Day 9: Saint-Augustin, Quebec
Posted by Terri
As the day began, the magic light was nowhere to be found. Rather, we were greeted by fog. Being from the Island of Newfoundland, this was not a new concept to me. And if anything, we were surprised we had managed to outrun it this far. Perhaps we were due.
Regardless, Dale and Michele went out shooting at first light, and made the most of the moody skies over a still sleeping Saint-Augustin.
After a hearty 6am breakfast cooked up by Leo, we were back on the hovercraft to cross the river and catch our possible flight. We soon learned everything was on weather hold. So we settled in for a bit of a wait, and Dale introduced me to the wonderful world of Angry Birds.
Being delayed indefinitely gave us our first real taste of what it’s like to live in a remote community where the daily forecast commands attention, and being able to roll with it is an invaluable life skill.
An hour later, with no sign of blue sky, we took the hovercraft back over to Saint-Augustin to grab a few essential snack items at the dépanneur (store): coffee, fudge, cookies,
Lunchables with bologna, and a variety of chips. We only had 15 minutes to get back on the hovercraft, which connects Pakuashipi (and the airport) with Saint-Augustin. It was a bit of a mad dash but we made it. And the fudge was totally worth the trip.
Slowly but surely, the fog began to lift. With it, our optimism. As we wouldn’t be shipping out until the evening, we hopped back on the super cool hovercraft once more to enjoy some borrowed time in Saint-Augustin. Not to mention another crab sandwich.
On the plane back to Blanc Sablon, we reunited with our friends from Harrington Harbour. And before we knew it, we were already there.
Thanks to Leo for the awesome breakfast, The Sisters for feeding us again, our friendly hovercraft operators for ferrying us back and forth, and Air Labrador’s Natalie, Greta, Hilary, Emedy, and Ian in Saint-Augustin for taking such great care of us, Julia in Blanc Sablon finding my purse, and our pilots Renee and Chris for helping us travel on.
