St Pierre

Hi everyone,

We have been in St Pierre for nearly a week now.  The weather has been mostly foggy and windy with occasional periods of sun.  Despite the fog the temperature is quite mild.  We've explored the town and the nearby small island of Ile aux Marin.

Sampling the local brew

St Pierre & Miquelon (SPM) has a population of about 6,000.  St Pierre is the largest town.  Ferries connect St Pierre to Miquelon and also to Fortune in Newfoundland.  There's a daily flight from Paris plus other local flights.  Tourism is an important part of the economy which was originally all about fishing.  During US prohibition SPM made a lot of money smuggling booze into the US.

Zen Again alongside the St Pierre Marina wharf

The town of St Pierre is very pretty with colourfully painted houses.  The bakery on the Place de Gen. Charles de Gaulle opens at 0600 and the bread is usually gone by 0730.  Well worth getting up early for their baguettes and pastries!

Mural on the side of the St Pierre Information Office

Typical St Pierre house

Mariner's Memorial on the waterfront

Waterfront boathouses

Lighthouse

Tidal rocks

Dories with launching ramps and manual windlasses

The Heritage Museum is worth a visit.  Interesting exhibits and explanations of the island's history.

Barbara of OCC sv MediaVaS discovered us at the wharf and invited us out to a whisky tasting.  The OCC sv Leventeias came along too.  The distillery has just produced its first whisky (which needs to be aged for at least 3 years to earn the title).

We took a 10 minute ferry ride to Ile aux Marin, a small island near St Pierre.  The island is now a museum with a few residents and small guest houses.  Some of the houses display exhibitts and there are many placards explaining the island's history (in French and English).  We spent several hours exploring.

We've spent much of our time here preparing Zen Again for her next passage.  We will be heading towards Flores in the Azores which is 1200nm away and should take 9-10 days.  We have a good weather window for departure tomorrow (Sunday).

While here we video-conferenced into Fremantle Sailing Club Cruising Section's AGM.  We were very pleased to be named Cruisers of the Year. 

While we're at sea you can track our position here.  We may post blogs along the way.

Trust all's well where you are.

Francois to St Pierre

Hi everyone,

We had a great sail from Francois, Newfoundland to St Pierre, France.  This was a 56nm passage SSE to the French territory of St Pierre & Miquelon.  We had SW-SSW winds of 15-20G20-25, giving us a close reach followed by close hauled into St Pierre.  We went down through the gears to 2 reefs (trisail size) and 3 furls (of the yankee).  As we approached St Pierre the wind eased and fog rolled in.  We motored into the harbour.

Back in French territory!

Previously we've visited the French territories of La Reunion, Guadeloupe and Martinique.

Here are the usual plots...

Track

Arrival

Graphs

Our new Tides Marine SailTrack was fantastic, making reefing sooo much easier.  A few photos from the passage...

Hiding behind the dodger

Approaching St Pierre

Passing the Fairway Buoy in the fog

St Pierre harbour ahead

Once inside the harbour we called the harbourmaster on VHF 12.  He directed us to the marina and waved us in alongside the fixed wharf.  There's now also a floating dock running NE from the fixed wharf.

Alongside in St Pierre

Marina & Sailing Club buiilding

We've spent our first two days preparing Zen Again for our next passage.  Rewatering, refueling, reprovisioning, recharging, re-organising etc.  We're close to being able to start exploring and enjoying St Pierre & Miquelon.

Yesterday we - along with several other yacht crews - were interviewed by the local TV station news crew.  You can see their daily report here.  Our piece starts at the 17 minute mark.

More on St Pierre in our next blog!

Francois

Hi everyone,

After three wonderful days in La Hune Bay it was time to move on.  We motored the 20nm to Francois (pronounced "France Ways") in calm conditions.  Just before we left a seal visited to inspect our hull.  After over 1600nm from Virginia the hull is super-clean.  Gotta love cold water with the occasional period in brackish water.

Zen Again at Francois

Here is our track...

Track

Francois is a picturesque Newfoundland 'outport'.  Sadly it has only about 50 permanent residents these days, down from several hundred a decade ago.  A ferry stays here overnight and visits neighbouring ports daily.  The YouTube channel 'Sailing Uma' visited the town a few years ago a little later in the season when ex-Francois folk return to the town for a reunion.  Their video is well worth a look.

Floating jetty from ashore

View across the bay from town

Colourful boats

We walked around the town, chatting to some of the very friendly locals.  Then we walked up a trail to the town reservoir/lake where there are great views down to the town and over the bay.

Nic on a rock

View towards town from the lake/reservoir

Reservoir (aka the swimming pool)

Preparing for this year's reunion

Sadly our time in Francois was curtailed due to a good weather window to sail SSE to St Pierre.  We stayed only one night before moving on.