EXPLORATIONS IN 2002, 2003 AND 2004
Voyages to the Lower North Shore

Fishing village of La Scie, Newfoundland   Fleur De Lys Dorset soapstone quarry with pot removal scars   For the last two years, our project has departed in the third week of July from Perry's home on Long Island, Newfoundland, over-nighting at one of the fishing communities on the Baie Verte Peninsula before starting the long haul north toward St. Anthony and the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula. This gives the crew a chance to get their sea legs, and to explore Newfoundland's fascinating outport life. La Scie, near Cape St. John, has been a refuge on more than one occasion.   St. Lawrence Gateways 2004 Voyage Route (click map for larger view)   In 2002-2003 we proceeded from Cape St. John to the village of Fleur de Lys, location of the famous 1,500 year old Dorset Eskimo quarry where cooking pots and oil lamps were carved out of vertical outcrops of soapstone. New research and a fine visitor's center have made Fleur de Lys a popular tourist attraction. The photo illustrates how pots were isolated from the body of the soft rock. With gentle tapping, wedging, and prying, rectangular pot 'blanks' were detached from the outcrop and then hollowed out. Excavations at the base of the quarry uncovered the remains of wood scaffolding and a variety of quarry tools. The nearby Interpretation Center provides visitors with an excellent overview of local prehistory and serves as a support center for on-going archaeological research.

History on ice: variegated iceberg showing different surfaces melted by air and water Northeastern Newfoundland is near the northern limit of the 'temperate zone', marked by encounters with huge icebergs off the eastern side of the Great Northern Peninsula and warm land breezes carrying the penetrating scent of evergreens far offshore. Still, it is icebergs that make the greatest impression due to their awesome size, their majestic form, and the power released when they split with an immense 'crack', releasing sheets of ice in a tidal wave that races outward hundreds of meters from the berg, followed by a slow turn to a new balance point, or a quick toppling and emergence of a new underwater surface.

Collecting fresh water bergy bits from disintegrating iceberg

The images shown here were taken between Cape Bauld and Belle-Isle in July while Will Richard was photographing another project—the International Appalachian Trail (see www.Internationalat.org;   www.wrichphoto.com “Gallery” Newfoundland section).

En route, we celebrated the birthday of our navigator, Cristie Boone. The decoration is rather unusual—made from red licorice rope candy donated by Christie Leece.

Happy Birthday: Cristie Boone

Continuing north along a highly irregular coast marked by bays, peninsulas, islands, ledges, rocks, and other navigation hazards, Pitsiulak works its way into the small harbor of Quirpon (pronounced “car-poon”) just south of Cape Bauld at the northeastern tip of Newfoundland. Local fisherman, Boyce Roberts and his daughter Jaime greeted the ship in L'Anse aux Meadows and accompanied us to the appropriately named Norseman Restaurant, excellent fare was prepared by Gina Noordhof and her husband Adrian. Co-located with the Gaia Gallery, the Norseman has a selection of carvings made from bone, horn, and soapstone by Innu, Inuit, and Métis craftsmen, and a fine selection of other Newfoundland and Labrador crafts and books.

Norstad village re-enactor, Wayne Hynes   Parks Canada re-enactor, Erica Hynes, and visitor         With the crossing of the Strait of Belle-Isle and the Labrador Sea before us, the group kept a collective eye on the weather. While waiting for fair passage we usually spend at least one day here on land to explore the region where Vikings landed 1,000 years ago. Parks Canada's World Heritage L'Anse au Meadows Viking site has a fine museum, reconstructed village, and interpreters. The nearby Norstad Viking trade village reconstruction provides entertainment as well as a chance to take a 'Viking voyage' on Snorri, the replica Viking ship built in Maine by Hodding Carter that sailed from Greenland to L'Anse aux Meadows as part of Leif Eriksson's Vinland discovery celebrations in 2000. Both villages feature sod houses with resident “Vikings” engaging visitors in discussions of activities in those early days.

L'Anse aux Meadows: Viking longhouses reconstructed by Parks Canada Norstad village scene with goat

Sumptuous dining, Newfoundland style, at Boyce Robert's home, Quirpon, Newfoundland That evening, Boyce served us all, in the tradition of Newfoundland hospitality, a generous dinner of moose stew, fresh cod, potatoes, homemade wine, and partridge berry pie, after which Perry and Boyce exchanged old sea stories of family and friends. After three days of inclement weather in Quirpon, a break in the storm gave us a chance to test our luck. We set out for Cook's Harbour, the last point before crossing the Strait of Belle-Isle.

Norstad village Viking church

Killer Whale approaching Pitsiulak

Off Blanc Sablon, at 51°24' north latitude and 56°56' west longitude, a male and a female killer whale came alongside close enough that we heard them exhale and smelled their oily-fishy breath. Killer whales are massive creatures, up to 30 feet in length, and males may have dorsal fins six feet high. Each animal carries distinctive white patches on its side. Because the scientific community is interested in tracking these animals, we made photographs of the sightings for the Allied Whale Project and the Canadian Advisory Council on Oceans.