Day 4 (October 3, 2022):

When the alarm went off at 6AM, I could have honestly turned it off and slept all day, so exhausted I was.  But chop chop, as planes wait for no one! 

The hotel’s breakfast started promptly at 7:00 and I was the first one there when it opened. Having inhaled some fresh French pastries, sausage, honey-yogurt and coffee, I checked out of the hotel at 7:20 and waited in the pre-sunrise 4C air for my taxi, which arrived 7:35. (I could have / should have lingered over another cup of coffee and a croissant!)  Thankfully, the airport is just five minutes from practically everything in Saint Pierre, so I was in the Air Saint Pierre checkin lineup by 7:45. 

Security wanted to confiscate my 120g bottle of “cranberges” jam (what the folks in the archipelago call partridgeberries) for being 20g over the limit. But after many sighs and stern looks, they relented and let me take it through. 

The guy on the French Customs desk was the fine fellow on our delegation to Miquelon who played Irish flute. I’m pleased he was the one to stamp my passport as it provided a suitable farewell. 

I don’t think I’ll ever forget this amazing trip - not only because of the French experience but because of the warmth and kindness of the Acadians who have accepted and included me over the years, despite my far-from-perfect French. 

Au revoir, Saint Pierre et Miquelon!

The minutes before sunrise, looking over Saint Pierre’s port. 

Air Saint Pierre’s new ATR-42-600 was pulled into place on the tarmac at 8AM, and at 8:24 the door was closed and the props started spinning. All 46 seats were sold out. In a season of unprecedented cancellations and delays at Canadian airports, why our airlines cannot be this efficient boggles my mind!

A last view of Saint Pierre after a weekend of absolutely incredible Fall weather. 

And one last view of the dramatic cliffs along Langlade’s southern coast. A satisfying final view by which to remember a most enjoyable trip to the archipelago of the French Collectivite of Saint Pierre et Miquelon.