Day 64 - L'Anse-au-Clair, Labrador

Finally, we are on our way to Labrador on Thursday, August 2nd.  We are only spending one day and one night there but we are excited as we've heard so much about it. Labrador is a vast wilderness filled with rugged seacoast, fast running rivers and breathtaking mountain ranges.  The history of indigenous people can be traced thousands of years before European settlers.

This is the ferry that we took for our 90 minute cruise.  We just walked on the boat as there will be a bus and guide to pick us up and give us a tour.  We had breakfast on the boat as we boarded at 7:30 a.m. and we didn't really have time to eat before hand.  It looks like the ferry is eating the semi.  Let me tell you, that driver didn't have but a foot to fit through the door.  We actually arrived in Quebec and crossed over to Labrador. The bottom right picture shows L'Anse-au-Clair as we come over a hill. 

One of the first stops was a mound of rocks which is the earliest known funeral monument in the new world and marks the burial place of a 12 year old Indian child who died about 7500 years ago.  The Maritime Archaic people, to whom the child belonged, occupied this area between 9000 and 3500 years ago.  People can't figure out why the body was buried face down with a rock on his back.   We then visited the Point Amour Lighthouse which was built in l858.  Some of our people walked up the l28 steps to the top - you can see Bruce, Sharon, Larry & Chris (who is taking a picture of me taking a picture of them).  It has a French name, L'Anse aux Morts, which means Cove of Death, because of the many shipwrecks in the area including two Royal Navy vessels: HMS Lily and HMS Raleigh.

The above are pictures of the coastline - quite similar to New Foundland; however, there are many old buildings or ships just lying in the water as they fall or sink.  The fishing villages pretty much all look alike.  Inukshuk's are seen everywhere.  This one was quite large sitting high up on a rock.

 

In the l6th century, the Labrador side of the Strait of Belle Isle emerged as the world's largest producer of whale oil.  At its peak, whaling on this coast attracted nearly 2000 Basques annually from Spain and France, and Red Bay became a major centre for seasonal hunting and processing.  The whale oil and other products were sold mostly in Europe.  It was in demand as a clean and bright lighting fuel.  Also used for paints, varnishes, lubrication and soap.  Above our small replicas of a whaling boat - front and back side.  The Chalupa was brought up from the bottom of the bay.  It was under a ship that was wrecked.

There are churches in every village and this is a very pretty one with a window overlooking a river.  We were very fortunate in seeing a whale on our drive.  Frank, our driver, stopped the bus so we could get a photo, if we were lucky.    Bruce did a great job as they are hard to photo.  If there is a beach, I will find it and walk along in the water.  As you can see, it was another sunny, warm day.  The landscape is varied with a lot of rocks, trees, rivers, lakes and of course the ocean.

 

Some miscellaneous pictures of the Pinware River (President Regan once fished here), a water falls, and a fishing hut with low tide.  Bruce and I took a walk after our return to the hotel and found the bubbling sands - a bit hard to read but most unusual.

Picture of the Day!

You never know what you are going to find here in the Maritimes.  While taking a walk, we found a an area of evergreen trees loaded with pine cones.  You have to remember, the ground is mostly all rock.

We head back to New Foundland tomorrow, but it was a wonderful visit.