It is now raining but I am sitting under our canopy and all is good for now! We just got back from a walk overlooking a small harbor to watch the sunset. We didn't get to see the entire sunset as there were some hills in the way but it was way beyond gorgeous anyway!
Our day started at 4 AM. We checked out and headed east so we could watch the sun rise over the most eastern part of North America, Cape Spear lighthouse! There are actually two lighthouses here, one is the original one of a tower with a house built around it 1886 and the newer one built just a bit down the rocks built in 1957. This lighthouse along with the Fort Amherst one guided ships into St. John's harbor, and also served as a defense during war and potential war. This one still has some bunkers and other remnants of its being buffered during World War II. The sun rose at 5:03 so we were too early to tour the original lighthouse. We did tour around the grounds before heading out. Prince Charles and Princess Diana actually visited St. John's in 1983 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of becoming a British Colony and officially open Cape Spear as a historical site! There were red chairs here! So we sat in them. :)
It was pleasant driving the TCH without horrendous windgusts and hydroplaning and we could see and avoid most potholes!! It was actually quite foggy to start but eventually burned off. The mountains covered with trees, the clear lakes reflecting house, boats, clouds, or nature were picture-perfect! We passed our first Walmart and also more poles with rocks boxed up at their bases. It is hit and miss on that, no pattern that we can see thus far.
We arrived in Twillingate for our boating adventure with a little time to spare. They had a charming gift shop featuring local crafts people and some things not locally but interesting just the same. It was nice to browse and buy a few things.
Our boat departed with the captain, his daughter home from colleges to take pictures, a 1st mate, and a family of four, of which one of the young ones was decorated by a gull straight way so both opted to stay inside the cabin for a bit, and 9 more of us. It was such a beautiful day to be out on the ocean. He said it was almost too calm!! Once we were out a bit a sure-sighted guest spotted something white and it was an ice berg! This area's waters see ice bergs as they are pushed here via the Labrador current. They actually start in Greenland and get taken north first by the Arctic current and then get grabbed by the Labrador one. It takes 3-5 years (!) for them to reach this island!! The dates may be wrong but close but he said that 2010-2013 saw a bunch, and 2014-2017 saw none. This year it is hit and miss. The one we got close to was about 7 miles from their dock and about the size of a double-wide home? That is a weird comparison but it was hard to come up with something! Only about 8% of it was visible and it groaned and whooshed. He said they actually melt mostly from the bottom, and water erosion and only really minimally from sun melting. He said this would most likely be completely gone in another week and when they first spotted it three weeks ago it was about 3 times bigger! We spotted another white shape on the horizon and the captain's daughter said that was substantially bigger and about 25 miles from their dock (so we weren't heading that way at all). We didn't see a single whale (He said they hadn't seen any all week), even though the weeks prior they had seen quite a few. We also didn't see many birds (we did see gulls, some razorbill puffins, and some other black ones but not overly many) or seals (we did see 3 harp seals) , which he said was unusual. He made a comment to his 1st mate that he noticed bird commotion on the other side of the harbor so he wondered if that is where the action was. Even with no animal sightings, it was a wonderful trip. Oceans are so relaxing and it was a small boat with few people and a knowledgeable captain and crew so all was good! Cheryl thinks MAYBE she saw a spot. It was very small and over quickly and neither her nor Andrew saw another. Minke whales don't have big spouts and don't do the fluke tail thing so she thinks she had a whale sighting, just not verified!
We found a campground called Peyton's Campground and got a really nice spot. Electric and water as a bonus, toilets not too far away, and a shade with a view of the harbor and ocean. It isn't right on it, but the view is great regardless. The lady that checked us in said there was a whale playing earlier in the harbor and she's seen them about three times in the last three weeks. There are noisy neighbors up the hill that aren't part of the campground and a mystery camper.
Yes, a mystery camper. We were heading out to get some food stuffs for supper and to check out the lighthouse here on the points when we stopped by the office to let her know that we have a small "brook" that runs off to the side of our spot. It looks like it runs under the camper next door and we wanted to let her know that the camper may have a water leak while they were out for the day. It turns out the camper has been out since last October!! What?? Interesting. She said someone else was working that day and he was new. The guy backed it in and said he'd be back and he never returned. I didn't understand if he was here to start for a day or so or not but I got the feeling he wasn't. I probably would have called the police or something after not getting paid for having a camper taking of space but she hadn't yet. We joked about possession is 9/10 of the law and she could probably get someone to break in to see if there is any identifiers in it or ??? It is a nice looking camper! We talked about that it doesn't really look like it's been setting out all winter, as winters here can be pretty harsh, but what do we know!
We found a grocery store (it looked like a butler building!) and bought some spaghetti fixins' and some milk and blueberries for breakfast as we still have cereal. We discovered many of the commercial buildings look like butler buildings, minimal impact and few windows and hard to find signage!!
We drove over to the lighthouse and this was painted almost all red with a white topper, and had a long covered walkway leading to a building. This lighthouse was completed in 1876, stands about 300 feet above the ocean, and features an amazing panoramic view of the Atlantic Ocean. OMG! The ocean was still calm and blue and the gulls were out swirling and swirling. It looked so neat! We walked down to one of the three observation platforms and heard someone talk about whales. What?? Whales? Yes, we saw whales. There was one in a smaller cove to our left, and two out just a bit from the cliffs. We think they were minke whales as the spots were not tall at all and they weren't showing off by rolling over or showing their flukes. Just their back fin popped up out of the water along with some of their smooth black backs. Oh, my. Whales are such neat mammals.
We headed back to camp and fixed our spaghetti, cleaned up the dishes, took our walk and are now ready to call it a night.
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