An Outport Adventure Cruise - Part 1

The Southwest Coast by Boat

From Rose Blanche you can take a coastal boat - passengers only - to La Poile and Grand Bruit, two isolated communities on the south coast. The coastal boat operates six days a week, and once a week continues on to Burgeo, three hours from Grand Bruit, from where there are road connections (Route 480) to the rest of Newfoundland and coastal boat connections to other communities as far east as Hermitage-Sandyville, where you can pick up Route 364.

Tip: When traveling the south coast, it's always a good idea to plan everything in advance because the remote communities' only transportation link is the coastal boat. Fares are very modest.

It's about a 90-minute boat trip from Rose Blanche to La Poile, a fishing community of fewer than 200 residents. Its name comes from the French words "les poiles," or soldiers who patrolled the area to discourage permanent settlement by people from St. Pierre, the French territory just off the Newfoundland coast, who fished here and cut timber to supplement the meagre forests on St. Pierre and nearby Miquelon.

Another hour east is Grand Bruit. Its name means, in French, "great noise," which is exactly what is generated by the water falling over a 305-metre high cliff near the community. Typically, south coast communities are tiny hamlets that sit at the base of towering cliffs.