We left our super protected harbor in Argentia bound for an excursion to Merasheen, a sweet little harbor nearby. Originally we planned a tour around the bay and through a cut down to Merasheen but the rough seas made us decide that the direct route and not the scenic one would be the most pleasant.
We arrived in Merasheen harbor where I had been on my last trip to Newfoundland. Last time in 2017 we were greeted by a group of residents who helped us tie up to the government dock. But no one was around as we approached this time. Merasheen is one of the villages that was a resettlement from the 1960s. Clearly people are still living there but maybe just on weekends.
We chose to tie up to the dock on the windward side so that we could leave easily if there was still strong wind the next day. This works well because the wind just blows you off the dock as you leave as opposed to being pinned against the dock as you try to get away. BUT it required getting close enough to get a person on the dock to catch lines. Usually I am the long legged jumper but it was low tide, the dock was high and said I couldn’t do it. Charlie who has spent his life as a rigger and hiker and climber quickly stepped over the rail, grappled onto a ladder and was on the dock with a bow line all very quickly done. Although we had planned to tie up Port side to(left side of boat to the dock) the single line and the wind pushed us around with the starboard(right) side moving towards the dock. Bev, Nancy, Maggie and I quickly moved fenders and lines to starboard while Mark moved the boat to allow us to throw lines to Charlie on the dock. Once we settled in, we had lunch and planned to explore.
The harbor looked very much like what I had seen on my previous visit with some very well kept houses and some decaying homes too. We all began a nice hike along a well defined road that the residents use for their ATVs. Bev found blueberries and she immediately sat down with her ziplock bag to pick the small low bush berries. The rest of us walked on to follow the path that had waterfalls that were full from the previous day’s rain. Eventually we came across the wild raspberry bushes that I remembered from my previous walk on the island. Nancy and I picked and ate as we slowly walked along. We met up with the rest at the very nicely groomed graveyard that I remembered. It held generations of residents who had been living on the island or who had been brought back to the place that had been home.
On our return walk, I asked Mark if he had a clean paper towel in his pocket. He did!! So we started picking raspberries in earnest. We picked as much as we could hold. They were too sweet to pass up.
We returned to the boat with our berries which we happily ate mixed for dessert with a splash of triple sec and cinnamon. Yum! We ended the day with a few games of Rummikub. Maggie and Charlie needed to learn the game so Maggie played as my partner and Charlie partnered with Bev. Mark won both games! Then we went to bed.
The Adventures of Anne 