A NICE SURPRISE.
TRAVEL DAY
From: Lockston Path Provincial Park, near Port Rexton, NL.
To:Grate’s Cove Free RV Parking, Grate’s Cove, NL.
Day 71 – We got up at 5 a.m., a lousy time to wake up but since we were awake anyway and we had one of our longer traveling days ahead of us, why not go ahead and get up. Yawn! It was 55 degrees and cloudy. Lockston Path Provincial Park was beginning to get more crowded and was a bit noisy last night as people that came in today and had settled in near us, cranked up their TV and turned their kids loose. The NL vacation season had begun; school let out the end of last week. We’ll now see a big difference in campsite availability.
We’re driving to the end of the next peninsula east of Bonavista, edging closer to St. John’s, and we’ll no longer be in “Central” Newfoundland. This large area is called the “Eastern Region” or Avalon. Grate’s cove is a lovely, quiet village that we discovered in 2019. We’ll be here for six nights. The town is spread out on the cliffs overlooking Grate’s Cove. There is no established, official campground, but the town has 5 gravel parking spots overlooking the wharf. RV parking is allowed, for free. There are no services, but since we are self-contained with16 solar panels, propane, big tanks, and a nice little bathroom, we will do just fine for at least a week (with some advance planning). Rob is certainly happy to be seeing the “fruits of all his labors” in both the RV and the Honda tow car!
We departed Lockston Park at 8:25 a.m. after dumping tanks and filling three – 4 ½ gallon jugs of water and the RV’s fresh water tank. This was a heavy load of water to carry on our drive, and we rarely travel this way, but the campground at Grate’s Cove is completely without services. It was 64 degrees and partly cloudy.
Back on the rough dirt road, the girls were commenting on the conditions. But it wasn’t long before we were driving on paved roads again, heading west, then south on Route 230. It was pretty out with the sun peeking through the clouds as we drove east on hilly but well-maintained TCH-1. Suddenly without warning, we entered dense fog, and this continued for about an hour with it sometimes so thick we couldn’t see much in front of us. Just as quickly, the fog lifted and it was back to nice clouds and decent visibility. Luckily, traffic was light.
We turned off the TCH onto Route 70 and entered a new area called, “the Baccalieu Trail”. Baccalieu Island is located off the eastern tip of this peninsula. It is not inhabited by people and is set aside as Baccalieu Island Ecological Reserve. The ocean waterway between the two land masses is called “a Tickle”. There were many shipwrecks here because of the treacherous waters in the tickle. We stopped for lunch, letting the kitties out to take a break, also. We were at the Visitor’s Center in Bay Roberts, a city not too far from the TCH; it was pretty there and they’d planted lots of colorful tulips.
We continued to the end of the peninsula passing one large city, Carbonear. where we stopped for gas in both vehicles. Then the population began to grow more sparse and the villages more remote until we reached our destination at the end of the road, Grate’s Cove.
We arrived at the parking area above the fishing harbor at 1:50 p.m. It was 75 degrees, windy and sunny – a gorgeous day at Grate’s Cove. No one was parked in any of the “campsites”, so we were thrilled to nab the best site in the parking lot loverlooking the entire cove and beyond. There are no campsite numbers, everything is free, the view is worth a million dollars, and there are no rules or regulations, no checking in. First-come, first-served. It’s part of a small town park, and they have wooden benches for sitting by the sea. There’s a boardwalk that leads to an original, old fishing stage museum.
We had just begun unpacking and setting up camp when I glanced out of one of the RV windows and saw something in the water just beyond the entrance to the cove. I thought it was a rock – but it moved and splashed. I told Rob, “there’s something in the water”. It was hard to tell what it was with the naked eye, but once the binoculars and zoom lens were trained on it – surprise! It was a Humpback Whale, a very happy humpback whale, having a whale of a time (grin), cruising slowly along, rolling and cavorting and slapping a fin on the water, making splashes. By the time the camera was set up, it had breached and rolled onto its back. Awesome. Far away, but still…………
About Whales: “Every year about 10,000 whales get front row seats to go people watching. When you think about it, it makes sense that Newfoundland & Labrador is the destination of choice for the world’s largest concentration of humpback whales. After all, this place is home to 29,000 kilometers of dramatic coastline that provide plenty of snacks for the aquatic visitors. Every summer, from May to August, you can catch 22 different species of whales frolicking in the ocean, breaching the surface and spouting near the shore.” from the Newfoundland/Labrador Traveller’s Guide 2023 Small icebergs in the distance.
Once we were finished with the chores, we set up the chairs and stared at the Ocean for hours. No more whales today, but the scenery was relaxing us with the fishing boats coming & going, and the Seagulls flying around. A Savannah Sparrow sang to us while occasionally, people came to walk the boardwalk down to the fishing stage. Two women in a Van arrived and camped several sites away. They sat outside, too, for hours, and they spoke French. The wind kept the bugs to a minimum.
We have a weak, intermittent signal at Grate’s Cove. We may end up sending the Blog posts out after we leave here, or if possible, we may get enough of a signal to send the posts at different times on different days. Sorry about that!