I woke up fairly early and it didn’t take much convincing to get up, as my back was so sore from my mattress. I got up to phone the ferry place in Sydney, Nova Scotia again. They were open. Good.
Here’s a transcript of the conversation:
Ferry woman: Marine Atlantic.
Me: Hi, how are you?
Ferry woman: Good.
(silence as I wait a second for her to return the question)
Me: Oh, uh, I’ve never been on the ferries from Nova Scotia, I’m just wondering how much it would cost for 4 adults and a van to go across to Argentia from Sydney.
Ferry woman: Ok.
(silence as I assume she’s checking her computer or something)
(more silence. I look at my cell phone to see if I got disconnected. Nope, looks good.)
Ferry woman: That’ll be $612.
Me: Oh ok, that’s for a round trip?
Ferry woman: No, just one way.
(silence as I’m not really sure what to say. Probably because I just lost my mind.)
Me: Oh ok, how much to Port-aux-Basques from Sydney?
(15 seconds of silence)
Ferry woman: $260.
Me: One way.
Ferry woman: Yes.
Me: Ok, thanks for your help.
Ferry woman: Bye.
Me: Bye.
So to take the van and all of us across the ferry and back would be over $1200. I don’t see that happening. When I told Vanessa and Allan to guess who much it was, they couldn’t believe I said “higher” when they guessed the expected $300 that the couple from Nova Scotia estimated.
400? Higher. $500. Higher. Try six-hundred and twelve dollars.
So taking the van to Newfoundland may not be in the cards. If we walk on the ferry and leave the van in Sydney it’ll be $100 per person + $30 per bike. So it’d be $460, so not much cheaper. And then we’d need transportation while in Newfoundland.
If we went the Port-aux-Basques way, which doesn’t take us close to St. John’s, it’d be cheaper ($260), but then we were told it’d be nearly 10 hours of driving, or two tanks of gas at $100 apiece. So that wouldn’t be much cheaper. If we were staying in Newfoundland for a week or two, it wouldn’t be hard to justify it. We plan on only spending a day or two on “The Rock”.
Barry and Beth (photo left) offered to buy us breakfast this morning so we all had a nice breakfast together. They gave us some suggestions about what to do down east. They also nearly fell over when we told them about the price of the ferry. We thanked them for breakfast and their help. They were very friendly people!Oh, and then Vanessa and Kelly biked into New Brunswick and to a town called Grand Falls. I bought a new air mattress at Superstore and pumped it up with a smile on my face, knowing that it wouldn’t deflate overnight. I was also finally able to find the hot sauce that I like, so I bought a bunch. I will be looking for foods to dip in it for the remainder of the trip.
At the campsite, Vanessa saw a skunk and thought it was a cat at first and nearly called it over. That probably wouldn’t have turned out very well.
1 comment:
As a Newfoundlander, the ferry prics are a well-known woe. Please complain to your MP and any politicians. Marine Atlantic is a Crown Corporation and the ferry services are an extension of the Trans-Canada Highway; it's in the Terms of Union under which we joined the country. Think how it is to live here; the only way out is that pricey ferry or a similarly expensive plane ticket!
The Argentia crossing is a good 15-17 hours long, and Port-aux-Basque is 6-7 hours. Sometimes mainlanders don't realize this; it does help to explain the extreme prices, although it does not justify them.
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