In the morning, we walked to the local service centre to ask about getting our tire replaced. The mechanic told us that he didn't have the correct size of tire to replace the flat, but he offered to drive to the BnB to put the spare on for us. About ten minutes later, he had arrived at the BnB with a helper and had the spare on very quickly. We were planning on driving the car to the gas bar to wait and see if the tire could be fixed. By the time we were ready to go over, he was back and reinstalled the fixed tire. He charged us a whopping $10 for his efforts. Ross gave him a big tip.

We were interested in taking a boat tour of the area, but none of the tour operators were open in Cartwright. In fact, there was only one tour operator, and they were the people who ran the BnB we stayed at. They were busy renovating the house.

Instead we drove around the town and took a small walk up a hill to an outlook. Then we started our journey back down the gravel road to Red Bay.

There were several graders at work that day. In one stretch of road, the gravel was piled up in a heap along the middle. Ross happened to be driving in the middle of the road and stradled the heap. Unfortunately, there was a partially obscured rock in the gravel and the car ran right over it. We heard a big crunching noise that didn't sound very good. The car kept going, so we were not too worried.

About an hour after starting out, we arrived at Cartwright Junction. It's not a town, but nonetheless marked on the map because it is where the final part of the Trans-Labrador - Phase III - will link the east and west parts of Labrador a few years from now. When complete, it will eliminate the Goose Bay - Cartwright ferry, and finally link the portion of Labrador we toured to the rest of North America by road. The isolation that we came here to witness will be somewhat diminished.

Around two o'clock we were ready to stop for lunch, by which time we'd returned to Port Hope Simpson. The food diversity is somewhat lacking in Labrador. Fried chicken and fish seem to be the staples at restaurants, but here, we discovered some Italian food for the first time, a most welcome find.

In Red Bay, we visited the National Historic Site, a Basque Whaling station. We learned all about the whale oil industry and saw many artifacts that were discovered in a sunken whaling ship.

As we were about to leave, we noticed that the front hood of the car wasn't properly shut. Ross released the hood and dropped it again. It wouldn't shut no matter what he tried. A friendly local stopped by to help and together they determined that the radiator had been pushed up, preventing the hood from closing properly. Remember the rock from earlier? Also, the radiator was leaking fluid. All of the repair shops were closed, so we had to wait until the next day to have someone look at the car.

Having eaten at the restaurant in Red Bay a few days ago, we drove to L'Anse Au Loup for dinner. We ordered too much food - we never learn. After dinner, we went to our BnB, The Lighthouse in L'Anse Amour and spent some time talking to the other guests. We also worked a bit on our journal and travelogues.

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The next day (June 18) was our final one in Labrador. We were scheduled to board the Nordik Express that evening and start our trip home. Ross didn't think it was a good idea to put the car in a crate when it was leaking radiator fluid, so we took the car to a repair shop to try to get the leak fixed.

The store we went to was too busy and with reluctance, they found another shop that wasn't as busy in the next town over. Complicating matters was that we had arranged to have a boat tour, while our car was supposed to be fixed in the current town. While we were waiting for the tour guide to arrive, one of the mechanics decided to have a look at the car. He concluded that the leak was minor enough that we could wait to have it fixed until we got home. He also told us that our car would be put in an open crate and a small leak would not be an issue. Our tour guide eventually showed up and with the car problem resolved, we were set to go on our tour.

Our guide gave us some rain gear to put on before we went out on the water.

It was a little drizzly. On the water, it was also very cold. We were glad that we had put on our winter hats and gloves for the excursion. Our guide took us on a tour along the coast, then headed out to a large iceberg about six miles away from shore. It was the largest of any of the icebergs that we had seen during our vacation. A seal was hanging around near the iceberg but it stayed away from the boat. We also saw a few auks flying across the water.

After the tour, we went to a coffee shop to have some lunch. They served beans and chili, so Ann was very happy.

Later, we drove to L'Anse Amour and had a little nap at the side of the road. Then, we visited the Labrador Straits Museum. It was a tiny museum, there was not a lot to see, but it did have some supplementary material for the nearby 7500-year-old Archaic Indian burial ground. The weather started to clear up and we were finally able to go on a hike. During the hike, we saw our first land animal - a groundhog, and a rather spectacular waterfall. Even though it was June, the waterfalls in Labrador were still full with water melting from all the snow.

We left Labrador and drove to the end of the paved road in Quebec, re-entering Eastern Time. Along the coast, we discovered a bergy-bit that had been washed up on shore with the low tides. We got out of the car to have a look. It was very-very cold, especially when we sat on top of the iceberg.

After checking into the ferry terminal around 8pm, we had some time before we were allowed to board, so we took the opportunity to go have some dinner. After returning to the terminal and boarding the ferry, Ross was hoping to be able to convince the purser to give us a room without any other people in it, but all of the rooms were full. We had to share our room for the two nights with another couple.