The Nordik Express is a hybrid freighter-ferry that plies the lower north shore (Basse-Cote-Nord) of the St. Lawrence between the Labrador Straits and Sept-Iles. The ship's primary purpose is to serve six outports between Blanc Sablon and Natasquan, where there is no road. During every week-long round trip it also visits Anticosti Island, and its home port of Rimouski.

Upon reaching each outport, weekly supplies are unloaded while the recent catch (fish, crab, lobster) is put in containers and loaded onto the ship by the on-board crane. Besides a cargo of about 70 containers, the Nordik Express also takes up to 140 passengers. Up to 80 of the passengers can enjoy accommodations in cabins, any others are only aboard during the day, or sleep on reclining seats in one of the lounges. Although the ship is always fully booked between June and September, it is first and foremost a freighter, not a ferry. Thus, typical amenities on other large ferries - a bar, arcade, gift shop, etc. - are not found aboard.

While the containers occupy the stern of the ship, the passengers have the run of much of 5 decks found on the bow. From lowest to highest, they are:

• A-deck: economy cabins (that's us!)
• B-deck: dining room
• C-deck: cafeteria, lounge with TVs, purser's office
• D-deck: cabins, bridge
• E-deck: indoor observation lounge, outdoor observation deck

Shortly after boarding, we checked into our cabin, which boasted 4 thin births stacked up as 2 bunk beds, separated a couple feet from one another by a pair of lockers. Washrooms and showers were down the hall. Fortunately, there was an electrical outlet which permitted us to recharge our camera batteries. Although we shared the cabin with another couple, we rarely interacted with them, as this was strictly a place to sleep, so encountering each other awake was rare.

Now we were ready for something really exciting: watching our car get lifted by crane onto the ship. Since the placing of the containers was anything but gentle, Ross was a little apprehensive about the whole affair, although it eventually occurred without incident.

After that, with the ship quiet except for the loading of the remaining containers, we retired to the dining room to watch the remainder of Titanic. Just as the movie finished, we felt the ship pull away from Blanc Sablon. Our trip at sea had finally begun.

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The first outport encountered was St. Augustin, located at the far end of a bay connected to the wider ocean by a narrow channel lined with small islands, somewhat reminiscent of Go Home Bay. Because the bay is not deep enough to accomodate the Nordik Express, the wharf is located near the entrance to the bay, some miles from the outport. As a result, visiting the town during the brief stopover is not really possible. Ross got up for the 5am landing, snapped a few pictures of the surrounding area, and headed back to bed.

After a pleasant night sleeping in the bunks, we got out of bed for breakfast. Ross had opted into the meal plan and had to be in the dining room by 7:30. Ann didn't join the meal plan in case her allergies became an issue with the food choices available. The food was quite good but the service was terrible, it took almost an hour for Ross to be served. By this time Ann was really hungry. We adjourned from the dining room and headed to the cafeteria for Ann's breakfast.

Around 9:30, the freighter made it's first daylight stop at La Tabatiere. We took the opportunity to get off the ship and have a look around at the village. There was really not much to see in this small fishing outport, although watching forklifts load lots of crab onboard was a thrill for Ross.

One of the main attractions was a small dam, and we also walked up a hill to get a better view of the surroundings. The most notable denizens of the village were the tiny blackflies. We'd been entirely spared from flies in both Newfoundland and Labrador, but now the weather had finally turned sunny, and summer's scourge was upon us. It was easy to see why Labradorians said they preferred the cold we'd experienced to the flies. After only 40 minutes, we were ready to return to the ship, although it wasn't to leave for another half hour.

Lunch in the dining room was not much better than breakfast. It seems we were destined to waste a lot of time getting meals, especially since the two of us had to eat in series. There wasn't really much to do aboard the ship between stops besides eat, so maybe that's why the service wasn't too speedy.

The next stop was Tete-a-la-Baleine. Like St. Augustin, this village was some distance from the wharf, so we signed up for a tour. The tour involved a bunch of locals picking up the tourists in their pick-up trucks and speeding up a dirt road to the village.

Once in Tete-a-la-Baleine, we were taken to several locations and given a history lesson in French. Then we piled in to the back of the truck again and headed back to the ship. The tour was very taxing, so we followed up with a nap in our cabin.

When we woke up, it was time for Ross' dinner. Much to his delight, they were serving lobster. The service was also a lot better than it had been for the previous two meals.

The final daylight stop was at Harrington Harbour. This was by far the most interesting village. Instead of roads, there are wide wooden boardwalks throughtout the island village. The inhabitants own ATVs and drive them along the boardwalks. We learned that Harrington Harbour was the site of a famous French film called La Grand Seduction.

We spent quite a while walking around the village, looking for the best location for a panoramic photo.

The remainder of the evening was fairly uneventful. We watched Spider-Man on our laptop for a while, but Ann started to develop motion sickness, and went up to the observation deck. For the hour before midnight, we watched the lights of La Romana approach, although we went to bed before arriving at the 5th outport.

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The Nordik Express visited Kegaska, the last outport, around 5am, but neither of us got up to take photos. Instead, we slept until breakfast. Not long after the meal concluded we arrived at Natasquan, the 'end of the road' (or the beginning for us), where we would be disembarking. Although the ship docked at 9, we went down to the cabin for one more nap, knowing that it would take a while for the crane to unload the car. Although it was on top when loaded in Blanc Sablon, after six more stops it was somewhat buried by other containers. Not long after 10, we walked down the gangplank one final time, and began the 2-day drive home up the St. Lawrence.