Newfoundland
VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Fri 5 Aug 2016 11:54
VS chose to leave the Bras D'Or lakes by the northern exit and head up eastern side of Newfoundland with Quebec on the port side. This is the Strait of Belle Isle, notorious for fog and bad weather. VS did most of it in brilliant sunshine on a flat sea, after a horrible rough and foggy start across the mouth of the St Lawrence.
Somewhat surprisingly we are still on the trail of Captain Cook who made his name as a navigator and cartographer in these waters. Admiral Palliser, then Governor of the Newfoundland Colony, instructed Cook to survey the east coast - incredibly some of his charts are so good that they are still in use today as the basis of modern charts. Cook at the time was a Ship's Master (a senior non-commissioned officer) and then rose to fame surveying the route that enabled General Wolfe to successfully attack the heights of Quebec. It was this work which brought him to note in London and lead to his promotion to Lieutenant RN and selection for the South Seas. Inevitably there is a Cook Harbour here.
And there is more. It has recently been proved that Cook's most famous ship, the Endeavour, lies at the bottom of Newport Harbour in Rhode Island. It had by then become a navy transport, the Earl of Sandwich, and it was sunk there in 1788 by the British during the revolutionary war to prevent the French using the harbour to land an army. This attempt failed, the French did land and were decisive in later defeating the British. Small world, even then!
But back to modern Newfoundland. VS put into Flower's Cove, a small fishing village. By another amazing coincidence it turns out that this tiny place has the best stromatolite fossils outside Western Australia.
Here are the boats:
Here is one of the four churches:
Nowadays there is not the congregation to fill one of them. As usual the place is a riot of wildflowers:
A walk around the village revealed a love starved moggy, desperate to have its ears rubbed by passing mariners:
The fishing fleet was in harbour as the fishery was closed until the next day:
These are shrimp boats, with a strictly regulated fishery on conservation grounds, typical of Canada and unlike Europe. The boats (each worth about 1 million Canadian dollars) have been tied up for months to allow stocks to recover. We got talking to some of the crews who were using their downtime on good neighbour projects, and taking it all in good part. Great to see at least one place in the world where fishermen themselves can see the benefit of sustainable yield. The shrimps here are exported to Europe.
Not only were we invited to a garage party, but also inside for tea, cakes, jams, wine etc in a never ending stream of friendliness:
Here are Sara and Alison, with Wanda our hostess.