Newfoundland Journal - On the Wild Side

We heard that there were tons of moose and bear. We saw two moose, no bears, three foxes, numerous eagles and sea birds. I would have liked to have seen a bear.

We saw a mother moose and her calf near the cottage where we stayed in Rocky Harbour. Mom didn't stick around for the photo op.

These were three of a flock of shore birds feeding on the beach near Martins Point.

Coming in for a  bad landing was a Bald Eagle with what looked like a strip of meat and hide ripped off a moose carcass. It was too heavy to be carried far, nor could the bird gain any altitude, so it just flew low over the road, landed and started to chow down.

And speaking of chowing down, I caught this fox heading home with dinner for the family.

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Newfoundland Journal - The Wreck of the SS Ethie

During a storm, in December 1919, the SS Ethie, a coastal trader, powered by both steam and sail, was wrecked on the west coast of Newfoundland. The snowy winds reached hurricane force and ice formed on the ship making it top heavy. All passengers and crew were saved by the actions of Captain English, his crew, the citizens of Martin's Point and a dog.

Little is left after 91 years but I took photos of some of the debris. The first photo is Martin's Point. The full story may be found at The Wreck of the S. S. Ethie.

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Newfoundland Journal - Mackerel Trapping

A major fishing industry in Bonne Bay, Newfoundland is mackerel trapping. The fish are valued as an excellent source of Omega 3 oil. The fishermen, using 2 small skiffs set out a square trap of netting and come back to see what they have on a regular basis.

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Newfoundland Journal - Bonne Bay

These are pictures of Bonne Bay which is a fjord in Gros Morne National Park. The fjord runs east-west and the first picture shows the southern headland where the fjord empties into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The little village you see in the last photograph is Bear Cove on the north shore 

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Saturday Snap

This sunset was taken at Deer Lake, Newfoundland. If we hadn't taken a wrong turn to get to our motel we would have been up in our room unpacking and missed the whole thing.

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Newfoundland Journal - Scenery

These are just a few pictures I took along the Trans Canada Highway between Deer Lake and Norris Point,  a small village on the shore of Bonne Bay.

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Newfoundland Journal - North Atlantic Aviation Museum

Just a couple of pictures of Paul and I with our favorite planes at the Aviation Museum in Gander. It's an interesting museum right on the Trans Canada Highway, so it's easy to get to.

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Newfoundland Journal - Gander

Gander will be remembered by many in the international aviation community for the outpouring of hospitality to all those air passengers who were forced to land there immediately after 9/11. It is a town of a little under 10,000 inhabitants, that, with the help of surrounding towns and villages, took in and cared for almost 7,000 stranded people. I met a lady who recalled how her congregation opened the church kitchen and just started cooking and serving meals. People brought in extra food from home to help keep the kitchen supplied. 


But before 9/11 there was another event which is remembered there. The Silent Witness Memorial is located just south of Gander.  It's dedicated to the 256 service personnel and crew of  Arrow Air Flight 1285, which crashed on December 12, 1985. Most of the passengers were members of the 101st Airborne Division, US Army, who were returning from a peace keeping mission in the Middle East to their base in Fort Campbell, KY. The plane crashed about 3,000 feet from the end of the runway in the woods on the hillside overlooking Gander Lake.

The Memorial is located at the crash site. 256 trees were planted to bear silent witnesses of the tragedy.  There is  a sculpture of an American soldier holding the hands of two children on a rock outcropping facing in the direction of Fort Campbell where, I have heard, there is a another sculpture facing back toward the crash site. Gander is a special place. 

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Newfoundland Journal - Terra Nova National Park

I have shown you a few of the towns but now it's time to see a bit of the wilderness. These photos were all taken in Terra Nova NP which is on the east coast of Newfoundland.

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Newfoundland Journal - Salvage

Just north of Terra Nova is Rte. 310 which goes east from the Trans Canada Highway along the Eastport Peninsula to Bonavista Bay. There at the end of the road is the little fishing village of Salvage. (The 'vage' part of the name rhymes with 'cage'.) It was voted one of the prettiest towns in Canada. It has a population of just over 200.

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Newfoundland Journal - Arnold's Cove

Arnold's Cove is a small fishing village in south eastern Newfoundland. We stopped there on our way north to Eastport just to stretch our legs and stayed for almost an hour to take pictures and enjoy the view. 

The cove was surrounded by private fishing shacks where fishing and boating equipment was kept.

Below are the commercial fishing boats both company and individually owned.

The blue and yellow boats belong to the Canadian Coast Guard which has a station in the cove.

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Newfoundland Journal - St. John's

We only had one day in St. John's which is the capital of the Canadian province of Newfoundland Labrador and it rained. That didn't stop us from roaming around the waterfront but it did affect the quality of the photographs. Many of the stores and homes throughout the island are painted bright colors.

Duckworth Street

Water Street

Water Street

Statues of the Newfoundland and the Labrador Retriever over-looking the harbor

Signal Hill at the entrance of the harbor

The Business end of the harbor

Ship leaving port

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