On to Haystack

Leaving Harbour Buffett

After a short stop in Harbour Buffett and a chat (fresh hot coffee in hand) with the Wareham party who were weekending there, we departed for Hay Cove where we planned to stop for lunch.

Quest for the sea

As chance would have it, I ran into Paul D in Harbour Buffett. Paul is my wife's cousin but I knew Paul many years before Sherry when we were both geology students at MUN. Paul's mother Aunt Hilda is from Hay Cove about 5 kms from Harbour Buffett. A number of years ago the History Channel got into the reality TV scene with a show called "Quest for the Sea". They staged it in Hay Cove on Aunt Hilda's land and the set passed to Paul. He told us to to help ourselves as the door was open. We could stay for the night or just have lunch. We opted for lunch.

Splitting table

The show "Quest for the Sea" was based on the struggles for survival in an outport setting by a fishing family. It was quaint, made for TV, touched some of the bases but lacked a certain amount of realism. Here for example is the "splittin" table where codfish is gutted, the head removed and salted. That's normally done on a stage, not on the open beach.

Five star restaurant

We carted our stuff up from the beach and had a first class dining experience complete with fine table linen!

Going though

The boats loaded up again, we carried on northwards towards Haystack where we intended to camp for the night.

Hole in the wall

A freestanding chunk of rock called Shag Roost in Northeast Cove caught our attention because of the hole through to the other side. I found it interesting for the geology. Finely bedded siltstones and sandstones on either side of the hole were displaced by a large, undifferentiated rock that hosted the hole. Two thin beds of sandstone on the right terminated at the contact and could be seen again towards the left.

Haystack

I wasn't sure what I'd see when I got to Haystack. In some way I thought I'd see sizeable fields where hay was grown. Not so. Haystack was named after a haystack shaped rock outside the harbour.

Haystack was settled in 1845 and resettled for the most part in 1960 - two residents hung on until 1966. The largest the population grew to was 79 in 1891. As a side note, my Math 101 prof in my first year of University, Mr. Halfyard was from Haystack. Growing up in a small and somewhat isolated community obviously did not preclude a good education.

There's a Haystack reunion site with historical background and some neat old (and new) pictures if interested.

Gimme shelter

Rain was in the forecast and in the air so one of the first things we did was hang a tarp in the trees near our campsite. It did rain for a while but we were comfortable cooking under our shelter.

Home sweet home

We had a great campsite at Haystack protected from the wind behind a small stand of trees.

Fire on the beach

The rain let up after a short while and while it continued to drizzle on and off we had a great roaring fire going. We stood around the fire talking while we finished off the last of the refreshments. Before long we were snug in our beds anticipating the open water crossing back to Arnolds Cove, back to civilization and the end of our trip in Placentia Bay.