BEST WISHES & GOOD LUCK, GAIL!
Day 119 – It was 52 degrees at 7:30 a.m. this morning, still a bit windy, but not raining anymore. It was pretty out, but as we left to make a trip through town and visit the lighthouse, the darker clouds were moving in.
We’ve been in Newfoundland 3 months today. And we’re just starting out traveling the Great Northern Peninsula. The last time we were here, we saw lots of Caribou near the lighthouse at Point Riche in Port au Choix. Rob just talked to some people who were complaining that they hadn’t yet seen any. Here’s hoping; we’ve got three days to find them. Meanwhile, we hung out at the campground watching most of the vehicles that came in yesterday, leave.
Before lunch, we went into Port au Choix to get our bearings as to where everything was. We took a few pictures around town, then went to the French Rooms Historic Site to check if they had any freshly-caught Shrimp we could purchase. (In 2019, we got some of the best Shrimp we’d ever had in Port au Choix.) No, they didn’t have any Shrimp right now; the Fish Plant had been purchased by a different company, and they were just beginning to go out fishing. Check back the next time you’re here. Bummers.
We drove to the French Bread Oven Site to see if it was still there. Yes, it was – and they had the oven heating in preparation for baking bread at 2 p.m. (This is a popular attraction in Port au Choix during the summer months.) This area is also a place where you can sometimes see Caribou grazing on the grasses. (Not this morning, though.)
We drove to the Lighthouse at Point Riche to look for Caribou. This is where we got up close to them in 2019. None were there either, though. Then we drove out of Port au Choix to check out Port Saunders, the large port town that is the first town you go thru on your way to Port au Choix on Route 430-28. On the way, we saw the familiar sight of the Northern Gannets diving headlong into the ocean to catch fish. This is so much fun to watch. We just had to pull over. Back to Port Saunders, it’s probably not as old as Port au Choix, it doesn’t look it, and it doesn’t have the historic sites that you find in Port au Choix. We got a few pictures in Port Saunders, then drove back to the RV to make lunch.
We had lunch (Beyond Burgers, as usual), then took a drive north of Port au Choix on Route 430. The sun had come out and the darker clouds had moved away in a different direction. We stopped at every little village and town we passed, to drive through and see how people were living. And to check out their ports, little or large, always scenic. And just to be nosy, LOL. The villages we saw were: Eddies Cove West, Barr’d Harbour, Castor River South and Castor River North, Bartletts Harbour, Reefs Harbour, Shoal Cove, and New Ferolle.
We turned around and headed back to Port au Choix. There are many more villages and towns further north along the coast, past the ones we visited today. (We saw them and even camped at a couple of them in 2019.) This trip we will pass by these places in the RV when we’re heading south from the most northern areas of the Peninsula later this month. We don’t plan to stop and drive through them in the Honda on this trip. The next time we come to Newfoundland, a visit to these villages would be a good possibility.
Before returning to the RV, we made another trip to the lighthouse to look for Caribou. No luck again. You really have to be there at the right time – so we go often! Back at the campground, we found that almost all the campsites were now occupied. Someone had parked right next to us on one side, while on the other side we still had some free space. While we were having dinner, two more fairly large Class C RVs came in. They were trying to find two campsites together since the people in the RVs were traveling together. Well, there wasn’t enough room on the other side of us, so they squeezed in just beyond the RV parked right next to us. It’s the middle of the week; we’re wondering how busy it will be tomorrow and Friday.
One more try for Caribou, we drove to the lighthouse. It was late afternoon, early evening and the lighting was very good. Bingo. A beautiful male Caribou with really nice antlers was walking up the road – sauntering, really. The car in front of us was inching along, they were quite excited & had a tablet hanging out of the window filming as they drove. Eventually, they drove around the Caribou and it was our turn. The Caribou arrived at the Visitor’s Center and decided to turn in there. Maybe the grass is good there? We followed him and drove into the parking lot and parked, spending lots of time with him. Such a pretty animal! He wasn’t bothered by us at all, just chowing down. At one point he decided to try a new patch of grasses and passed right in front of us, close enough that when he was coming right at me, I jumped behind the open car door for protection, just in case. But no worries, he had better things to do and he meandered right by us and down towards the water. Rob followed him. Gorgeous!
We left the Caribou to enjoy his dinner and drove the rest of the way to the lighthouse. We stopped there and wandered around, taking pictures of the scenery. We didn’t see any other Caribou, but that’s okay. What we saw today was awesome.
And if the Caribou wasn’t enough, a pretty Arctic Fox (in summer coat, not winter white) trotted down the hill and crossed in front of us, carrying something in its mouth. We swear it was hot dogs! What? Did it steal from someone’s refrigerator or outdoor BBQ? It either stole a bunch of wieners or someone gave them to the Fox. Regardless of where the Fox got its dinner, he seemed pretty happy about it!
We headed back to the RV, stopping on the way to get a piece of Blueberry Pie and a piece of Partridgeberry Cheesecake to go. Our dinner had been light and rushed, after all. At the campground, several more vehicles came in, parking in overflow without hook-ups. There was a beautiful sunset. Great end to a great day.
