AN INTERESTING DAY.
Day 85 – It was 54 degrees this morning and within a few hours the fog had burned off. We were lazy and hung out at the RV until after lunch. We’d wanted to check out some of the villages today and maybe tomorrow go out on the O’Brien’s Boat Tour again, but we had no internet signal and could not check the weather forecast nor the availability of tour boats. After lunch we decided to try to find a signal and make some decisions about today and tomorrow. We leave this campground on Saturday.
Later yesterday we got pictures of the view from in front of the RV when we could see more than a few feet in front of us. Then this morning, a Red Fox was walking along the shore of the lake and Rob got pictures (while the Ducks twanged – we still haven’t been able to photograph them to see what kind of Duck they are). This is a very interesting campground.
About La Manche Provincial Park:
“This Park was established in the 1960’s to protect a scenic valley 53 kilometers south of St. John’s along Route 10. The valley comes to an abrupt end at a cove surrounded by high cliffs, and here lies the most interesting aspect of the Park. In 1840 a small village developed at the head of the cove, complete with a school, general store, and wooden flakes for drying fish. In 1966 a wild winter storm destroyed most of the settlement. The government resettled the residents, and today concrete foundations and a reconstructed suspension bridge are all that remains.” from Moon Handbooks, Atlantic Canada, 5th Edition, 2009
We headed north out of the Park and finally got a cell phone/internet signal not too far from O’Brien’s Boat Tours in Bay Bulls. We looked on their website to get availability of tours. As of this afternoon, the emptiest tour time was for the 2 p.m. boat on Friday (tomorrow). We booked two seats. The weather forecast looked similar for tomorrow as it was today, which was certainly less foggy than it was when we first got here.
That left this afternoon free for us to do a little exploring. We drove south on Route 10 and drove through the small villages and larger towns. The scenery was very nice. As we continued south past the campground, we arrived at the Colony of Avalon in Ferryland.
Ferryland/the Colony of Avalon: “Ferryland is one of the oldest European settlements in North America. The Colony of Avalon, as it was named, was founded in the 1620s by Lord Baltimore, whose family later founded the American colony of Maryland. Peer over the shoulders of working archaeologists as they uncover the remains of houses and cobble streets from the 17th century.” from the Newfoundland/Labrador Traveller’s Guide 2023
Driving beyond the museums, displays, and the archaeological digs, (we spent lots of time here in 2019), we took the one-lane, rough road to the lighthouse. We walked around and enjoyed the views. The scenery was lovely and it was a beautiful afternoon. At one of the islands in the bay, there were Puffins swimming in the water.
We drove further south and drove through little fishing villages and areas where there were cottages perched on cliff edges overlooking incredible views. Some villages were very old and charming. Of note were Cape Broyle, Aquaforte, Port Kirwan, Fermeuse, Renews, and particularly Calvert. At Cappahayden, we saw a sign for the shipwreck of the S.S. Florizel, so we drove through the village, following signs until we reached the site. We parked and took a little hike through a meadow to the memorial and display overlooking the cliff and rocks below. A beautiful setting, Northern Gannets were diving straight into the ocean to get fish, and there were also some young Gannets. We ultimately didn’t see the shipwreck, but we read about the sad story and could certainly visualize where it happened.
At this point, we turned around and headed back to the campground, getting back in time to relax some before dinner and feeding the cats. The high today was 69 degrees and it was party cloudy with very little wind.
THE WHAT’S-MAKING-THAT-NOISE MYSTERY IS SOLVED! Ducks are not doing the twanging. It’s Frogs! It is not the standard ‘Rivit’ nor is it the kind of ‘tweeting/chirping’ noise we hear at home. We watched from the RV as a family took a net and caught frogs. Then we knew. Frogs here TWANG. Later Rob went out into the mud and took a picture of one. The picture and a sound recording of the ‘twang’ is below. We hope you can hear it!
Newfoundland – hone of the amazing twanging frogs!😀