June 14th - 16th - Labrador and Back

Friday we caught the ferry to Labrador.  Here we are sitting in line to be loaded. Lots of semis, cars, trucks, and a few campers.

It was a smooth hour and forty-five minute crossing. The ferry boat was quite unique. As it approached the dock the front of the bow was raised up and then the plank lowered for exiting. Here are a couple of pictures. Pretty cool.

I assumed the Captain would back into the dock at Blanc Sablon, Quebec, but the other end of the ferry was built just the same. The ferry apparently had two drive trains, one at each end of the ship and a double bridge, one facing each way. He pulled into the dock, the bow was raised and we all drove off.

We drove a little way through Quebec to get to Labrador. Here we are at the sign as we entered Labrador.

We had reservations in Forteau, Labrador at the Grenfell Louie A. Hall Bed and Breakfast. We checked in and then headed to one of two restaurants in town for lunch. Food here is expensive and of limited variety. Kelly wanted a beer but was told they had none as their shipment hadn't arrived yet (we are ahead of the season). There was only one other couple in the restaurant at first, then two others came in. Not a busy time.

The B and B was built in 1946 as the local medical facility and named after Dr. Grenfell who secured the funding to get it built. It was only staffed by a nurse or two who made house calls on a dog sled in the winter. The place would be equivalent to an Urgent Care now I guess. The doctor was only there occasionally so the nurse had to take on a lot of responsibility for patient care. Here is a picture of it today. The owner is Peggy Hancock and she was a great host and a wealth of knowledge about the area.

Each bedroom is named after one of the nurses who worked there over the years. Ours was the Jean Skelley room. Jean arrived here in the 1950s from Belfast, Ireland, and stayed for fifteen years.

One of the programs they had in England in the forties was WWWOP, "Women's Work Without Pay". Women would get their passage over here and room and board in exchange for working for nothing once here. Crazy. We didn't learn how long the obligation was for. Many stayed and made this their home.

After lunch we drove to the lighthouse at Point Amour. It was three kilometers down a dirt, not gravel, road. The roads here have lots and lots of potholes. This is one of the better dirt roads we were on. Here is a picture of the road.  This road is to a national monument mind you.

On the road to the lighthouse is another national historic site. It is a burial mound of a child dating back 7,500 years. It is the oldest burial mound in North America. It wasn't discovered until 1975. It was unusual for such a burial site for a child. Originally the bay was much closer than you see in the picture but luckily it has changed and that kept the mound from being washed to sea. Here is a picture of the burial mound. It was amazing to stand in front of something man-made 7,500 years ago.

The Point Amour Lighthouse is a national historic site located on Point Amour in Southern Larador. It is the tallest lighthouse in Atlantic Canada built in 1857 and was in use until 1995.

We had an excellent tour for the admission price which included climbing all the way to the top. The day was quite "breezy" as they say here (meaning it is hard to walk into the wind and stay upright). As we got to the top you could hear the wind howling. The guide told us they get winds up to 200 km/h sometimes which are the remnants of the Hurricanes from down south. The last keeper was here 45 years, I can't imagine. The wind alone would drive me crazy. Looking out from the top of the lighthouse and down at the shoreline you saw green patchy areas. Here are two pictures. The green patches in the water are ancient coral reefs!  Amazing. Coral reefs in Labrador.

Saturday we took a road trip to Red Bay, a UNESCO historic site.  The trip across the mountain toward the bay should have been quite picturesque but it unfortunately it was quite foggy. Here is a picture of what we were driving in. I used the truck fog lights for the first time being mindful of moose on the road. (We didn't see any but Kelly did see a porcupine.)

The highway was lined with snow banks as well. Here is a picture of one and a picture of Kellen out on the snow.

In Red Bay fishermen from the Basque region of Spain and France came over to whale hunt in the 1500s. The sailors would have to bring multiple layers of clothes because of the cold. They would live aboard the ship in deplorable conditions but the conditions weren't much worse than they had at home and they made good money. They would harpoon the whales and tow them into the bay where they were cut up in chunks and rendered down in Tryworks on the shore to make whale oil for lamps. The whale oil was stored in barrels for the trip to Europe. There is a wreck in the bay and many of the items displayed in the Interpretive Center in Red Bay were from it. Here is a picture of the wreck still sticking out of the water.

There is a boat that goes to the island behind the wreck where you can see all the ruins from the whaling camps but the boat is not in operation because the dock is unsafe.

We then had lunch at The Wharf Restaurant across from the Interpretive Center.  We had their "world famous" Fish n Chips. Quite good. We then drove back to the B and B. The fog had not lifted so our views were still quite limited. We had a great supper at the Florian Restaurant, the second restaurant in town. Kelly had lobster bisque and crab cakes, two of her favorites. I had scallops wrapped in bacon, which were delicious, and Kellen had chicken wings and fries. (He has been eating a lot of fish this trip.)

Sunday we had a lot of time to kill before the ferry took off at 3:30 p.m. so we took a ride into Quebec. There were some gorgeous scenic areas along the drive but the one that caught our attention the most was the waterfall and rapids on the River Brador West. Here are a couple of pictures.

Also on this excursion we saw several icebergs, up to five at one time but they were pretty far away. Here is a picture of the closest one. I'm sure we will see more up close in Twillingate in a few days..

We got back to the ferry dock and checked in and waited two and half hours to board. This is the worst part of ferries, having to be there so far ahead of time with nothing to do and nowhere to go. Once back at the RV in St. Barbe Kelly made a great bot of chicken and dumplings which Kellen and I scarfed down. Tomorrow we head to the Viking RV Park on the Northern tip of the peninsula. I imagine it will be cold up there.