Today’s Ferry Tale

So, I’m on the ferry from Yarmouth to Portland. I have a great location in the piano lounge looking over the bow of the boat to a beautiful sunny day. The day didn’t start that way though.

Last night was probably the worst night’s sleep I’ve had in a while. I lost track of the number of times I woke up during the night. I wasn’t concerned about my camping location – I actually think it was one of the better wild camping sites I’ve had. There wasn’t rain to keep me awake – I’ve learned to sleep through that. But there was wind. Lots of wind. I think the 50 km/h gusts that had been looming in the forecast had finally arrived. And the temperature was at that “perfect” point where it was too warm for a sleeping bag but too cool without one. I got out of my tent at one point and, despite the wind, a very thick fog was blanketing the area – it looked like something out of a horror movie – it was pretty cool.

The fog was still pretty thick at 6:30 when I decided it was time to get up. I didn’t have to be at the ferry terminal until 8:30 – I figured that wouldn’t be a problem since it was just across the street. I packed up my damp tent and went in search of breakfast. Yesterday, the women at the Visitor Information Centre had recommended “Old World Bakery” as an option for dinner last night. Sadly, it was closed when I got there but noted they opened at 7am for breakfast. Turns out this was an excellent idea. The egg and cheese sandwich on FRESH bread, plus the still warm strawberry/banana muffin were fantastic. If you’re ever in Yarmouth, check out Old World Bakery.

With the breakfast requirement fulfilled for the day I returned to ferry terminal and boarded the boat. The boat itself is very nice with many amenities – lounges, buffets, duty-free, movies (on a biggish screen TV, but really, not all that big), a casino – with slots, blackjack, and texas hold’em (although, the blackjack tables haven’t been opened yet and there has been no action at the poker table. And for $5/hour you can get intermittent WiFi access – that’s not being sarcastic. One of the notes on registration screen indicate that the nature of internet at sea is that there may be outages – well, they call it “latency”. If it were $5 for the whole crossing I would be somewhat okay with it. But for an hour? That seems excessive for a service that may or may not be there. And, based on what I’ve read, there’s nowhere to plug in your laptop or phone or other devices. That seems a little odd considering it’s a ten hour trip and oh, it’s 2014. Yeah, yeah. First world problems.

Of the three major ferry trips I’ve now been on, I’d say this is the worst. Okay, “Worst” might be harsh – least favourite would be more accurate. As I said, the boat itself has very nice facilities – including showers which I happily used. Neither of the other two ferries had reliable internet – the Bella Desgagnés didn’t have it at all, but it was supposed to. However, the others did give you the opportunity to power up your devices – something that comes in handy on a long trip. The Bella Desgagnés actually had USB power in the armrest of every chair. I think it just came down to feel. And I liked the feel of the other ferries more.

As I mentioned though, the Nova Star does have a casino in which I managed to spend about 30 minutes on a 25 cent video poker machine. Slot machines generally bore me pretty quickly – like in about three minutes. Video poker has the same effect, but it holds my attention more than three minutes. At least I understand the odds and options I’m dealing with (no pun intended). Anyway, I put in my money and, remarkably, I was able to double it – thanks mostly to getting four fours. Throw in a straight, three of a kind, and a full house and voila. Cashing out a winner! Not sure what I’ll do with my freshly won $5.

I’ve heard tales of woe from multiple Nova Scotians about this ferry. Many were skeptical that it would prove to be successful. Apparently the government has already put $27 million dollars into it for a seven year contract and that money is already gone – and this is only year one. There certainly aren’t a lot of people on this particular crossing but I read the other day that bookings were up 55% in August. I guess only time will tell.

I will say this, the highlight thus far has been the buffet lunch. The Yarmouth to Portland crossing offers three meal times. I opted for the $17 lunch – partially to break up the day and partially because I figured in my state of hunger I could actually get my money’s worth. I did.

I’m now down to 15% on my battery. I’m not sure how long that will last but I’m reasonably confident it won’t be the rest of this crossing. So, I’ll shut it down for now – in case I come up with something brilliant to type later.

Ok. So, several hours have now passed since starting this update.

The arrival of the ferry into Portland was a lot more picturesque than I expected. I don’t know why I had low expectations. Most of the ferry ports I’ve ever been to are generally very nice places. And, in this particular case, it was sunset so the harbour setting was especially nice. The ferry was on time but for some reason I didn’t really register the fact that it would be dark by the time I got through customs – which, spoiler alert, went very smoothly. I have to say that I was a little concerned about the whole customs experience as I wasn’t sure what their response would be to my proposed three month visit. Turns out, they didn’t have much of a response.

Relieved that I wasn’t going to have to get back on the ferry and return to Nova Scotia, I now had a new problem. Accommodations for the night. According to one of the ferry security officers, camping in parks is prohibited in Portland and police make regular visits to such areas. I was seriously considering heading into the woods, down one of the bike trails to try to find a good wild camping site when I finally decided that for my first night in the US I would treat myself to a hotel. So I did. My first stop was the Holiday Inn but at $207/night I thought I could do better. I did, by heading up the road to La Quinta Inns & Suites. For the record, the girl at the Holiday Inn was very helpful and actually called The Clarion hotel in search of a better rate – which they had. I was on my way there when I saw the La Quinta and luckily for me they were a better value.

I’ve since settled into my room. Had a excellent calzone from Amato’s. And am now finishing my daily update. Tomorrow the journey south officially begins. Not sure what my route will be. Or how long it will take. And yes, I hope to avoid any encounters with hurricanes – although, I guess I should look into when hurricane season hits. But for now, I should probably get some sleep.