told to park in row 16.  Now that was just way too easy.  Something had to be amiss.  There was a Ram truck parked in front of us so Momma went to ask them if they were boarding the 6:30am ferry or the 11:45pm ferry tonight.  And that was how we met Joan and Claude from Alberta.

Joan and Claude were hoping to revise their plans and depart on the 11:45pm if there was room...a day earlier than their ticket.  As it turned out, there wasn't room so they got on the 6:30am with us.

We spent the night....as short as it was with our early morning wake up call.......in our rig.  We just left the slides in and crawled into our bed.  

There was plenty of light for our early morning ferry boarding.

We were parked right beside a big semi and close to the entrance for the elevator that took us to deck 8.  Sweet spot.  And it gets even better.  When we exited our red elevator and entered the hallway, there was our room.  Notice I said RED elevator.  There are also blue elevators and that was how we got lost trying to get back to our vehicle on the way to Newfoundland.  Now we are experienced ferry riders and know that the red elevator will take us back to the G3 deck.

Breakfast was being served in the dining hall.  It seems beans and bologna are a favorite as those ingredients were offered in several of the menu selections.  The gang decided to pass on that and enjoyed the Breakfast Scramble of eggs, sausage, bacon, cheese with toast.  

No outside deck walking  this morning as it was cold and windy on deck.  The ferry inside was cold enough as it was. It appeared they had the AC on even though it was a cool morning.  While wandering around looking for a warm place to play some cards, they bumped into Joan and Claude who joined them in the lounge for a game of Five Crown followed by a game of Dirty Uno. 

The six hour trip seemed to zip right by when, in the middle of Dirty Uno, the announcement was made that we would be at port in an hour.  

We have chatted with numerous travelers while on our adventure.  We met a couple who had come over on the ferry and spent an extra 3 hours on the ferry off shore waiting for calmer seas so the ferry could dock.  During the winter months, there have been trips where it took 3 days of waiting in order to be able to safely dock.  Those stories reinforced our thoughts that we had made a good decision when we reserved sites in North Sydney at Arm of Gold.... just a few minutes from the ferry terminal.

I was so excited when I spied all that grass.  I was ready for many games of ball toss, but they had freshly mowed the long grass leaving a blanket of grass clippings.  Grass clippings seem to be attracted to my fur.  I guess I'd better take my vision down to maybe one game of ball toss and retrieve instead of numerous at this Nova Scotia campground.

I'm Chloe