What a great day! Not a wonderful start though -- it was wet (to the point of hydro-planing) and very foggy when we left Port au Choix for the long drive to the ferry. We had planned to allow 2 hours, but the hotel receptionist assured us that it was a 45 minute drive, so we cut that to 90 minutes. Breakfast at the Sea Echo began far too late for us, and they didn't offer any alternative. We brewed a cup of coffee in our room and hoped for a restaurant and time to eat breakfast at St. Barbe. Off we went, on high moose alert. Luckily. The moose appeared suddenly in front of us. Larry was able to stop. It stopped too, looked disdainfully down its nose at us, and sauntered away.
We got to the ferry with only 15 minutes to spare, so grabbed bagels and coffee to go, and were waved into the bottom level of the boat. We found window seats facing forward in the lounge and made ourselves comfortable.
About halfway across the Strait of Belle-Isle, I realized I was looking at an iceberg. It stayed in sight for about a half hour and we saw it from several angles. Sadly, we saw no whales or other sea creatures.
Off the ferry, we headed north-east on the Labrador Coast Highway, enjoying one after another spectacular views. It's not a wonderful road, and right now there's lots of construction, but so worth it! We drove to Red Bay where we enjoyed fresh cod fish and chips at the Whalers Restaurant, then toured the National Historic Site interpretive centre.
We took a boat to Saddle Island and spent an hour or so wandering there. I had the chance to see up close many of the wildflowers we've admired along the roadsides.
Don't know what they are, but got lots of pictures. This was a Basque whaling site 5 or 6 hundred years ago and many local shipwrecks have yielded numerous artifacts.
On our way back toward the Northern Lights Inn, we stopped at L'Anse Amour -- down a long dirt road. There's a 7500 year old burial site of the Maritime Archaic people, and a 150+ year old lighthouse. Both very interesting.
By the time we got to L'Anse-au-Clair we were ready to put our feet up and open the cooler. Great day. Glad we can picnic in our room.
We got to the ferry with only 15 minutes to spare, so grabbed bagels and coffee to go, and were waved into the bottom level of the boat. We found window seats facing forward in the lounge and made ourselves comfortable.
We took a boat to Saddle Island and spent an hour or so wandering there. I had the chance to see up close many of the wildflowers we've admired along the roadsides.
On our way back toward the Northern Lights Inn, we stopped at L'Anse Amour -- down a long dirt road. There's a 7500 year old burial site of the Maritime Archaic people, and a 150+ year old lighthouse. Both very interesting.
By the time we got to L'Anse-au-Clair we were ready to put our feet up and open the cooler. Great day. Glad we can picnic in our room.
That's Maritime Archaic people, some of the earliest inhabitants of this area.
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