Newfoundland Chapter 2

An easy 150 mile drive brought us to Baddeck, NS today. We were setup in the campground by 1:30. In the “small world” department, the people in the campground office are from the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston where we grew up.

After lunch we drove into town, gathered some brochures at the Welcome Center then went to the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site. Bell lived in Baddeck for the last 20 or so years of his life. Pretty much all we knew about A.G. Bell was that he invented the telephone. Here’s what else we learned today:

After the museum, we took a short boat ride to an island in Bras D’or Lake. We hiked around unsuccessfully looking for Bald Eagles, though we did see a Yellow Rumped Warbler

We spent today exploring the Fortress at Louisbourg, NS. The fort was built, beginning in 1713, as a stronghold of New France. By 1740 there were over 3,000 residents including a garrison of 600 soldiers. In 1745 a New England army led by General Pepperell, successfully attacked the fortress and shipped the defeated soldiers and merchants back to France. Several years later, as part of a treaty settlement with the British, the French were again given control of Cape Breton Island and the Fortress at Louisbourg. Peace between the French and British was short lived in that period and war broke out again in less than ten years. In 1754 the British under General Wolfe, attacked and retook the fortress. In the two subsequent years that same British army defeated the French forces in Quebec City and Montreal. The only remnant of the French Colonial presence in North America was, and still is, the small islands of St Pierre and Miqueon off the south coast of NewFoundland. Soon after the British abandoned Louisbourg in favor of their outpost in Halifax, NS.

The site lay pretty much abandoned until the early 20^th century when Canada began the creation of a National Historic Site. The major restoration took place in the 60’s and 70’s.

It’s a magnificent place with restored military and commercial buildings, restored taverns that serve period food, a fascinating guided tour that describes the lives of the people living there in the summer of 1744 and people throughout the park in period costumes playing the roles of soldiers, shopkeepers, etc..

We spent the entire day there, followed by a lobster dinner (the first of we hope many) at a small restaurant on the waterfront. It was a breezy foggy day and the rain started about 3:30 as we were leaving the park. By the time we finished eating at about 4:45 we were the only patrons in the restaurant.

Back to the campground for an early bedtime. We need to get up at about 3:45 to catch the ferry to Newfoundland tomorrow.

Today is a day of good news-bad news. The good news is that we made it to Newfoundland today. The bad news is that we are at the opposite end of the island, 550 miles from where we wanted to be. We did indeed get up at 3:45 and left the campground at about 5:00 for the 45 min drive to the ferry terminal.

Bad news - as we were hooking up the car, Sandy noticed that the two right tires on the CRV were very low.

Good news - about a mile down the road was a gas station and although they were not open at 5 AM, their air hose was out and working and we could get to it without unhooking the car. Air in the tires and we are off to the ferry.

We checked in at a bit before 6. We waited in the loading area with hundreds of other cars, trucks and RVs as we watched a ferry unload.

Bad news - there was a mechanical problem with the ferry and there would be a delay. We waited, read and Sandy even took a short nap.

More bad news – at 10 AM they announced that the ferry was broken and the trip was cancelled. This was the ferry to Argentia on the east end of Newfoundland, near St. John’s, a 14 hour trip that only runs twice a week!

Good news - they announced that they could put us all on a 2 PM ferry to Port au Basque on the west end of the island. Oh, the joys of being flexible and having plenty of time ;-).

Bad news - they asked that we go to the ticket counter for new tickets and a refund. When Carl got to the terminal building, the line was out the door and he was about 145^th in line (there were two ticket agents). After about an hour and a half, they sent some of us over to the booths where the cars and trucks check in. We waited patiently, chatting with the folks near us in line. After about another hour and a half we were close enough to the booth that we could see and hear what was going on.

More bad news -the line stopped moving because their computer system went down. Soon after we heard that the refund transactions were being denied. It turned out the bank computer noted large numbers of refund transactions that triggered their fraud prevention program and shut their computer system down. It took about a half hour to get that sorted out and the line started moving again.

Good news - The refunds were not just for the price difference between the long trip and short trip. Marine-Atlantic was refunding the entire fare and sending us for free. That saved us over $600 that more than paid for the extra gas. Plus we got a voucher for free dinner aboard.

The ferry left about 3 PM. Boarding was interesting. The ferry has two vehicle decks and they load simultaneously. Quite an operation. We walked up to the upper outside deck to look around and were surprised to see a Common Tern colony below us on the cement top of a big piling in the adjacent ferry slip. It was about 10 feet square containing 20 or 30 adult terns about ten chicks and numerous eggs. We stayed on deck for a while and struck up a conversation with a birder from Vancouver, BC. It was clear and sunny though windy and the air on the ocean was chilly. Aside from a glimpse of a Storm Petrel (Leach’s we think), we saw no other birds or whales during the crossing. We passed the time reading or chatting with folks.

The ferry docked about 9:30 PM and we were off at 10:15. We had decided to drive about 100 miles and spend the night at a Provincial Park campground. We arrived at Barachois Pond Park at 12:15 AM and were amazed to see two rangers on duty in the entrance kiosk. They offered us the use of the day use parking area, a huge lot where it was much easier to park in the black night, without even disconnecting the car. Before we extended the slides we walked around the coach to make sure there were no trees in the way. We looked up and the sight took our breath away. It was pitch black in the campground and the stars were fantastic with the Milky Way clearly visible. We put down the jacks, extended the slides and went to bed – 21 hours after we got up-but we were in Newfoundland!

We awoke after nine hours of sleep, feeling as though we had just fallen asleep. After breakfast we hiked around the campground along the shore of the pond. We drove to Corner Brook, the second largest town in the province for some food shopping then headed across Newfoundland. Lobsters at Corner Brook supermarket were $11.99/lb. We’ll wait to buy lobster. We drove 320 mile and checked in to Newman Sound Campground in Terra Nova National Park at about 6PM. A beautiful campground, we got a big secluded site surrounded by tall Spruce trees and it has electricity. After super we walked around part of the campground (it has 368 sites!).

We awoke to the sound of rain so one of us slept for another hour. After breakfast we decided to drive along the Bonavista Peninsula. We had lunch in the delightful, picturesque village of Trinity. We then headed for Bonavista where we heard we might see Whales, Puffins and Icebergs. Two out of three were terrific. As we came around a bend in the road in town we looked out over the water and saw an iceberg. There was no sense of scale so it was hard to tell if it was the size of a house a half mile away or the size of factory two miles away. It was quite beautiful, with hues of blues and ridges along the waterline where the ocean waves had melted away more ice. We then drove on to Cape Bonavista at the tip of land. We saw a large number of birds on an offshore rock and I asked Sandy if any of them were Puffins. Staring through her binoculars she replied gleefully “They are all Puffins!”. Actually they were nearly all Atlantic Puffins. We guessed about 400-600. There were also Black Guillimots and a few Herring Gulls. We visited the Cape Bonavista lighthouse built in 1874 and climbed the tower to see the six oil lamps in silver plated copper reflectors. Last stop was the Matthew, a faithfully constructed replica of the ship that brought John Cabot (who was actually Giovanni Caboto from Genoa Italy) to Bonavista in 1497.

The drive home added a few wildlife surprises as well. About halfway back to Terra Nova, Sandy jammed on the brakes as an adolescent moose ran across the road less than 15 feet in front of us. A few miles from the campground she slowed for what looked like a dog on the side of the road. As we got close we realized it was a young Coyote.

For a rainy day we really lucked out. We saw wonderful stuff and when we were at Cape Bonavista the rain stopped and the fog lifted so we could walk out to the edge of the cliff to see the icebergs and Puffins. Life is GOOD!

Another foggy overcast day greeted us but it was not raining, at least not too hard. We were up early and headed out for a hike in the morning. We hiked 4 km along the stream near the campground then 9 km along the coast of Newman Sound. Along the way we saw Bald Eagle, Hermit Thrush, Black and White Warbler and a River Otter. We didn’t see Moose but there were Moose droppings everywhere along the trail. We also saw some Black Bear droppings but no bear. After eight miles of hiking (during which we saw only two other people on the trails), we came back to the coach for lunch and some clean dry clothes.

After lunch we drove to the towns of Eastport, Sandy’s Cove and Salvage. Although we stopped to take the obligatory picture at the “Welcome to Sandy’s Cove” sigh, Salvage was by far the nicest of the towns with a deep rocky harbor, picturesque homes and fish shacks perched on the rocks with crab pots and lobster traps piled everywhere. We stopped at the local museum in a house built in 1865. It was full of interesting artifacts, clothing and pictures.

We are slowly getting the hang of the Newfoundland accents. All place names seem to have the emphasis on the last syllable (NewfoundLAND, LabraDOR, SalVAGE). Our guide in the Salvage museum pronounced no “H’s” although he occasionally put one at the beginning of a word that would otherwise begin with a vowel. We figured this out when he was talking about what they ate in the late 19^th century and he said, “The en would lay heggs”. It’s very similar to what we Bostonian natives do with Rs at the ends of words (Cubar is an island surrounded by watah).

After supper we cleaned up the coach and did a bunch of laundry including two days worth of damp clothes from being out in the rain. We had not been back in the coach more than ten minutes when the heavens opened up. Luckily we didn’t have to transport our dry laundry through the heavy rain. Forecast for tomorrow –rain!

With all of the moose droppings along the trails, we hoped to have a better chance to see a moose if we got on the trail early. We set the alarm for 5:30 and agreed that we’d go for a hike if it was not raining. All night we were awaked by the rain drumming on the coach roof. When we awoke to the alarm, it was quiet, no rain! Off we went in search of moose. We hiked the Big Brook trail again. Two and a half miles along the brook with views across the meadow. We didn’t see moose but we did see an Arctic Fox sitting by the riverbank.

After breakfast we headed for the Visitor Center where we hoped to take a boat excursion on Newman Sound. Previous trips had seen whales and lots of eagles. Unfortunately, there’s a four passenger minimum and we were the only two candidates. We drove to the nearby town of Glovertown to get the leaking tire on the CRV fixed but it was Sunday so we couldn’t find anyone to plug the tire. We put more air in and found a do it yourself car wash to get the grime off the car. Back into the park, we hiked the Southwest Arm Trail along a brook. Another three miles along a beautiful stream. We saw Wilson’s and Palm Warblers and a Downy Woodpecker. The Wilson’s might be a life bird for us. We then headed back to the Visitor’s Center for lunch and the bad news that there was still no one else interested in the boat tour. We then drove up Blue Hill for a pleasant, if foggy, view of Newman Sound then back to the coach for a quiet afternoon with a little more cleaning, some journaling, etc., etc. After supper we walked over to the campground payphone and called home and spoke to Sandy’s Mom, the Kids in Florida and left a voicemail for Jamie. There’s no cell phone coverage in the park and we are too far east for our satellite internet system to work.

We planned for another moose hike this morning. However, what sounded like a good idea at 10 last night , was not such a good idea at 5 AM. We cancelled the moose walk and slept for another couple of hours before packing up to move to our next destination, the Avalon Peninsula with two of the world’s greatest bird sanctuaries! We stopped to get the CRV tire patched and then made a side trip to Arnold’s Cove on Placentia Bay. This little fishing village sounded interesting in the guidebook, including mention of a bird sanctuary so we made a short side trip. A bit of a disappointment since the village was a mix of fishing shacks (picturesque) and fish processing plants (ugly but people have to make a living). The bird sanctuary may have good birds at some times of year but the low tide mud flats had only Gulls and Common Terns today.

We had read about a campground right at the entrance to Cape St. Mary’s Ecological Reserve so we thought we’d give it a try. It turned out to be a restaurant, a big gravel yard with water and electric hookups and an occasional picnic table. Oh well, we were here for the birds not the scenery. We parked the coach and drove the CRV 10 miles down a narrow winding road to the Reserve. We then hiked about three quarters of a mile to the Bird Rock overlook. This place is AWESOME! Tens of thousands of Northern Gannets, Black-legged Kittiwakes, Common Murres, Thick-billed Murres and a smattering of Razorbills, Black Guillimots and Cormorants (both Greater and Double Crested). Carl brought his tripod and 300mm lens with a 1.4x extender and shot about 250 pictures.

Back to the “campground” where the restaurant claimed the best fish and chips in Newfoundland. We ate dinner there and they may be right. It was excellent.

We did the Cape Shore Loop today, a 120 mile loop that includes the Rocky River Fishladder, Salmonier Nature Park, Cataracts Provincial Park, Castle Hill National Historic Park and an ATM machine in Placentia to refill our wallets.

Rocky River was interesting in that a fish ladder was built at a waterfall and salmon were released upstream n 1986. They now return annually. This was the first time a salmon river was created. We were a little early and there were few salmon. The ones we saw were trying to jump up the falls instead of using the fish ladder.

The Nature Park was a well done mini zoo displaying native Newfoundland mammals and raptors. The birds were all injured, mostly flightless but it was neat to see Great Horned and Snowy Owls (photo), Bald Eagles, Kestrals and Peregrine Falcons up close. Of course we have Peregrine Falcons back home in Lowell!

The Cataracts was a pretty waterfall in a deep gorge. We ate our picnic lunch at the foot of the falls.

Castle Hill National Historic Park shows the fort built by the French in 1662 and occupied until 1714 when they moved to Louisburg, NS. Several of the “re-enactors” from Louisburg were on hand to talk about the life of French soldiers in the 18^th century and fire their muskets.