Newfoundland is like Norway – just colder, wilder and friendlier. My destination, Conception Bay South just outside St. Johns, is pretty much as far east one can go on the American continent. And seriously, the names of the places in Newfoundland is in itself good enough reason to go there. I do not understand how one cannot be humoured by places called ”Witless Bay”, ”Conception Bay”, ”Dildo” or just ”Freshwater”.

I was going to spend the coming week with Ocean Quest Adventures, founded by Rick & Debbie Stanley. With their motto ”Whales ´n icebergs and all kinds of nice birds. Special places, wide open spaces and people with smiles on their faces” – it is an understatement saying I was excited.

I arrived after 36 hours of traveling, including an 18 hour bus ride from Alpena, MI to Toronto, ON. Rick´s daughter, Jill, and her friend picked me up at the airport – and they had the cutest little sign with them to be sure we didn´t miss each other. Back at the Ocean Quest Adventure Lodge was Rick and a German filmcrew filming for two documentaries (Newfoundland seems to be quite popular these days!). I also met with Frank Ratzel and Séverine Bär – who turned out to be my dive buddies parts of the upcoming week. They were visiting this place for the 4th time – and with that in mind I knew my stay here was going to be great. People don´t come back unless they really enjoy it!

The following day we had our first diving adventure, which was a true expedition. We had Port Kirwan in the horizon, longing for the sight of the 17th century shipwreck located somewhere out there. From a society of archaeologists´ report published in 1986, we knew the approximate location and their description of the wreck.

It was presumably a merchant ship from the era of the pirates, so the participants of the expedition was ready for adventure! Bill (the skipper of Ocean Quest Adventure´s diving boat), Frank, Séverine and me jumped in our cars and drove out there.

Frank and Séverine had been there before a couple of years ago, so they got in the water first – hopefully they would find the wreck and mark it with a surface buoy so that Bill and me could get there easily. We needed our bottom time for making video footage of the wreck.

We were sitting at the docks, eagerly scouting for the buoy. If it didn´t pop up it meant that we would do a regular shore dive instead – so it was a to be or not to be for us and the video. Finally, after a time period feeling more like 3 hours than 30 minutes – the buoy was there!

Both Frank and Séverine could tell us about the cannons and artifacts they saw there, and we got in the water as fast as humanly possible. Unfortunately, the current was so strong that the line had jumped off its anchor – and as we hit the sandy bottom it was nothing there but…sand. We made it back to the shore, disappointed of course – but still, we both thought it was totally worth it. That is exactly what adventures are all about – not necessarily always reaching the goal, but the excitement that comes with not knowing what is behind the next turn. As they say, the road is the goal (is that even a proverb in English? It is in Norway) – and the shipwreck isn´t exactly going anywhere!