Ruby Red Maritime Adventure
Photos of Sara, Bella, and Alex's adventure to Newfoundland
On the Ocean Floor
My three Ruby Red kids visited Burntcoat Head on the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia. The Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world, with the water levels rising and dropping over 18 metres every six hours.
When the kids arrived, the tide was out, exposing the ocean floor all the way to the island and beyond.
But Alex and Sara weren't content to just look from shore, and climbed down off of the rocks...
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and venture out on the ocean floor...
They had to be careful where they walked. Bare rocks and sand were okay walk on, but mud was slippery and could be deep, so had to be avoided.
They also had to be careful of the barnacles and snails on the rocks...
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It seemed amazing that in just a few hours this entire area would be deep under water.
Lunenburg
Then the kids travelled across the province to Lunenburg on the Atlantic side
Peggy's Cove
After spending the night in the Rv in the upper parking lot at Peggy's Cove, the kids went out in the morning to visit the lighthouse...
Then they went down to explore the harbour.
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the Ferry
Next morning we were lined up in North Sydney with hundreds of other vehicles, waiting to board the ferry to Newfoundland. The Marine Atlantic ferries to Newfoundland are almost the size of a cruise ship. They can take up to 1,000 passengers, 570 cars, or 190 transport trucks, but usually some combination of both.
Once safely on board Alex and Sara headed up to the outer observation deck on level eight....
..where they checked out the lifeboats...
They also walked around the deck to check out the other ships in the harbour...
including the Leif Ericson, a much smaller ferry, docked next door...
Rose Blanche
After six and a half hours sailing through dense fog, with the foghorn sounding at one minute intervals the entire time, the kids arrived in Newfoundland.
But it was too foggy to see much of anything.
But it was too foggy to see much of anything.
Rose Blanche
After spending the night at the Lighthouse in Rose Blanche, the kids stopped to take a look at the model of the lighthouse at the side of the road....
It had been very foggy all night, and everything was soaked with moisture....
...and Sara found the fog-soaked dandelions fascinating...
Bottle Cove
The day continued dark and foggy, as they made their way out Humber Arm to Bottle Cove...
where they went out in a boat....
"Did you know that Captain Cook explored this whole are over 250 years ago?" asked Alex.
"There's a monument to him out there..."
"...on that point."
"But it's a long hike, and we need to move on."
Woody Point
The next day it was much better weather, and so much better for sight-seeing.
They wanted to hike to the lighthouse at Woody Point...
...and check out the boats in the harbour....
Point Amour
A few days later we boarded the ferry KAYAK to Labrador...
..and after arriving, we headed north up the coast, and stopped at the Point Amour lighthouse, on the shore of Forteau Bay on the Strait of Belle Isle. Completed in 1857, it's the tallest lighthouse in Atlantic Canada.
The kids were happy to just get out and stretch their legs....and play with their souvenirs from the ferry.
Bella had chosen a Labrador flag. The top white bar represents the snow which affects the people of Labrador more than anything else. The blue bar represents the water which is important as a 'highway' for travel and the fisheries. The thinner green bar represents the land, and the very short northern summer. The black spruce twig is a two year growth representing the past and future of Labrador. The shorter two branches represent the hardships of the past, while the three longer end branches represent the three founding nations; the Innu, the Inuit, and the European settlers; as well as the unity of these distinct peoples in the brotherhood of all mankind.
Alex had chosen a Newfoundland flag. The design is of a deconstructed Union Jack, symbolic of Newfoundland's historic connection to Britain. The blue represents the waters of the sea, lakes and rivers; the white represents snow and ice; the red represents human effort, and the gold arrow points to a brighter future. When hung vertically the red triangles and gold arrow form a trident symbolizing the province's association with the fisheries, and other resources from the sea.
And Sara chose a soft, cuddly Snowy Owl from the ferry gift shop...
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Red Bay
We headed north along the coast to the village of Red Bay, which used to be the end of the paved coastal highway, until the gravel section north through the wilderness to Goose Bay was finally paved less than a decade ago.
Red Bay was an Arctic maritime base for Basque whalers in the 16th century. It is a Unesco World heritage site because of it's significant underwater archeological site, which includes the most comprehensive, and best preserved, earliest known remains of a pre-industrial whaling station.
We stopped at the Visitor Center to take in the view....
Red Bay was an Arctic maritime base for Basque whalers in the 16th century. It is a Unesco World heritage site because of it's significant underwater archeological site, which includes the most comprehensive, and best preserved, earliest known remains of a pre-industrial whaling station.
We stopped at the Visitor Center to take in the view....
Because of the sheltered harbour, it was used as a mooring station for naval vessels during WWII.
The kids wanted to learn more,
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but it was late in the day and the Visitor Center was already closed.
* RR Maritime Adventure Continued
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