Plum Point, NFLD

Total Km = 198

Woke to a steady rain, which stopped before we set out for the day. We now know why all the road side gardens we keep seeing are all planted in raised beds. With the precipitation they would all be washed away. We keep hearing how the summers are short, cool and marginally dryer than the winters and that the end of July is the best for visiting though no guarantees there either.

Today’s plan was to take the 9:30 am ferry across the Strait of Belle Isle to Labrador, do some sightseeing then return on the 6:00 pm ferry. Arriving at the ferry terminal we found out the ferry had suffered mechanical failure and had yet to leave Labrador! Some quick calculations suggested to us that our plan was now undoable as there would be no guarantee when (or IF?) the 6:00 return sailing would take place (there is only one ferry – the broken one). We had also made a pact to not ride at night, especially here with all the moose so even if the last sailing of the day were to take place, it would also be very late.

So we reluctantly modified our plans and rode to Port Au Choix, the site of an archeological interpretative center on the aboriginal inhabitants of this region. Very well done –stressing the richness of the area in marine resources and the resulting health/success of the aboriginal populations throughout history (until the white settlers banished the Beothuk people to inland areas where the last of them perished in the early 1800’s). In conjunction with this we took a short walk in Philip’s “garden” – a dig site – and found many different beautiful wildflowers including yellow ladyslippers and wild irises (what a surprise – in a garden!).

On the way back we stopped briefly and watched some Atlantic salmon fishermen. It seems that nearly every “brook” (river in our estimation) had people fishing. Just as we got there a huge salmon flew into the air trying to catch the fly at the end of one of the fishermen’s lines. Pretty spectacular. We had hoped he would catch so we could watch the fight to bring it in.

More moose sightings today – a constant reminder to stay alert. We have learned there are no deer on the island – a bit of a surprise as they have places named Deer Lake, etc.