July 21 Tuesday 2009 Bill turned 63 today. St Barbe to Labrador
We board the Apollo for our 90 min. Trip between St Barbe and Blanc Sablon Quebec. We pay $26 for the truck and us combined. Weather overcast. We sit up in the crows nest all the way only saw 1 dolphin no whales. When we land we check in at the hotel ,our rooms are not ready yet as they have a bus load of people whom I met on the ferry . They all owned Winnabegoes.(sp????/ moter homes and where going across Canada in a caravan. We decide to drive to Red Bay 38 miles North , the end of paved road. This was the worlds largest whaling port in the 1500. Sixteenth century Basque whalers from England,France and Spain were attracted to the Strait Belle Isle by the once plentiful right and bowhead whales. Whale oil became a high commodity in Europe. They say the whale oil from Labrador lit the lamps of all of Europe, until the war between England and Spain reassigned the whaling ships to work in the Spanish armada. An orientation center video describes how underwater archaeologists raised 3 galleons and several small boats. We marvel at a 450 year old chalupa whaling boat. There were many artifacts to view . The sun comes so we have a quick lunch ( I have caribou stew) then take a 3 minute boat ride to Saddle Island where one of 20 early Basque settlements ruins are . We walk the whole Island with well marked signs to tell us what was once there. This center is really worth going to. Plan on spending 2-3 hours here. Next we head back but stop at L'Anse Amour burial mounds, North America's oldest funeral monument about 7,500 years ago almost 2,000 years before the Great Pyramids were constructed. An amazing find. We do the Point Amour lighthouse , Atlantic's tallest. Here we see a huge whale feeding close to shore. Finally back to the Northern Light Inn. A drink ,shower and dinner in that order. I find out WIFI does not work in our room Boo hoo. Our room at the hotel was $106. The only wild animal we see here are marmots
REMEMBER- Wringing your hands only stops you from rolling up your s