Bonjour France and Hello Nova Scotia

St. Lawrence left us feeling refreshed and ready to resume our sailing adventures. Our next destination was only a 6-hour sail away, but it was literally a new country – St. Pierre & Miquelon, France. These small islands are only 12 miles off the shore of Newfoundland. France reclaimed the islands in 1815, and they have remained French ever since, primarily to its rich fishing grounds. We had hoped to sail to St Pierre last year, but because of the pandemic we would have needed to provide a negative covid test to enter the country, and then another test to return to Canada. Since this was not practical, we skipped these islands and put them on this year’s itinerary.

Visiting St Pierre & Miquelon was a much-anticipated event for me. I began researching details about the islands months ago and learned we needed passports to enter, Cat Stevens needed proof of rabies vaccination as well as a recent health certificate from his vet, the islands use Euros and 220v electricity. I also read that the food is amazing, especially the patisseries, and the French wine and cheese is cheap and plentiful because daily flights from France deliver French products.

We arrived at 3pm on a sunny Saturday afternoon, after a beautiful easy sail from St. Lawrence and docked at the main wharf near the customs house. The island is gorgeous – mountains running into the sea and a charming village with quaint, brightly colored homes built into a hillside. We couldn’t wait to get off the boat and go explore it, but first, we needed to check-in with Customs & Immigration.
We ran up a yellow quarantine flag and waited for the officials to arrive. Soon an immigration officer arrived and we were checked-in without any hassle. We exchanged the quarantine flag for a French courtesy flag and opened a celebratory bottle of wine. Then the Customs officer arrived. We hadn’t expected two visits, but we offered him a glass of wine (he declined), he asked some basic questions in reasonable English, then he requested to see Cat Stevens – it turns out he was a cat lover! Best customs check-in ever!

Then he dropped the bomb – it was Saturday afternoon, and everything was closed until Monday. And he meant EVERYTHING…stores, restaurants, coffee shops, gas station, ice cream stands… This island just shuts down every weekend. Unfortunately, our anticipated gourmet French meal was gone, but we still had plenty of food on-board and found a “rogue” wine shop open, so we had a home cooked meal with some excellent French wine.

I had such high hopes for St Pierre, but it left me disappointed. I knew the islands were French, but I was hoping its proximity to Canada and the United States and their main, perhaps only, industry is tourism, St Pierre would have catered to tourists, just a little bit more, perhaps by opening restaurants and a shop or two on a Saturday evening, or not shutting down entirely for 2 hours every weekday afternoon. Even small European towns in Latvia, Italy and Croatia do a better job of taking care of the hand that feeds them, so it’s a shame St. Pierre has held on to outdated traditions instead of embracing hospitality.

The last leg of our adventure with Dan & Hazel was a big one – crossing the Atlantic to Sydney, Nova Scotia. I was a little sad knowing that I won’t be returning to Newfoundland anytime soon, but new adventures awaited.
We left St. Pierre on a cloudy morning and pointed the bow to the southwest. We spent 28 bumpy hours at sea, and while not exactly comfortable, we did not experience any mishaps. We preplanned easy to heat & eat meals, divvied up the night shifts, slept when we could, and the morning presented the Nova Scotia shoreline. Upon arrival in the Port of Sydney, two customs officials boarded the boat to check us back into Canada. They were courteous, friendly and had good chuckle when I told them we had nothing to declare because there was nothing to buy in St Pierre (other than wine, if course).

We spent the next two nights in the Port of Sydney exploring the old downtown, visiting artsy boutiques, eating the freshest seafood, saying farewell to our friends aand getting ready for the next adventure – the Bras D’Dor Lakes.