Dan Will Travel

Iceberg Alley!

Seeing this was a key reason to come here in June. The icebergs split off of Greenland and float south for thousands of miles. The “migration” takes a few years is at its best each year along Newfoundland, and particularly at the far north of the island. So, I had two nights in Quirpon to experience this. I arrived in dense fog which was mostly there all of the next day, cancelling our boat trip twice that day. Down to the last morning before I had to drive back south. I should have known it was going to be special when the B&B owner and lifelong resident and published photographer went along………. He knew what was out there!

My first sighting. The shore gives it perspective even though it is still quite distant. Wow!

Maybe 150′ high at this point? Grounded in 200′ of water. I knew this trip was really special when the boat owner, with 50+ years of this was taking tons of photos as well as the B&B owner/photographer.

Another view with the lighthouse in the far distance.

Looks like a chunk in about to break off lower right? Where is the Iceberg brewery boat?

Flying Saucer like. This is the second of the 3 we will visit.

I shot this to give perspective. These people paid big money to be crowded together. The 3 of us paid $50 each for 2 hours with a veteran fisherman of 50+ years and his little skiff. Which did cease working along the way well off shore. Worried, well, yes. But he got the old boat running again fortunately! Swimming in water slightly above freezing was not a pleasant thought!

Quirpon Island lighthouse, most northerly in Newfoundland.

Off Quirpon Island June 16, 2019. Great angle on giant iceberg #3.

This helps convey the little old boat and how cold the water is with ice floating all around. It is heavy and glass like. Thousands of years old.

Posted: June 23, 2019 by admin

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and they are not kidding

Back in 1949 when the rest of Canada decided to join Newfoundland, (Well, maybe it was the other way around, but I just repeat what I am told) the Canadian government promised better infrastructure. Schools, hospitals, and roads. Ask any Newfoundlander, they will tell you that they are still waiting on the roads they were promised! If they could export pot holes, they would be rich! They have an infinite supply of all sizes: little irritations, big thud ones, and axle breakers as well. Put the relatively constant rain water on the roads and you never really know what size you hit until you hit it.

You cannot really photograph a pot hole, so here are some other shots that did not fit into any theme specifically. enjoy.

The gym, Newfoundland style. It works, BTW.

You see these piles everywhere, along the road sides. It seems that a permit to cut some wood is easy and cheap, and then you stack your pile somewhere maybe with others to fill in your personal stack at home as needed. This wood here is all from further south as the trees are too tiny here. It is all an honor system. Nothing is marked but they all know whose pile is whose.

Like the wood piles, you see these “gardens” often along the roads. Newfoundland has essentially little or no soil so the road construction (You do have to initially pave the road to eventually have the pot hole issues.) creates some usable soil to do a garden. Also like the wood piles, they are an honor system in that what is yours is yours and no one takes from the others.

Posted: June 21, 2019 by admin

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L’Anse aux Meadows

At the very end of the road, as far north as you can drive in Newfoundland lies L’Anse aux Meadows, the tiny fishing village and the site of a Viking settlement from 1000 years ago. (500 years before Columbus.) If you are my age, you did not know about this growing up. The site was discovered only in 1960 and excavations soon proved that the Vikings had been here over some years around 1,000 AD. Essentially used as a supply facility for their settlements in Greenland! This is a very well done historical park that shows you the sites they found and then separately does a very nice job of recreating the buildings and what went on inside them. As you look at my shots, note that it is Father’s day, June 16th, we are at sea level and we are cold, very cold and there is still significant snow around. Please note the comments with the sculptures below. The fact of the first meeting here is really profound, even though the participants were unaware of course.