Thrombo-whats it?

July 7, 2009            Flowers Cove

 That’d be thrombolites but I’ll get to that in a minute.

 We’ve spent a lot more time tied up at wharves on this trip than we’d thought we would.  Since the cod fishery was closed in 1992, the government-built fishing wharves have lots of space.  Flowers Cove was no exception.  We tucked in between 2 fishing boats and out of the way of the crane used to unload catches. 

 A couple was on the wharf watching us, not an unusual happening as we’ve been the entertainment at many a wharf so far ~ definitely getting better at this though.  Turns out Irene and Mark, from Quebec, are touring Newfoundland by rental car.  It’s been interesting to notice how tourists make eye contact with each other and immediately start asking where each has been.

 We chatted about boats and sailing for a while and they offered us a lift to see the thrombolites.  Thrombolites are fossilized remains of algae dated at 650 million years old. That makes them the first known forms of life on earth.  These algae have clumped together into mushroomy like mounds which have fossilized. The only other known place that these things exist is in western Australia.

 I keep picturing them in a scene from Star Trek, the original please.  Captain Kirk, Spock and Dr. McCoy beam to the planet’s surface where they’re surrounded by pulsating globs.  Dr. McCoy waves his tricorder over one and detects signals that indicate intelligence . . . cut to close up of Kirk . . .

 I agree with our guidebook that one of the reasons to go see this rarest of fossils is how low key the setting is. There’s no tourist stand nearby selling thrombolite key chains or spoons. Not even a thrombolite postcard!

 We spent a great evening sharing dinner with Irene and Mark just sharing bits of our lives, work, kids, etc.  Fellow travelers meeting on the highway, er seaway . . . 

Rise and Shine Mary Sunshine!

Rise and Shine Mary Sunshine!

 July 6, 2009          Port Saunders

This was our first experience tying up to a fishing boat and the etiquette was a little unclear to us.  Do we ask permission?  What if  no one’s around?  We couldn’t find anyone and it seemed like the boat wasn’t going to be used anytime soon.  No one on board, just an empty feel. 

 The throb of a very close engine at 3 a.m. was the first hint that our dock was going to move soon. We scrambled up, got dressed, and untied our lines.  They let us know it was OK to just tie on and they would’ve happily re-tied us to the wharf.  They were headed out to get some cod.  Good luck to them!

 As the faintest hint of dawn began to paint the sky, we circled around, retied, and went back to bed thinking about all the fisherman steaming out to their fishing grounds.

Doubletake

Doubletake

 July 3, 2009

Bonne Bay

 Leaving Neddy Harbour we were getting underway when a glance to port showed a local skiff with a camera crew shooting away.  We did a double take and sure enough – guy in the bow with a boom mic dutifully recording the sound of the outboard, director in the middle bracing the cameraman and the cameraman with a full steadicam rig.  They’re probably working on a show for the visitor’s center.

 How many times have we been on the camera side of this picture?  In sympathy, Russ worked to give them a good shot rolling out the jib so Andante started to move.  Sea kayaker in foreground, Andante with sails billowing in the middle ground and Gros Morne looming behind.  Hope they didn’t blow the shot!

Big Lone Mountain

July 2, 2009

Neddy Harbour

Achy feet? We’ve endured our share of scrapes, cuts and some slightly sore arm muscles but achy feet is not a usual side effect of sailing. Hiking up the second highest peak in Newfoundland, Gros Morne Mountain (big lone mountain) does!

Gros Morne National Park, encompasses an area as pivotal to understanding geologic process as the Galapagos are to understanding evolution and we were ready to do some serious hiking. Did we want to hike over the remnants of an ancient ocean formed around 540 million years ago or a section of the earth’s mantle that is toxic to life?

The ancient ocean in the form of Gros Morne Mountain was closer so we picked that. The kindness of Newfoundlanders continues to bring a special warmth to our cruise. We went to the little local grocery to see if we could pay someone for a lift to the trailhead. The owner himself gave us a lift, first to the visitors center to get our trail pass and then to the trailhead. He wouldn’t take a dime.

The hike was strenuous and stunning. We kept hopscotching with several groups, the mother/daughter from Colorado who had made their own skin-on frame kayaks, a group of young nurses at one point walking along talking about bed sores, a couple and their lab struggling up the scree filled slopes, a young Russian family from Toronto with a 13 yr. old boy and a 9 year old girl. They reminded us so much of Carolyn & Josh as they left their parents in the dust!

The hike begins in the coolness of woods and then you, and a baking sun, face The Gully, a long scree filled scramble. Perspiration streamed down our faces and our unused leg muscles were talking to us. I was hoping to see a ptarmigan but one could’ve been 3 feet off that trail and I wouldn’t have seen it.

Pausing to gaze across that spectacular scenery was as refreshing as a dip in a cool mountain lake. After the plate tectonics had done their thing here, the glaciers came along to put icing on the geologic cake. Hanging valleys, land locked fiords, and ocean stretching as far as you could see . . . not a bad breather.

A refreshing snow field, swimming in a mountain lake and more boulder scrambling highlighted the way down. We hitchhiked back to Neddy Harbour meeting two young guys who fished for lobster and a young family who’d recently returned from a trip to Florida. They’d driven the whole way!

Lots more to do here but we’ll have to save it for next time.

P.S. – The Highest peak in Newfoundland? It’s in the Lewis Hills between Stephenville and Lark Harbour, The Cabox at 816 meters is 10 meters higher than Gros Morne Mountain.

Oh Canada!

July 1, 2009

Neddy Harbour

 The western coast of Newfoundland continues to awe us with dramatic cliffs dropping into the sea and at least one  whale to greet us at every landfall.  Our destination after leaving Bay of Islands and Corner Brook was Bonne Bay, pronounced as one word almost like Bombay but with an N versus an M. 

 Captain Cook surveyed this area in the 1760's and noted Bonne Bay’s Neddy Harbour as a fine anchorage.  His meticulous detail during that survey landed him the job in the Pacific, which unfortunately didn’t have a good ending for the Captain.  We came to agree with him about Neddy’s.

 July 1^st is Canada Day.  A time for Canadians to celebrate being Canadian this community was joining the celebration.  We missed the street parade but got to town in time to see kids riding in their decorated bikes.  What would Captain Cook think of a bicycle much less one decorated with streamers, flags and racing numbers?

 One disadvantage of it staying light so long is it’s hard to get the fireworks going early.  They started at 10:15 and it still wasn’t really dark!  

The Library Tour

I've always had a fondness for libraries. Probably goes back to all those summer reading programs we did as kids. You know the ones, read 5 books and advance your frog one lily pad on the giant board.

I feel like we should call this cruise the library tour. If you can hit the local library when they're open you'll likely get an internet connection and a chat with the local folks. Some of these libraries have amazing views. All are interesting and full of helpful people.

We're sitting in the library in Port Saunders and it's actually cold. Even the locals are saying it's cold especially after the spell of warm, sunny weather. Andante's tied alongside a fishing boat at the public wharf. All of the fishing boats are in harbor right now due, not to the weather, but the price of fish and shrimp. Local processors are offering 37 cents a pound for shrimp and the fisherman say it costs them at least 42 cents a pound just to leave the dock. So they're waiting it out for now and hoping the markets improve. It's a tough business.

A few highlights from our time in Newfoundland so far . . .

Our dramatic landfall at Port Aux Basques was framed by two ferries and an arriving storm front. We approached the harbor at the same time as the rain, wind, and the ferry Caribou and were surprised when she waited off-shore for the outgoing ferry to leave. Ferries usually wait for no one. Not even each other. Russ called the Captain and asked if it’d be OK if we scooted in. “Why don’t you wait Cap’n.” was the reply. We quickly saw why as there’s not room in that tight channel for the ferry and any other kind of boat.

Scanning the public dock we planned our approach as the wind picked up and the rain lashed down. The plan - Russ would lay the bow alongside the end of the dock so I could jump off, secure the bow line and then warp the boat around to the side and quickly secure the midships spring line. That was the plan at least. He did a great job with the first part. Me . . . well I jumped off and managed to find the hole in the end of the dock with my leg. We did get tied up eventually and provided a lot of entertainment for the folks hiding from the rain in their cars.

We did lots of walking – out to the Railway Museum and the continuation of the “International Appalachian Trail”. Yes, those same Appalachian Mountains continue up here. We explored the town and learned about the “Wreckhouse.” The highway that runs out of town bears that name and it’s earned it. Winds have been known to blow railroad cars off the tracks, 18 wheelers and the occasional RV. When winds are high in the wreckhouse and the ferries can’t get in the town is fairly isolated.

During our 3 days here it was blowing 45 knots in Cabot Strait and we added heavier lines and chafe protection until Andante was held to the dock in a spider’s web but we were secure.

Russ had a great time talking with the local fisherman. It’s the last week of lobster season and a 3 day halibut run started while we were there. The fisherman went out in open skiffs to catch mackerel. They came back in and were leaving in bigger boats with the mackerel as bait for the halibut. They gave us some filleted mackerel. Very delish!

During our rainy, windy time here everyone’s been saying, “It’s sunny and warm in the Codroy Valley.” It’s just around the corner by sea and we were anxious to see if it really was warm somewhere.

Codroy –We rounded Cape Race and left behind the fog and cold. By the time a local couple grabbed our lines at Codroy we were peeling off layers. What a great little community. The wharf is very much the heart of the town. No sooner had we tied up than a group of boys, 7-17 years old, came up and started asking us questions. We soon invited them aboard. They were a great welcoming committee and we traded information back and forth for over an hour. We told them we were from near Washington, D.C. and they said, “That’s where Obama lives.”

Blue Beach – Our next stop up the coast was a man-made harbor tucked in behind Long Point. We arrived in pea soup fog around 10:30 at night when it was finally getting dark. Russ was below using chart plotter, radar and paper chart to figure out where we were and I was steering and peering trying to see the lights on the end of the jettys. They just weren't where our chart & chart plotter said they should be. We crept along and there out of the fog I saw one green light and then the jetty appeared. We eased in and realized the red jetty light was out. Once tied up to the wharf we reviewed charts & chartplotter and realized that the chart was off. It had us on the beach several hundred yards away. Another caution to be careful up here!