Friday, cloudy, cold, windy, Fishing Point Municipal Park, St. Anthony, NL
Woke up, got up and dressed and had nice, hot oatmeal for breakfast again then drove to the Visitor Center to use their facilities and check to see where the traditional kitchen party that we signed up for will take place. The visitor center is housed in the Grenfell Historical Society building which honors the memory of Dr. Wilfred Grenfell who is credited with bringing health care to the remote villages on the Northern Peninsula. He also worked to alleviate poverty in part by trying to provide alternatives to the
We walked across the street to the hospital to see the Jordi Bonet Murals, which are ceramic murals that line the walls of the circular lobby and depict the culture and the history of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Went to Pistolet Bay Provincial Park for $5 each showers after talking a bit with Jim and Warren about the Toronto Raptors winning the NBA title. Typically nice shower facilities. We also had some lunch of toast and peanut butter and apple.
Drove out further to Raleigh and Burnt Cape, a lovely little harbor at low tide on Ha Ha Bay. Could have seen out to the Strait and the Atlantic Ocean if there hadn’t been fog. No icebergs there.
Retraced our route and went further north and east to the furthest point north that you can drive to on Newfoundland, Cape Onion. There we found an iceberg. It was beautifully formed with a spire but it was at quite a distance and there was still a bit of fog around.
Walked up the path past the cemetery and out into the rocks covered in many years of vegetation, soft and spongy to the step, out to where we could get a view of the iceberg and the edge of the cliff over the water, waves crashing on the rocks below.
Great Sacred Island was in the distance beyond the iceberg, even more shrouded in mist or fog.
We also saw some Eider ducks floating in the sea below and some emerging rock flowers, possibly a Barrens willow, and fiddleheads.
There were also some smaller bergs near the far rocks in Onion Cove and bergie bits floating in the water.
We retraced our route once again and were able to stop and photograph a typical wood pile and road-side garden.
Then we went to check out St. Anthony Bight but not much to be seen there so we went back to St. Anthony and stopped at Tim Horton for their WiFi. We got coffee mochas and split an iceberg donut specially made for the festival and in honor of our sighting icebergs. It was very tasty.
We drove back up to Fishing Point and walked the trail down by the lighthouse. The fog horn was sounding but it was clear enough to see our way.
Around 6:00 we headed for the Grenfell Interpretation Centre for the traditional kitchen party. We went early to see if their gift shop was open. It wasn’t so we just sat down at a table and invited the next couple in to join us. They were Kim and Mark from Ontario. Enjoyed their company and the salt cod and regular fish cakes, the homemade cabbage pickles, toutons with local jams including the bakeapple or cloudberry jam plus other local jams, and beets. We even got extra cod cakes at the end.
After dinner we all moved over to the small auditorium with Fergus O’Byrne and Jim Payne for entertainment while we shipped a vodka and fruit juice drink.
After a short intermission during which Janice bought one of their CDs they started up again and 3 mummers came in to entertain us. Mummers are a Newfoundland tradition: especially around Christmas people would dress up in disguise and go visit their neighbors and exchange music for drink. It was all great fun and well worth the $25 CAD each.
Afterwards we drove back out to Fishing Point and parked where we had the night before. The fog was still on the hill top but soon totally enveloped us like pea soup. We feel asleep to the sound of the fog horn blowing about every minute.