Pots that go splash in the day

St. Anthony, Newfoundland
July 25, 2009

St. Anthony, the local dialect strings it all together to come out “Sin ant ne”, is the biggest town on the Northern Peninsula, and our stop to re-fuel, re-provision and pick up some charts that we’d ordered through the local hardware store.

Craig, ship’s engineer from the Canadian Coast Guard’s vessel Harp, caught our lines at the public wharf. The Harp is responsible for patrolling Newfoundland’s Northern Peninsula and all of Labrador! We chatted for a few minutes and he asked us over to meet the Captain. Captain Jerry Williams invited us on board and before we knew it we were sitting down in their mess being served a delicious seafood chowder. I can’t imagine this scene taking place on a U.S. Coast Guard boat as nice as they can be.

Before we left, the Captain gave us the entire huge pot of chowder. They’d had it for dinner and wouldn’t eat it anymore so . . .Well OK but I had no idea how we’d eat it all either.

The big to-do in St. Anthony was the arrival of the tall ship Bowdoin from Maine Maritime Academy and the accompanying Celebrate Bartlett extravaganza. Captain Bob Bartlett was captain of the ship that got Peary as far North as possible on his successful run to the North Pole in 1909. (I know, I know there are some dissenters that think he didn’t make it but hey, let’s not ruin the party!) The 100th year anniversary was serving as a time for Newfoundland to celebrate its local hero’s role in the expedition. Bartlett was from a long line of sea captains based out of Brigus, Newfoundland.

A flotilla of private boats was accompanying the Bowdoin and several arrived in anticipation of the big event. Jim Wyse of SV Staragan and his crew, Diane & Dwight arrived first. Jim was heavily involved with the committee organizing the celebration so had official duties. Cyril, a former fisherman, & his wife Madeline on their Nonsuch 36, Moomba, rounded out this fun loving group.

They invited us to dinner aboard Moomba and we were able to share the chowder! It was a great time with food, drink and lots of sailing/fishing stories as we all crowded around Moomba’s saloon.

Now that we’d managed to share all of the chowder I had this huge pot to clean. It wouldn’t fit in our sink so I took it to the dock’s hose. This was a regular garden hose but the water came out like it was a fire hose, shooting that beautiful stainless steel pot out into the harbor. “Quick launch the kayak. Launch the kayak!” I yelled as I ran over to Andante. Russ is not one to panic so he grabbed the boathook first and managed to fish the pot out of the water. Whew! I cleaned it and returned it to the Harp with some chocolate chip cookies inside.

The wharf was a little challenging. And the 5 ft. tidal range added to it. To leave the boat we stepped on the huge tire fender, then the top of this broken off railroad tie, and then this giant carriage bolt before hauling ourselves over the top.