Fairly early we are up and off to walk Oscar and Oreo and then go back to L’Anse aux Meadows. The day has dawned cloudy, but has this wonderful blue streak along the horizon. This streak in fact takes over and by the time it is 9:30, there are few clouds left in the sky. Back at this historic site we wander the grounds where the actual buildings (or ruins of them) were discovered. We stand in awe of the Norse settlers who would have arrived here a millennium ago and bravely gone about life in such a foreign place. This is indeed one of Canada’s most historic sites.
After a couple hours of daydreaming we are back to the real world and have a ferry to catch to Labrador. We arrive at St. Barbe at 1:30 thinking this is loads of time to get our ticket and pack for the overnight camping trip. However, the ticket booth was just opening and the waiting room was full! Very dull standing around waiting when life needs living! Of course we do have ample time and the ferry actually leaves at the prescribed time of 3:30. I somehow thought we had an hour or a bit more on this ferry and ended up rather unprepared. No knitting, no games, no books to read … bummer! Almost two hours later we dock and here we are in Labrador. I wonder how many people visit this place? At first glance it looks completely devoid of trees … oh, we land in Quebec, not Labrador! That isn’t why we don’t see any trees to start with though, just that this harbour is right for the purpose of ferries I think. The landscape however is very unusual. Pictures still work well as you can see!
Without too much goofing around we head out to Pinware Provincial Park. Very nice looking, well laid out, and completely covered with millions of black flies. Such a drag! Get out the bug dope and don’t forget Oscar and Oreo. Even so they get in your eyes, up your nose, and don’t attempt to talk! After setting up the tent and getting the necessary things done we take off for Red Bay. Oreo gets sick within minutes, we think perhaps a reaction to the bug dope. That mess cleaned up, we carry on through this changing landscape to a very interesting historic site. Once booming with activity, Red Bay is now a quiet charming community. Red Bay was the centre of a Basque whaling operation believed to have been one of the most important of its kind during the last half of the 16th century. In fact the whaling industry set up by the Basques in Labrador was the world’s first industrial scale whale fishery. Evidence of the 16th century whaling operation was found throughout the community. One of the best places to view these remains is Saddle Island, where archaeologists discovered the remains of a number of structures and a cemetery where 140 Basque whalers were laid to rest more than 400 years ago. A Spanish galleon, believed to be the San Juan, was found lying in deep silt at the bottom of Red Bay Harbour in 1978. The ship is an example of the naval architecture that allowed Europeans to colonize the New World in the 16th century. Also found on the bottom of the bay, and now on display in the interpretation centre is Chalupa, a Basque whaling boat. Amazing to think eight men set out to sea to harpoon a whale and then bring it to shore with a craft this small. Any number of words synonymous with men come to my mind! Ahem, back to our tale … the centres are closed, but we thoroughly enjoy a walk around taking pictures and conjuring a few of our own with this new information.
As I am writing this entry we are actually on the highway from Deer Lake to Grand Falls-Windsor. We are passed by a pickup truck that has an aluminum boat turned upside down in the back. Attached to the bow protruding out the back is a florescent hat … why have a flag when you can use your hat I ask? Did I observe yet how much work there is to being a tourist? The decision making we do every day is exhausting. Six months is a long time to be footloose but one doesn’t want to be wasteful of the opportunities of being in a place either. So do we be happy with the amble around Red Bay knowing that our experience would be greatly enhanced with what Parks Canada will offer inside the information centres? In this case yes! In other cases, no. Why you might ask? Well, when we made the decision to come to Labrador it was because we were going to be close and so why not be able to say you have been to Labrador! Then we saw there was this historic site also close at hand so why not visit it? So by going we have made all sorts of new discoveries and had an experience that was based on a whim! If we were avidly interested in the whaling business we likely would have traveled back here in the morning, but decided to go visit the second tallest lighthouse in Canada instead. Why I felt a need to explain this, I haven’t a clue!