A BOAT TOUR, ANCIENT ROCKS, AND A FULL HARD DRIVE.
Day 132 – Today was the perfect weather for a day by the sea. We awoke to sunny, clear skies. When we left the RV at 8:20 a.m., it was 60 degrees with almost no wind. We drove to St. Lunaire, got gas in the Honda, and arrived at Dark Tickle Expeditions a little early.
We weren’t the only ones who were excited to get the Whale Watching trip underway. Two other couples arrived about the same time as us. We were all invited inside the building to wait for the additional passengers. (This is the same company that took us out in 2019, one of the best whale watching excursions we’ve ever had. During that trip we had the privilege of viewing Humpback Whales lunge-feeding off the rocks below the cliffs.)
Newfie Talk: Everyone stood around chatting, and it was interesting to get know the other people and the crew members. The captain was born & raised locally in Newfoundland. Also, one of the passengers was born & raised in Raleigh, not far from our campground; her family still lives there. She and a friend came from the province of Ontario to visit her family.
One of the funnier stories occurred when the two local Newfies were discussing growing up here. The captain asked the local passenger what her last name was. She said that Emerson was her last name; her family were the Taylor’s. The captain said, “Oh, yes, I know the Taylor’s – that big house over by the Bay.” The guide explained to the rest of us that everyone knows everyone in Newfoundland, and if a guy or girl were going to ask the other for a date, it was always wise to find out what family they were from, otherwise they might end up being related. Same with a phone number – a guy never had to ask a girl for her phone number – just find out who her father is and look him up in the phone book. (This means a girl cannot lie about her phone number if she doesn’t want a guy to call her. LOL.)
Our guide was a young girl from the province of Alberta. She had been in Newfoundland for four years and was working seasonally as a guide on the boat. This was her last day of work for the season. She was leaving for St. John’s to go to college to study Marine Biology. The captain said, happily, that the Moose were back; he’d “seen 22 of them this morning about sunrise on the roads from Raleigh to the St. Anthony Airport”. They, particularly the males are out and about in the fall – it’s rutting season. Rob and I exchanged glances – oh boy, time to go looking for Moose! And then everyone started talking about the hurricane that was coming. The hurricane? There’s a big one coming to Florida. They’re worried about that? Why are they so worried about Florida way up here in Newfoundland? No, this is Hurricane Franklin, it would be out to sea, and the area was going to get the tail end of it, bringing torrential rain and really heavy winds. Yikes!
The Boat Trip: When everyone had arrived for the tour, the routine safety talk was given, and people put on their Survival Suits. (We find the suits to be rather confining, and for a change they were not mandatory. Rob and I opted out, and we were given life jackets.) Our boat trip was to be aboard a Zodiac rigid, inflatable boat that could hold up to 12 passengers plus the crew. We had nine passengers. We boarded the boat, and we were off. It was 9:30 a.m. and it was sunny and warm. In the cove, the sea was calm.
The Whales:We didn’t have to go far to find Whales. (On almost every Whale Watching trip we’ve taken, the boat had to be driven a distance out to sea in order to see the whales. Here at this particular location, the ocean remains very, very deep right up to the rocks below the cliffs. Therefore, the whales are able to get very close to the rocks. This is why the whales here can get so close to shore to lunge feed off the rocks.)
It was awesome! The two Humpback Whales that visited us spent lots of time with us, mostly just cruising along just beneath the water. We could see where they were because of the luminescent white of their flippers that were visible from the boat. We could hear them “talking”, just like the whale sounds you might hear on a TV or movie documentary or a CD. The guide said they swim along like that when relaxing and when they are comfortable with their surroundings. They were not hungry; they were not feeding, so unfortunately, we did not see the lunge-feeding behavior. But we did get a huge wave from when a whale slapped its tail on the water right next to the boat, and we were certainly close enough to the whales to see the blows and the tails when they infrequently dove. When the one Humpback rolled on its side and “waved” its flippers at us several times, it was GREAT! (We learned that where the Whales are and what time they visit is determined by where the food currently can be found. Here on the North Atlantic Ocean, first, there is Capelin season. That season is just about over now, and Herring season has begun. When the Herring are gone, it will be Mackerel season. Humpbacks eat these fish. Orcas [aka Killer Whales], which also visit here occasionally and were seen in this area just yesterday, prefer the bigger fish, some birds and some seals. Orcas actually have teeth; Humpbacks have “baleen plates”. These plates are a filter-feeding system inside the mouths of baleen whales. Baleen is similar to bristles and consists of keratin, the same substance found in human fingernails, skin, and hair. To use baleen, the whale first opens its mouth underwater to take in water. The whale then pushes the water out with its tongue, and animals such as krill and small fish are filtered by the baleen and remain as a food source for the whale).
The Scenery: The scenery was beautiful. We’d always admired the really tall cliffs that make up the awesome headlands here, but when you are beneath the headlands and are viewing them from the sea, it’s seen from a whole different perspective. It was absolutely amazing! The large rocks were plentiful, and of course, there were lots of Sea Birds. Of particular interest, as always, were the beautiful Northern Gannets that flew over the boat and dove to catch fish. After we left the whales to continue cruising along without us, we visited a couple of pretty coves. One was the site of what was left of an abandoned village; all that remained were a couple of buildings. The second cove had several houses in it that overlooked the water. The blue house in the picture below is where the author, E. Annie Proulx, lived while writing ‘The Shipping News’, her wonderful book about outport Newfoundland, The house in the book was based on this blue house. (The Shipping News was also made into a movie. It was filmed in Newfoundland at the Bonavista Peninsula.)
After returning to the Dark Tickle Expedition building, we went to the Nymphe Cafe again for lunch. It was relaxing and the food was fantastic. Rob had the Macaroni & Cheese with the small salad again; he loves mac ‘n cheese. I had the Apple & Cheese Panini, which was SO good with slices of apple and cheddar cheese and lots of partridgeberry relish as the condiment. We split a bowl of the Cod Chowder.
We spent the rest of the afternoon at Cape Norman, approximately 45 minutes northwest of St. Lunaire where we’d had lunch. This is a very interesting part of the Great Northern Peninsula. It’s quite remote, and once you turn off Route 435, the road is just dirt and gravel. At the most northwesterly point of the Northern Peninsula is the Cape Norman Lighthouse. Across from the lighthouse is Labrador, and between the two masses of land is the Strait of Belle Isle. This is a very windy place. There are no trees, and any shrubs that remain are bent over by the force of the wind. It is about as isolated and wild as you can get, and it feels almost prehistorical. In fact it is prehistorical, the rocks here are ancient. What few flowers grow on the rocks are alpine flowers. The waves from the Ocean pound the shore below. The area is called “The Barrens”.
Rocks of the Great Northern Peninsula:
“Some of the world’s oldest rock is exposed in Labrador and along Newfoundland’s northern peninsula.” from Moon Handbooks, Atlantic Canada, 5th Edition, 2009
On the way to the lighthouse, but soon after turning off Route 435 on the dirt/gravel road, there were two small villages: Cook’s Harbour and Wild Bight. There was one village a bit after the lighthouse, Boat Harbour. The views of icebergs and winter storms from these villages must be amazing!
We returned to the campground, looking for Moose as we drove since we’d heard that Moose were in the area. Didn’t see any. The wind gusts had increased and there were a few clouds. There was a hurricane coming, after all. It had been a long, but incredible day. We had lots of pictures to process from today, and lots of blog-writing to do. When Rob tried to download today’s pictures into his computer, he found the hard drive was full. Oh dear. Guess we’ll have plenty to do once the storm arrives and we have to stay inside, come tomorrow afternoon.
Great whale watch trip with weather cooperating nicely!😀