Immediately after breakfast this morning we realized the drizzly and foggy weather was not going to clear for our 10am reserved boat tour of the fjord in Gros Morne park. We called at 8am and were able to move our time to the 3pm tour. The weather forecast was showing the rain and drizzle would end at 1pm. Since the weather stunk and we had to be on the road at 1:30pm for our tour, we stayed in town all morning.
We went over to the Gros Morne visitor center, but it was more a gift shop than the national park visitor centers we're used to with exhibits and info about the park. We left and drove across the street to the Wildlife Museum. We knew it would be small and quirky. The owner was a taxidermist and made a museum with animal displays. It was informative and the animals were well presented.
The museum had a scavenger hunt whereby you answer about 15 questions related to the exhibits, and are then entered into a drawing for a gift from the gift shop. It was fun and made us pay attention more, and we learned better as a result. Such as, Moose were introduced into Newfoundland and there are about 6,000 of them on the island. This handsome one let us take his picture.
We also learned that a lynx can take down a caribou! Here he's trying to get a snow hare. Check out the little silver (black-colored) fox in the tree at the right. He talked and gave us a little orientation to the museum. Like we said, quirky!
Once we finished there at Noon, we went to the cafe and Michele got a chicken wrap for lunch. Then we relaxed in our room for an hour before our tour. The owners were cleaning rooms and wanted to show us their motorcycles in the garage. We chatted about bikes for awhile.
The tour was a 2-hour boat ride on Western Brook Pond, through a freshwater fjord. There is a 3km one-way walk to the pond where the boat picked us up. There was heavy cloud cover in the fjord, with a little spitting drizzle, but it seemed the weather would hold. Everyone getting off the 1pm boat ride was smiling so that was a good sign. We boarded at 2:45pm.
Once we got underway, we quickly realized where we were sitting was in the path of the boat's diesel engine, so we walked to the upper deck and found standing room only spots. Rob stood behind the captain's area and was protected by wind. Michele stood at the very back against the rail. The wind picked up for the 30-minute trip to the mouth of the fjord. The captain steered the boat to minimize wave movement so it was fairly smooth considering the wind intensity. Michele had on her rain coat and added her rain pants for warmth. The wind seemed to pick up more as we started entering the fjord as did the drizzle, and Michele worried it would be like this for another 90 minutes. Soon, the wind died down dramatically, the drizzle improved, and it was much more enjoyable for the rest of the tour.
This glacier-formed landlocked fjord is the park's crown jewel highlight. It was formed from over 40 glacial events. The cliffs are a billion years old and the peaks are 2000 feet high.
Can you see the face in the rocks? It is called Tin Man. Michele noticed on the return trip that there's a second face to the left and behind.
There were two tour guides on board who narrated and made jokes. They took care to make sure everyone was doing okay. Michele talked to one of the guides and he said he's been doing this for 35 years and never gets bored. She asked him the most interesting thing that's happened on one of his tours and he said an active rock slide on the mountain and someone falling into the water.
The last 15 minutes of the ride, they brought out a microphone and played Newfoundlander music. One guy was on a guitar and singing and the other played spoons. Yes, spoons! He invited the kids to try the spoons. It was a clever and fun way to keep everyone interested at the end of the ride. Later, Rob said it's definitely a Newfoundland thing, to make every gathering fun.
When the boat docked, we walked back the 3km to the car and returned to Rocky Harbour for dinner. It was about 6pm and Michele wanted to try the Ocean View Hotel's restaurant since our concert tablemates said it was good. The place was empty save for two couples eating at a table. Unfortunately, they were expecting a busload of 40+ people so they didn't have any room for us. We jumped back in the car and went over to the Buoy & Arrow (about a 30 second drive) where we got the last available table. Good thing because there was a group of 20 at a reserved table that arrived just after us.
After dinner, we went back to our B&B. Michele went downstairs to make hot chocolate for Rob and talked to the host, Diane, for a long time getting to know her. When they move to Mexico, she wants to do dog rescue and help local children. After saying good night to Diane, we watched a movie and relaxed for the remainder of the night. Tomorrow we plan on visiting the Tablelands, another highlight of the park, for a 10am tour and then do a few hikes afterwards....weather permitting.
