BLOG 27---LEAVING NEWFOUNDLAND ON MARINE ATLANTIC FERRY: ARGENTIA TO NORTH SIDNEY, N.S.

Unfortunately, our month and a half excursion around Newfoundland is over today!  We would have loved to have a couple more days in St. Johns to see even more of the capital city of this fascinating province of Newfoundland and Labrador!   We drove 2993 miles in our exploration of Newfoundland! 

Today, June 20^th, 2015, we’re heading back to Nova Scotia on the Marine Atlantic Ferry docked just down the hill from our campground on the old Argentia Navy Base docks.   

It’ll be a 14-16 hour overnight transit back to North Sydney, Nova Scotia, where our Newfoundland journey started originally.  This morning we’re cleaning up our Sprinter-based Airstream Interstate RV vacuuming inside and washing the exterior.  We filled up the fresh water and dumped then had lunch.   

We talked to our new friends who would be off in many directions tomorrow.  Some of us want to explore more in Nova Scotia and will meet up somewhere after arrival. 

2:30PM and the CB comes to life with George’s voice directing the caravan of Airstreams to move out toward the Ferry dock.  At 3PM we survived our RV getting power washed in a tunnel to be sure none of our vehicles or RVs brought nasty Newfie bugs over to Nova Scotia that could harm their agricultural industries.  We parked in the Ferry parking lot in 2 lines and waited to be loaded on board.  At 3:13 PM we drove on board the M/V Atlantic Vision and parked as directed by the Ferry crew on Deck 5.  We then unloaded our duffel and walked up to the Purser’s Office to get our stateroom assignment.  We’re in Room 8020 and almost all of our caravan people are in staterooms along this same corridor.   The rooms are small but complete with 2 single beds, a bath and shower, a desk and chair and a window which was almost obscured by wear or salt.  We went outside on the deck to take a couple of photographs as the ship left port (and Newfoundland) and then to the lounge area to read for a while.  At 7 PM, we all went up to the Buffet Restaurant and had a pleasant very good buffet meal with our friends, which was paid for with a meal ticket from our Caravan.  Afterwards, we walked around, looked for the gift shop which was closed for the whole crossing but the bars were certainly open!  We then found our way to the movie theatre and watched the story of physicist Stephen Hawking titled “The Theory of Everything.”  Very interesting!  Back to our room and a comfortable night’s sleep with the motion and vibration of the ship speeding through the water.

The next morning we were up at 7:30, took showers in the room and packed back up. 8:15 breakfast muffin and coffee or milk down in the cafe.  The ferry docked at 9:15 AM at North Sydney and we drove off at 9:40 Newfoundland time, ½ hour earlier than Nova Scotia time.  

Back to the mainland--Nova Scotia!

We drove up to Glace Bay and arrived at 10:10 AM at the Marconi National Historical Site and were surprised that it was closed until July 1.   The significance of this site is that on 14 December 1902, "Guglielmo Marconi changed the world forever with the first official transatlantic exchange of radio messages at his wireless station here at Table Head in Glace Bay. His work would ultimately usher in the age of global telecommunications."   (from Parks Canada website)  Four 200' tall wooden aerial towers transmitted the signals from Glace Bay to Cornwall, England where Marconi had a similar station.

So we drove into town to the Glace Bay Miner’s Museum, which was very much open and yes, they had mine tours going!  The first coal mine here was in 1720, the first in North America, and the last underground mine closed in 2001. All the way to the 1930s, there were 12 large underground mines in Glace Bay, employing 8000 men and boys, digging out 300 million year old bituminous coal.  There is some open pit coal mining going on now. 

The Miner’s Museum sits next to the ocean on top of an old coal mine, called the Ocean Deeps Colliery.  Glace Bay was a huge coal mining area with many of the shafts going as far as 6 miles out under the Atlantic Ocean!  This museum tells the story with huge equipment displays, many miner portraits, exhibits describing strikes, miner’s unions, the company store and major accidents in the mines and much more.  We enjoyed a visit here when we were in the Maritimes about 8 years back on the Airstream Nor by Nor’east Caravan in the Maritime provinces.    

The mine tour is wet and damp and you dress in a cape over your clothes and a hard hat to protect your skull from low rock ceilings.  Our tour leader was Eric Spencer, a retired coal miner for 55 years, who gave a super tour even showing us the underground garden the miners had for fresh greens to eat and the pit ponies that lived in the mines who pulled the ore carts! 

 
In some parts of the mine, you have to duck walk with 42” ceiling heights!  Great experience!    

We were disappointed that the “Men of the Deeps” retired coal miner’s choir with miners aged from mid-30s to late 70s, wouldn’t be performing for several more weeks.  We saw them on our earlier visit and the performance is spectacular starting with their entrance in the totally dark theatre coming out in coveralls with hard hat and miner’s headlamp and singing in wonderful harmony!  Alas, not this trip!  We had lunch and went grocery shopping at the large modern Atlantic Superstore in town. 

Then we were off to Louisbourg about 40 miles away, the reconstructed old French fort from the 18^th Century that was a major French seaport and the capital of the Ile Royale (Cape Breton Island). Our campground was right in town on the water with a very friendly manager.  Our friends Nick and Emily Fisher were here too. We paid for 2 nights and the 3^rd night was free!  Unfortunately at 6 PM it began raining, ugh! 

June 22^nd—rained all night and all day today and hard!  Cold and windy—yuk!   We stayed in all day and worked on our blogs with good campground wifi.  We ate our last fried clam appetizers from the Rocky Harbour Fish Market along with ham and pasta and watched a DVD movie. 

June 23rd—looked out the window and blue sky and perfect weather again so we’re off to the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site.  Nick and Emily were taking off for Halifax, the capital city of Nova Scotia.  At the fort, we took a one hour guided tour with Hilda, who really knew her stuff and stuffed us full of old history! 

The French came here in 1713 after ceding Newfoundland to the British in the Treaty of Utrecht.  They began construction of the fortifications in 1719 and finally completed them in 1745 just before the first of several sieges.   The town was supported by the cod fishery.  Modern reconstruction began in 1961 to restore about ¼ of the former Fortress and its buildings.  Re-enactors pose as shop clerks, soldiers, cannoneers, fishermen, bakers, housewives and more , taking you back to the 18^th Century!   

In the afternoon,. We took a “Time Travel” tour and learned about soldiers, lacework, operating a household in the day, and the tavern where we had delicious hot chocolate and molasses cookies!   

We enjoyed seeing the King’s Bastion, an extremely ornate building and walked all the streets inside the Fortress. 

This is a great place to visit to learn more of the English and French history in the Maritimes and Newfoundland.  We had a very interesting 8-1/2 hour visit and were happy to head back to the RV Park and a nice fish taco dinner in the rig.  

 




June 24th—raining hard again this morning.  We wanted to see the S&L Railway Museum in the ornate old railroad station before leaving town.  

It was open with interesting exhibits as Nick had told us—he always scouts out any railroading venues!    We’ll continue with our rainy journey off to Baddeck in Blog 28.        

BLOG 26—PLACENTIA and CAPE ST.MARYS ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH, NL

The Town of Placentia—Placentia is approximately 78 miles south of St. John's and is the closest town to Argentia, approximately 3 miles.  When the Naval Base was active, it was a self-sufficient base in almost everything.  Today, Placentia has a modern Sobey's Supermarket, fuel stations, churches, schools including a junior college campus, an RCMP post, post office, restaurants, liquor store, Museum, Cultural Centre, several hotels and B&Bs and a giant new drawbridge crossing the Placentia Gut that is supposed to open later in 2015, replacing the 54 year old current drawbridge that is suffering major mechanical problems.

Placentia History
Placentia history goes back to the Basque seasonal fishermen of the early 1500s!  Placentia, then called Plaisance by the French, was the first capital of Newfoundland in 1655.  The French built a succession of 3 bigger and better forts to defend Plaisance.  After many battles with the English, the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 required the French to leave all their settlements in Placentia Bay and all of Newfoundland and relocate to Louisbourg in Nova Scotia.  The English took over and Newfoundland ultimately became a Dominion of England and the first possession of the United Kingdom. In the 18^th Century, Placentia rivaled St. John's in importance and had a population of 2000, which was ¼ of Newfoundland's total population at that time.  That all changed in the 19^th century when St. John's became the largest and most important city but Placentia continued to be an important regional center.  Its post office was established in 1851.  Fishing was the economic base here for much of its history.  

Across the arm are sheer rocks and old fishing stages

Everything changed in late 1940, when the giant American Naval Base was being constructed  providing thousands of good cash-paying jobs to people in Placentia and drew many other Newfoundlanders to move to the Placentia area.  This changed the economy from the fisheries “truck” system of credit to a cash-based economy opening many new opportunities.   The standard of living rose in the community as well as many cultural changes introduced by exposure to American technology, entertainment and personnel.  It's said that the American presence during the War made a huge geographical change in Newfoundland, which had traditionally been a loyal British backwater well away from the Canadian mainland but quickly rotated to being more comfortable being part of North America!  It's not surprising then that Newfoundland voted to became the 10^th Canadian province in 1949! 

Sadly with the demise of the American base in 1994, Placentia's economy went into depression and the population has declined annually; in the 2006 census, only 3900 people remained.  It's called the “2^nd fastest shrinking town in Canada.”   It's hoped that the ongoing conversion of the former base into an active port and industrial park will spark a new renaissance for Placentia!

A steel seawall is built on the shore so the town doesn't flood

Placentia marina with town on background

The Placentia Lift Bridge—this 300' long span crosses the “Placentia Gut” over the Northeast and Southeast arms of Placentia Bay.  

The U.S. Corps of Engineers built a pontoon bridge here in the early 1940s but the swift tidal currents of 4-5 knots that change direction every 8-1/2 hours and heavy winter ice soon destroyed it.   The current bridge was built in 1961 replacing a ferry.   The 100' center span raises to a clearance of 70' for the passage of large vessels, but in the recent past, is frequently sticking while lifting the center span, disabling the bridge for hours, days or  more.  This bridge is currently being replaced by an impressive very heavy duty lift bridge that is supposed to open sometime in 2015 at a cost of over $40 million Canadian dollars!

Castle Hill National Historic Site—the premier tourist site in Placentia is Castle Hill NHS, which contains a great museum showing the Basque, French and English layers of history in dioramas and artifacts.  The Basque fishermen exhibits are extremely interesting. 

Just up Castle Hill are the extensive remains of 3 French forts: Fort Plaisance (1662), Fort Saint-Louis (1691) and Fort Royal (1693) and the 2 British forts: Fort Frederick (1720)  and New Fort built over Fort Saint-Louis in 1740.  

Our female interpreter was really excellent and brought the forts to life after the arduous climb up Castle Hill  The view from the high hill overlooking Placentia and the Bay is amazing as you'll see in the photographs.  After many years of archeological exploration, Castle Hill was named a National Historic Site of Canada in 1968.

O'Reilly House Museum—Placentia--this attractive Queen Anne Victorian house was built in 1902 for the town magistrate, William O'Reilly, who served the town from 1897-1923. It served as the home for future magistrates after his death until it was eventually restored by the Placentia Area Historical Society and opened as a museum in 1989.  It contains the upscale home furnishings of the O'Reilly family downstairs with the upstairs rooms covering Placentia history from the Basque room, the Argentia Naval Base room, French and English occupation eras and the Resettlement scheme of the 1950s to 1970s where small populations of people on islands or tiny fishing outports were encouraged and paid by the Newfoundland Government to move to larger population towns so government services could be rendered more efficiently and at lower cost.  This program was mostly very unpopular!  Our museum guide here was the President of the Historical Society who gave us an excellent introduction to the Placentia area.

Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church—Placentia--beginning with the Basque era in the 1500s with the French following for the next two hundred years, Catholicism has been a strong religion in Placentia.  The first Roman Catholic church was built in Plaisance in 1689 by the Bishop of Quebec.

In  1712, the English took over and established the Anglican religion but in 1784, religious freedom was restored and another Catholic church called Our Lady of the Angels was built in 1786.  The current church, called Sacred Heart Parish, which dominates the heart of Placentia with its large footprint and tall steeple was completed in 1889 and has been renovated and expanded several times.  In 2011, the parishioners voted to return to the historic name of Our Lady of the Angels Roman Catholic Parish.

Our Lady of the Angels Catholic Church and Convent----St.Luke's Anglican Church (right bottom)

The inside is beautiful but unusual with the pews placed in an overall V-shape with many donated religious-themed stained glass windows.   The handsome 1864 stone architecture of Our Lady of the Angels convent, built for the Presentation Sisters, still stands to the right of the church, but is no longer in use.

Cape St. Marys Ecological Reserve—this Reserve, established in 1983, is a 45 mile drive from Argentia on rough roads passing through 4 small fishing villages but it is so worth the trip!  It is a paradise for birders and is known as the most accessible seabird rookery in North America!  Cape St. Mary's is the extreme southwest end of the Avalon Peninsula.  The highlight here is reached by hiking about 3/4 mile out on a very scenic trail across a barren plateau to the 300' high sandstone sea stack called Bird Rock, where in summer you can view the second largest Northern Gannet breeding ground in North America with an estimated  24,000 gannets! 

Other birds seen are up to 20,000 black legged kittiwakes, 20,000 common murres, 200 thick billed murres and hundreds of pairs of razorbill and about 60 pair of black guillemot. Double crested and great cormorants and some gulls also nest here in much smaller numbers. These birds spend the majority of their lives out in the open ocean where they feed on schools of fish like herring by diving straight down into the school.  The nesting season here is April—June. 

In winter, over 20,000 scoters, oldsquaw, harlequin, dovekies, thick billed murres and kittiwakes use the Reserve's waters.  On your hike out during nesting season, you'll surely see some number of domestic sheep grazing the meadows next to the trail. 

The sheep are definitely not bothered by passing humans but you need to watch your step due to the quantity of fresh sheep excrement on the trail!  The other caution here is Cape St. Mary's has fog approximately 200 days a year and the trail comes close to cliff edges in several places and the edges are unfenced!  

You're able to observe the huge colonies of birds from 30-50 feet away and really see their elaborate mating displays when the pair tilt their necks and head straight up and gently touch bills!  Nesting construction, feeding and interactions between the birds is also very interesting.  Gannets usually remain paired for life.  The female lays a single egg in a nest of grasses or seaweed and incubates it for 6-8 weeks.  The chick fledges in about 12 weeks and can fly south with its parents who will continue feeding it for another 8-9 months.  Gannets have a 7' wingspan and can glide for hours over the ocean searching for food. 

The provincial website NewfoundlandLabrador.com says this about the Reserve-- “This site is overflowing with perching, diving and scrambling birds from edge to edge—melding together into an awesome moving, breathing spectacle of colour and sound!”  The Interpretive Center, open May to October, has fascinating displays of the life histories of the different bird species found here and the naturalists are a great source of information.  Naturalists also lead tours and are available for questions near Bird Rock.  Admission is free too!  We spent several hours out at Bird Rock enjoying the spectacle and observing bird behavior.  The photographs show how awesome it really is at Cape St. Mary's!

Northern Gannet Behavior

Murre colonies and nesting Kittiwakes

Razorbills

The Cape St. Mary's Lighthouse that went into operation in 1860 is just across from the Reserve's Visitor Centre parking lot.  The lighthouse has received multiple renovations which is a testament to its treacherous location on a very windy headland with rough seas.   

Placentia Cultural Centre & Caravan Final Banquet & Screech-In—the Placentia Cultural Centre opened in 2009 and is downtown on the Town Square next to City Hall and across from the Our Lady of the Angels RC Church.  It's a very modern good-looking long building with a large auditorium inside for large community and civic events, ceremonies and even  entertainment.  The large foyer contains wall space for art shows.  We came here for our Caravan Final Banquet on the evening of June 17 and the art show hanging then contained many interesting paintings of the Placentia area by local artists.  The dinner, made by our leaders and a few volunteers from the group, was very good with a big platter of vegetables along with fish, crab, mussels and shrimp.  

The highlight after dinner was a Newfoundland tradition of the “Screech-In.”  At Karen Churchill's Kitchen Party in Twillingate, we experienced a “Screech-In” so we knew what to expect at our leader's version.  He didn't wear the traditional sou'wester foul weather gear nor did we get sou'wester hats for the occasion as is customary.  The ceremony was performed for each couple separately with the reading of a proclamation followed by the traditional question “Is ye an Honorary Newfoundlander?”  You answer “ 'deed I is, me old cock and long may your big jib draw” spoken at top speed!  You must make a speech on the leader's chosen subject or recite a poem!  Then you drink a jigger of 40% alcohol rum and kiss an ugly fish that is presented to you—frozen cod in this case!  If you survive the above tests, you are awarded your Honorary Newfoundlander certificate with great applause from the audience!   This all occurred after a few glasses of wine or beer at dinner to lubricate you!  It was fun though and a good meal!  

 But it wasn't the end—the caravan still had 2 more days to go before we got on the Marine Atlantic ferry back to Nova Scotia!  So we got to do a little more exploring!