Headin' Back Once we got around the tip of Newfoundland, we tucked into Red Bay, and the ship settled down. It's a long day, Red Bay in the morning, and L'anse Amour for the afternoon. It's wet landings all day, but the sun is out and the waters are calm.

The more I travel in Canada, the more I realize how little I know about other parts of the country. Red Bay was settled by the Basque, and they supplied most of Europe with light, in the form of whale oil, for almost 100 years. It's the little stories I like, Red Bay was the site of the first liability suit in an international court. A ship laden with oil was heading out of the harbour when it sank in a storm. The survivors of the wreck successfully sued the owners and were paid out their share of the oil. Keep in mind that these whalers lived away from home for 6-7 months, and their families back home depended on their share of the shipment. The company and the Captain had to pay out the crew.

We get a few hours on our own, and again, the community opens up for us. Lots of smiles, waves and questions answered. If our communities showed the same kind of spirit, we'd be in much better shape, both spiritually and economically.

We're back on the Clipper for a run down to L'Anse Amour, one of the tallest lighthouses on the Labrador coast. It's one of the first times we're all on deck while the ship is running in the daytime. We're joined by a pod of dolphins, who clown around for an hour or so, and a humpback is sighted, but it's a bit of a yawn for us west coasters, it was just a modest flip of the tail, and then it disappeared!

Postponing The Enevitable We land on the beach, in the middle of the day, and there's a group to meet us, even though there are only a dozen homes in town. I like this afternoon, we're on our own. By now, I'm checking in regularly with the geologist, the beach here is covered with blocks of rock laden with fossils. I spend time looking for a trilobite, if I found one, I would have taken that with me!

I think that Kathy is warming up for the hike tomorrow, she's off with the lead group, heading to the lighthouse. I've found the wreck of a British destroyer on the beach and the tide is heading out. I get to the lighthouse, and there's a room set up with food, and an old fellow playing the accordion. No one else is in sight. I'm thinking that I noodled around on the beach too long, and I turn around to head back to the ship. I look up to get a shot of the lighthouse, and there are Kathy and the group, 100 feet up in the lighthouse!

We're back on the Clipper, the last Zodiac was at 6 p.m... We're heading south to Woody Point, and a Zodiac is heading to the next large community, taking the woman who fell in the rough weather for x-rays. Turns out her arm is broken, and she has to head home. We have an evening meeting, we haven't found enough birds to satisfy Holly, our onboard expert. We're given orders to look harder, and now we're counting those fake birds in people's gardens!

The Remains Photos:
Zodiacs back to the Clipper
Remains of a wreck in Red Bay
One of the gun turrets of the British destroyer in L'Anse Amour

http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/lhn-nhs/nl/redbay/index.aspx
http://www.heritage.nf.ca/exploration/basque.html

Day 5 - A scuff in Woody Point...
 
 
With A View The seas have quieted down, and the Clipper has steamed all night to get to Woody Point. One of the games we play each evening is trying to get Matthew Jr. to give us the weather, he always dodges the question and reads the weather in the morning with his wake up call. Today it's windy and raining!

We're heading into Gros Morne National Park, another UNESCO Heritage Site. (are you counting, that's two, and Red Bay has just finished their application) Kathy and I have decided to take the middle hike to Garden Point. The geology here is amazing, and I could easily spend weeks here, another place for a repeat visit. This day is uber-organized, we're ashore in the Zodiacs, pick up a packed lunch and fill the water bottles, and then buses to the trailhead. We get a Parks Canada guide along as well. And she loves to talk, even with the wind blowing off the mountains! The group soon breaks up into two, quick and slow. I'm somewhere in the middle, by myself, that way I can shoot at my leisure. I get to the beach, and it starts raining, but there are some tables in a grove of trees that are dry and under a big rock ledge, so everyone stays dry. The beach was amazing, black sand with these basalt intrusions sticking up along the shore. Not much time, the trail was longer, somehow the 5 - 6 km, turned into close to 10 km. We have to head back to catch the bus.

Kathy finds another gear on the way back and is number two on the bus. We warm up on the ride back to Woody Point and decide to walk around town. As usual, it's all smiles and waves. The town has come out to make us feel at home. I spend an hour shooting around town, more boats and brightly coloured buildings!

Many of the Newfoundland stereotypes sure have been shattered on this trip. if our communities adopted their philosophy, we'd be further ahead. One of the conversations I had with Michael Crummy was interesting. There were two chairs at the point overlooking the ocean where we had lunch. I commented that it would be a great place to have some readings during the summer. Turns out that Parks Canada sponsors a series of art and writers in the Park. I don't remember that happening in our BC Parks. See the Woody Point Writers Festival. Both of us have noticed that everywhere we go, there's always a celebration of music, art and writing.

The community has put on a scuff for us at the Lion's Hall, most of the passengers are back on board by 10 p.m. A few of the AC staff end up closing down the Lions Hall in the wee hours of the morning. Matthew Jr.'s wake up call is somewhat subdued, and Michael isn't up to sing us awake! We're halfway through the trip, and looking forward to a slow day tomorrow. On The Waterfront

Photos:
Chairs everywhere in Woody Point
Main street, Woody Point.

http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/nl/grosmorne/index.aspx
http://woodypoint.ca/
http://writersatwoodypoint.com/