Day 37 August 29, 2026 Rocky Harbor Newfoundland to North Sydney Nova Scotia 320.4 miles
The weather is very cloudy this morning. In fact it rained really hard several different times. Not good site seeing weather.
We decided to try to book a ferry since everyone has said how full the ferries are. This week in particular because it is the end of the tourist season and the beginning of a new school year. Lots of college students going back to school. We must have spent at least an hour filling out the information online. We found one opening on the 5th of September. When we put the credit card information in the message came back unable to process. We must have entered something wrong. Unfortunately you could not just go back and try the payment again you had to fill out the entire thing. We did this three times and then decided to call the credit card company in case our card was blocked for some reason. That didn’t seem to be the case either so we called the ferry company. The payment error is really because the ferry didn’t have enough space for our vehicle. It only had space for a motorcycle. They have turned in the problem. The earliest reservation she could give us was on the 12th of September. We booked that. You can try waiting at the ferry but you may or may not get on.
Well we best find something else to do. We went to the tour boat company to talk about their tours. They have two that run multiple times a day based on demand and weather. Well while we were there the rain came down hard and fast. The tour this afternoon doesn’t look too promising and the ones for tomorrow morning are sold out. That is the best possibility based on the weather. Well that all means staying here for a couple of days which doesn’t sound appealing. In the end we decided to head for the ferry and take our chances.
We stopped at the gas station for a fill up. We were suddenly the center of attention. A couple had seen us somewhere on the road. Phones were out all over taking pictures. One gentleman told us we would most likely get on if we just showed up at the ferry. It might take a few sailings but it would be earlier than the reservation. That was at least some encouragement.
Most of the trip was in the rain. A couple of those showers put down lots of water. Guess that explains why everything is so green. A semi truck and trailer were going in the opposite direction. The truck hit a big puddle. Water sprayed up over us like a car wash. Sure glad the side curtains were closed.
We arrived at the ferry terminal shortly after one of the ferries left. They will have one more sailing for the day. We are welcome to wait in the wait line. We can even spend the night in the parking lot if we don’t get on. The number of trucks is the biggest factor in whether or not we get on. There are about 10 vehicles ahead of us that are also waiting. It seems like lots of semis too. Rob put the time to good use and applied new chalking around the leak in the tear drop.
They put ten or more semi trailers onboard well before general boarding. They loaded all the vehicles along with some of the semi’s. Then they loaded the remaining semi’s. Now some of the waiting vehicles were loaded. That is good maybe we will be the front of the line in the morning. Some of the cars behind us were brought forward. Possibly room for them but we are longer. Then they told us to go. We got just outside the ferry opening and we were told to go back we could not fit. Just as we arrived at the front of the wait line we were told they changed their mind and we should go back. They put us on behind a semi and about a foot from the end. Boy that is close but we are on.
The ferry ride was about six hours long. We took warmer jackets and a blanket to the passenger deck. Very glad we had both. The seating area was cold. The seasoned riders came with pillows, air mattresses and blankets. They made beds on the floor. Sure glad we brought the warmer stuff. Pretty much like airplane seats but more leg room and they reclined more. We would have probably gotten more sleep in the trailer.
Spoffords Travel 