Corner Brook and Havre St. Pierre

 We don't know if it is always cloudy in the mornings in Newfoundland or if it is just due to the time of year, but we had a third day in a row of that kind of weather.

In Corner Brook we had booked a tour called 'In the Footsteps of Captain Cook' because Captain James Cook had circumnavigated Newfoundland on one of his trips here, so accurately that his maps were used well into the 1900s before aerial surveying took over and the definitive shoreline was measured and depicted.

Once again, Merv was our bus driver, and our local guide was a nice fellow named Dean. The only problem we had with the tour was that Dean jumped from one topic to another, often without finishing a sentence, so we never really got any information from him. Captain Cook was never mentioned until our last stop, the overlook at Corner Brook where it is said Cook did some of his surveying of the site where the town would later stand.

Corner Brook actually sits far in from the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the Bay of Islands, very long and sheltered. We drove all the way back out almost to the point of the bay, passing through some small communities along the way. We had a short stop at Frenchman's Cove, the fishing hub. There we saw some small fishing boats with their dories on board. These boats were launched to help set and haul in the fishing nets. At the same time we also saw the small lobster shacks where people keep their small boats and lobster traps and their fishing gear. 

Lobster shacks and boats ready for launch

One of the local fishing boats with its dory

Lobster traps piled up near a shack. Some
fishermen still use the rounded wooden
traps as well

After this stop, we headed up and out toward the outer side of the peninsula and a place called Bottle Cove. Unfortunately the weather had still not cleared up when we were there, so the photo opportunities were limited.

Overlooking the Bay on the return trip

We also stopped at a small Anglican Church on the way for tea, coffee, sandwiches and baked goods as well as a little craft market, all in support of the Church. Along with a drink, we also bought a couple of things from the ladies there and had a nice chat at the same time.

There are some flat islands toward the mouth of the bay, probably what gave it the name, and we did hear about how difficult it is to get around in winter when they can get 12-15 feet of snow over the season. Some communities were even more isolated than usual, and Dean told us one story of a storm that blew up so fast that they couldn't get the kids out of the local school in time, and they were stuck there with their teachers for 2 days.

Finally we saw something of Captain Cook - his statue at the overlook behind town. We had heard about his travels from our onboard destination lecturer as well as other tour guides, so much of his story and connection to Newfoundland were not news, but it would have been nice to hear something about him and if he had made any comments about the local area in his extensive journals. Did he meet the Indigenous here? Was there something he had noticed particularly about the area? Who knows!

As you can see from the photos, the day had finally cleared off and become nice and warm, about 2 hours too late, and we had a beautiful afternoon sail out of the bay.

Our next port was Havre St. Pierre, where I was going to go on a nature walk on Ile Marteau, one of the other islands in the Mingan Archipelago National Park. I cancelled that tour, but it turned out that it was

cancelled anyway, most likely due to the rain and wind that was expected from the remnants of Hurricane Lee, which was heading up into the Maritimes.

After breakfast we did go out for a walk, but Havre St. Pierre in mid-September is not a real tourist destination without the islands. It was a bit windy and we could see the clouds making their way up from the south. The rain began before 2 p.m. and we could hardly see anything when we sailed out at 6:00.

Now we are sailing up the St. Lawrence River, having left the rain behind late yesterday evening, on our way to Quebec City, where we will have an overnight stay tomorrow and will leave the ship on Tuesday morning.