Newfoundland Trip Questions

We are planning to cross to Newfoundland sometime in mid-July for 3 or 4 weeks.

I have read the Trip Logs from the Maritimes Trip Mahoney/Brewer 2008 and Cousins 2008 and one from 2010.

I notice that a lot of people go from Sidney, NS to Argentia, NL instead of Port Aux Basques, NL.  Is there any reason to go east first?  I plan to go west first to Port Aux Basques which is the shorter ferry ride first. My reason is that we will be taking a lot of frozen food with us and not running the frig/freezer for 14 hours on the longer trip, it may start to thaw.  I know that the food will stay frozen for the 5 to 6 hour shorter trip and may not for the 14 to 15 hour trip.  The plan would be try to travel back with a mostly empty freezer.

Any other suggestions for the trip over and back.  Also anything not covered in the Trip Logs in the Library and the Trip reports board?

The present plan is to go pretty much straight to the ferry and do our exploration of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI, Quebec on our return.

We are presently around Atlantic city working our way to NYC then Boston for the 4th of July then moving toward the ferry.

I would say the choice of direction to travel is 6 of one or half dozen of the other.  Dry ice in freezer will hold temps.  We ran the rvfrig on electricity, using inverter.  When we went the trip was 22 hours as they were conserving fuel and going slowly.

Glad you found trip report in library.  Have fun.
Betty brewer

You're going to love it whichever way you go!  We've been there twice, the second time for a full month.  We went to Port-aux-Basques and then to the eastern side.  We thought originally that we might return via Argentia but the price of fuel at that time was US$5.25/USgallon.  We calculated the distances each way and decided it would actually cost less than the ferry to drive both ways from/to Port-aux-Basques.  We made stops at different places in each direction so it wasn't too repetitious.  We loved St. John's!  We enjoyed a stop at the Gander Airport where the "Newfies" were unexpected hosts to thousands of Americans after 9/11.  They are wonderful friends and neighbors!  (If you stop in and thank one of the workers for helping us you will make a friend for life!)  And don't miss going up the western side to both Gros Morne National Park and all the way up to St. Anthony's to visit L'Anse aux Meadows which is a World Heritage Site and fascinating because the Vikings had an outpost there.  Gros Morne has fabulous hikes, fjord boat rides, and interesting natural features (Arctic tundra on the north and the northern tip of the Appalachian Range on the south).  We also left the motorhome in a locked area at the St. Barbe ferry and took an overnight trip to Labrador in the car.  In the 16th Century Red Bay was the site of Basque whaling stations and it now has a very interesting National Historic Site.  If you go to Labrador be sure to take precautions for the biting black flies which leave nasty welts that are extremely itchy!  Even with them the trip over there was worth it!  :  With any luck you'll get to see some icebergs - we didn't!  Every peninsula we explored had something of interest.

ArdraF

    One thing to remember if you go CHAB to St John's is not to short the time that you spend in the Northern Peninsula.  It is a long way up and back, but places like Lanse and Meadows is a must see (North America's first European settlement circa 1000 AD), plus many take their toad via a ferry over the Straight of Bell-Isle to Labrador/Quebec.
    NS, NB and PEI should be nice Maritimes by August.

Ed

After taking the long ferry to St Johns I think we would use Port Aux Basque both ways next time. The 22 hours was a loooong time! There is plenty to see on the way across Nfld if you drive both ways.

We did the same as Ardra and went back and forth through Port Aux Basque.  We have animals and did not want to leave them in the motor home for 22 hours.  Also what we found out is the big trucks run their generators for refrigerated items and the cargo bay is full of diesel fumes.  On our return trip from Newfoundland, it took almost 12 hours to get from port to port.  They were having engine trouble and the other ferry was out of service.

One thing I would suggest is to make your reservation for both crossings there and back early.  They get booked up quickly.

Enjoy your trip, Newfoundland and Labrador were wonderful places and wonderful people.

Marsha~

Thanks for the replies.  I think that we have rethought the trip and will drive both ways across Newfoundland and use the shorter ferry route.  Even at $6.00 plus per gallon of diesel the trip back across would be be about a wash plus would get to see more of the province.

Now back to trip planning. 

When you are on the shorter Port Aux Basque ferry make sure you take what ever you need up with you including extra food and any medications, they don't let you back down to the vehicle deck during the crossing, our 5 hour crossing turned into a 11 hour crossing due to a storm that caused the winds to be too high to dock. Still they wouldn't let us back down even though we had pets in our trailer.

Glad to hear there are travellers wanting to come to our beautiful province. One thing to know about this island is that it isn't small and the drive across will take a FULL day. Plan on spending lots of time. All areas of this island are unique in their own way and should not be missed.

It took us several days because there's so much to stop and see!

ArdraF

It took us a month.  We were only going to stay for 2 weeks--ended up staying for a month.  We love the people and the country! 

I would like to make a suggestion, tho.  After you get off at Port Aux Basque head straight for St. Anthony's and L'Anse aux Meadows.  You'll see more icebergs by doing that trip first, and probably more wildlife.  Then go across to St. John's.

Marsha~

We drove back across country and took the short trip both times. We left our car in NS.  They wanted something like $20.00 per day to leave the car at the port. The campground charged us $3.00 per day to leave the car. We parked the car next to the office and was very pleased.

Scraps said:

Glad to hear there are travellers wanting to come to our beautiful province. One thing to know about this island is that it isn't small and the drive across will take a FULL day. Plan on spending lots of time. All areas of this island are unique in their own way and should not be missed.

Click to expand...

We spent five days last time and hope to get back there this summer to see the rest!

Hello, I may be on the wrong thread and if I am I'm sorry...but, does anyone have any information on Ferry service from Bar Harbor to Nova Scotia - I understand the CAT has been discontinued....we are planning a trip up end of this month or early August.  Thanks for any info - also, we have a 33' motorhome we want to take to camp somewhere in Nova Scotia.....and will be leaving from Bedford, Virginia.

      It likely would have been better if you had started a new string, but if it really bothers people one of the staff will move it to a new string.  However, in answer to your question, there is no longer any ferry from Maine to NS, although the local business community in Yarmouth are trying hard to resurrect one.  The nearest ferry is via Saint John NB to Digby NS, both are excellent stops in the Maritimes. 

Ed