The day the whales stole the show (AKA Cape Spear)

Well, we've finally gone as far East as you can possibly go in North America. I think we’re actually closer to Europe than Alberta here (hmm, Europe…). Only a 20 min (or so) drive from St. John’s, Cape Spear is the easternmost point on the continent. The Cape Spear Lighthouse has been guiding ships safely along the coast and into St. John’s harbour for hundreds of years. It is a National Historical Site, and the original lighthouse a museum (there is a more modern, functioning lighthouse nearby the original, as well).  

I've been looking forward to coming here. To me, it signified an important milestone in our travels – we've now been as far east possible in NA, as far south in the US, a long ways north and a long ways west (not as far as possible in these directions, but still pretty darned far!). 

As we parked in the parking lot, and prepared to head up to the lighthouse we gazed out to the ocean and saw whales fairly close to shore. Forget the lighthouse, let’s go watch the whales! Bob had seen whales on his snorkeling trip that morning (for which I’m trying to convince him to write a guest blog), but the kids and I hadn't seen any humpbacks yet. Having them so close was extra exciting.

calf

A mom and her calf were swimming leisurely around the point of the Cape, and we (and many other people) followed them. As soon as we started following, it was like they knew they had an audience (or they knew I was there!). They stopped their leisurely swim and began to dance. It felt almost like they were celebrating my arrival in this place with me. Up into the air went the calf, with a mighty crash back to the sea. It jumped and breached over and over, the smack of its body reconnecting with the ocean echoing back to the watchers on shore. 

Mom

Mom got in a couple good jumps too. A little further down the coast, the calf threw itself completely up out of the water while Mom raised her flipper in the air. Even from the distance, it looked enormous. It was a fantastic ballet. I completely understand now why they are known as the clowns of the sea. The pair continued their antics, while travelling to the south, further than we could go. (Bob figures this pair was the same pair he had seen earlier in the day on his tour, a bit further south.)

When they were too far away to really see clearly anymore, we finally turned our attention to the Historic Site. We had walked around the perimeter of the whole site, climbing the staircases in our efforts to stay with the whales. These stairs also brought us to the original lighthouse.

The original lighthouse is actually that – a house, with the light tower in the middle. The keeper, his family, his assistant, and the assistant’s family (if he had one) all lived under one roof together. The land is rocky, and isolated, and the people who lived here had to be relatively self-sufficient. Even with the lightkeeping duties, apparently there was plenty of free time. The result - at one point there were 22 children living under that roof! Can you imagine living with 21 other kids? (Which was enough to qualify as a school, and warrant their own school teacher. One small problem – the school teacher married into the family, and started producing her own brood!)

Morgan and Bob took a quick tour through the house and then went to check out the working lighthouse. Lily was much more interested in all the things found in the house, and peppered the Parks Canada interpreter with many questions. With her charm and inquisitiveness, she pretty much got a private tour through the lighthouse, and got to learn about anything that caught her eye.  Some days it’s easy to forget she’s only six!

When she finally ran out of questions, we slowly walked back down to the parking lot to rejoin Bob & Morgan. We weren't in any rush to leave, and as I was sitting in the front seat, a splash out in the ocean caught my eye. The whales were back! (Or at least one was.)

This time the whale was doing barrel rolls, and we could see the big flippers rise, and its tail twist in the air. It went right past several boats – one smaller one actually moved out of the way. It was cruising a lot faster than the mom & babe pair, and in a short length of time, it was well on its way to entertaining the people at Signal Hill.

St. John's in the background, left

What a fantastic day! (see the bottom of this post for a series of whale pics)

 (Our morning was spent at Petty Harbour, a little further down the coast. This is where Bob took his snorkeling tour from, and where the kids and I spent quite a bit of time at Petty Harbour Mini Aquarium. Only in its second year, this catch-and-release aquarium showcases local species. All the specimens are caught locally (many right in the harbour) and then are released back into the ocean at the end of the season. A very smart model, in my opinion. Tanks with a variety of fish, a rare blue lobster, a white crab, and Lily’s new favorite food – snow crab – were only a few of the animals on display. There are also several touch tanks with seastars, crabs, algae, urchins, and other creatures.  The aquarium attracted 17,000 visitors last year and hopes to top 20,000 this year. Tours stop here briefly on their way from Bay Bulls to Cape Spear – to let passengers out to see a small working harbour and old fishing village, but I think when they find out the aquarium is there, they will be lengthening their stop!)A series of pictures: the calf jumping and then mom breaching

 

Signal Hill

Overlooking St. John’s is a hill (well, actually there are several hills, but I’m talking about one in particular). A really tall hill (over 500 m above sea level).  Also, an important hill, from history’s viewpoint.  Like most high ground near harbours, it was a very strategic place, and has served many functions since people first arrived on these shores.

Cabot Tower

As the name implies, Signal Hill, was used for signaling information from the ships coming into the harbour to the merchants in the harbour, so they could prepare for the ship’s arrival, or send aid, if needed.  This information was conveyed using a series of flags. The tower is no longer needed in this capacity (we have radios now), and the flags are all tucked away.

View from the top

The Hill's military importance has spanned hundreds of years. The French and British fought over these lands (repeatedly) for control of the region and the fishing. The hill served as a point of defense from the 1800's to after the Second World War. Cannons were placed to prevent invaders from entering the harbour. Today, they make a fun place to gaze out on the city, harbour and Atlantic Ocean.

The Signal Tower also is the site where the first transatlantic wireless signal was sent, in 1901. In our digital era, where we take wireless for granted, it’s hard to remember when communication was a lot slower than instant.  Bob tells me that people thought it wasn't even possible to send wireless signals further than line of sight. But, if there’s one overwhelming thing I have learned from our travels, it’s that people are innovative. After shorter range tests, those who were testing bounced the signal off the ionosphere to get around the curvature of the Earth, and tada! A new age of communication was born.

This is an interesting place for adults and kids, alike. Lily did the Canada Parks Explorer activity book, and got to try her hand at sending out a signal in Morse code. Morgan was happier just bouncing around (as usual).

If history doesn't excite you (and let me tell you, my eyes used to glaze over pretty quick for any history lesson. Living it makes history so much more interesting!), the trails around Signal Hill, and the views from the top are amazing. Awesome views of the harbour and the city, to the west. The expanse of ocean, possibly with icebergs or whales, to the east (we saw both!)

… After we were done at Signal Hill, we went down the hill a short distance to the Johnson Geo Center, a science center that focuses on the geology of Newfoundland and Labrador. We used our reciprocal pass to get in, but I’d say it would be well worth the price.  This place is more focused and “sciency” than many of the science centers we have been to.

There are lots of rock samples to check out outside, films and talks, and science (chemistry) demonstrations, exhibits on the oilfields off the Grand Banks, and the Titanic disaster. There is a large section that examines the geology and forces that make Newfoundland what it is today. It explains the interesting geology of the island (it’s part Africa, part ocean floor (volcanoes!), and part North America) way back from when the continents were smashed together into two supercontinents. It’s totally worth a visit, if you happen to be in the area.

Coastguard leaving the harbour

George's Lake

Queen's Battery with the city in the background

Driving, driving, driving

Man, Newfoundland is big! (And nearly every side trip, requires you to retrace your path back to the TransCanada). 560 km up to L’Anse Aux Meadows, and another 560 km back again to Deer Lake. Then another 9 hours driving to reach St. John’s. Whew!

We broke it up into several days, trying to take in a bit of culture and nature along the way.

We stopped to walk trails in Flower’s Cove along the Viking Highway, and in Gros Morne National Park. 

White Rocks Trail

Thrombolites Trail

Bob also went on a boat tour of Western Brook Pond to see an inland fjord.

We happened to arrive at Rocky Harbour on the same night the church was holding a yummy Jigg’s Dinner fundraiser at the Town Hall. We joined in, stuffed ourselves silly, and chatted with some of the locals.

We stopped at the Newfoundland Insectarium in Deer Lake, and checked out the butterflies and other creepy crawlies (this was Lily’s requested stop). I found several butterflies I’d never seen before in their garden.  

An overnight in Gander, and then two nights in Terra Nova National Park, the most easterly National Park in Canada. I quite enjoyed our stop here. The park puts on activities and evening shows in the summer, and we were treated to a rather hilarious skit entitled CSI: Terra Nova. It wasn't meant to be so silly, but it was the first run of the season, and the cast was still getting used to their microphones (they forgot they had them on!), and costumes (the moose had a bit of trouble keeping a straight face). Regardless, we all thought it was great fun, and the audience was very appreciative of the entertainment.

Looking at Gambo from the highway - very pretty

Finally we made it to St. John’s…

I’ll get to St. John’s soon, but want to share a couple thoughts.

For Travelers:

Coming to Newfoundland is not cheap – the ferry for a vehicle of our size (55 feet) is over $500 each way (it beats plane tickets from Alberta, though!). Fuel is similar price as the mainland, but with the driving distances, and hilly terrain, our big dually goes through diesel like crazy (man how I miss a fuel efficient vehicle!). I've been keeping track of our fuel bill this month, and %#^%#!!!! Guess that’s the price to pay (literally!) for touring the country. At least camping here is relatively inexpensive (in comparison to many other places)! That all said, I am not regretting coming to The Rock at all. The scenery is amazing, the people friendly, and there are so many things to see and do here. Two weeks is really not enough.

An aside: I always seem to be doing my blog posts days after the fact – which makes it a lot harder to write about. We have been so busy, constantly on the move, that by the time evening rolls around, and I actually get a few minutes to write, I’m too worn out from the day’s activities to gather my tired brain cells enough to create anything coherent. Campground WiFi is also less common here (or so slow it’s practically useless). I can use the data on my cell-phone – sometimes. Not always though. In many places, cell-service is surprisingly spotty. Oh well. Guess I’ll just have to keep trying to catch up. Someday I might even succeed!

L’Anse Aux Meadows

(We didn't come all the way to the North end of Newfoundland just for whales, we actually came to see L’Anse Aux Meadows.)

Up on the farthest part of the northern coast of Newfoundland is a small, poor, fishing village whose world got turned upside down in 1960. This was the year that a thousand year old Viking (Norse) settlement was discovered. The Norse sagas hinted at a settlement in a land they called Vinland, and many people had gone looking for it to prove that the Vikings came to North America long before other Europeans. Proof was found on these windblown shores, forever changing our understanding of history and people movement in the world. The Vikings came to these shores a thousand years ago and stayed for a very brief time (Ten years, at the most.). Their goal: to collect the abundant resources of the area, and send them back to their settlement in Greenland. They only left a small imprint on the land, but their arrival signified something much more profound – the migration of people around the world was complete. East met west – the full circle around the globe. (Note: Viking was the name given to those Norse who were out raiding, only. The rest of the population were Norse. But, popular culture has caused the name to blanket the entire population. There is much misconception about the Norse people, but for certain, they were smart, daring, and innovative.)

L’Anse Aux Meadows is now a National Historic Site. The fishing village (of the same name) is still there, and one of the Parks interpreter’s and guides is a lifetime resident. He was present during the original excavations, and listening to his firsthand accounts of the digs, the discoveries, and all the changes that followed was fascinating.  

All that is left of the original buildings is some low grassy mounds. Once excavations were complete, Parks Canada left them be, and built replicas of some of the buildings for tourists to come enjoy. 

These sod covered buildings were constructed as authentic to form as possible, and are staffed by costumed interpreters who know quite a bit about how the Norse lived a thousand years ago (or maybe, just maybe, we stepped into a time warp when we crossed the threshold of the building, as the children like to think.)

We learned all sorts of interesting tidbits. Morgan provided some lovely music (and I mean that truthfully) on the lyre, while a lady demonstrated how to card raw wool. Lily spoke for a long time with the weaver, who was also a tradeswoman. Lily tried her own hand at weaving, and did a pretty good job of it. (I swear, the kid is born in the wrong era – she weaves and milks cows like a pro!) The weaver also informed Lily that if she were Norse, she would be married off when she turned 12 or 13. Lily hid behind me, and, looking up, stated “Don’t even think about it!”  (snort!)

Just down the road from the original site is Norstead, a modern interpretation of how the Viking Settlement might have looked, had the Norse stayed. 

Visiting both isn't strictly necessary, but each provides a different perspective for facets of Norse life, and gives a more rounded picture of what life might have been like for these people. 

Lily liked the sheep and chickens, and learning about how wool was dyed different colors. 

I wish I had taken more pictures of the Viking replica ship, the Snorri. At 54 feet, it’s shorter than the original vessels, but is an actual sailing ship. In 1998, she was sailed from Greenland to L’Anse Aux Meadows, a journey of 89 days. This ship is a rather amazing design, and a testament to the Viking’s mastery of the sea, and of shipbuilding. It can hold 13 tonnes (that’s a lot!), with only a draft of 3 and a half feet (meaning the ship’s keel is only 3.5 feet under the water’s surface – really, really shallow for a ship that size).

We tried to apprentice Morgan off to the blacksmith, but he was having none of that. Lily took up the job of apprentice (even though apprenticeship would normally begin at age 7), and pumped the bellows for several minutes before tiring and wandering off to play on the rocks with her brother. 

It was very interesting learning about Viking life a thousand years ago, and getting a better picture of the history of my own continent. We spent much of the day touring these two sites, and then driving around the area, taking pictures of icebergs, coastline, beautiful harbours and alpine flowers, just getting a feel for the place. And then it was time to say goodbye.