St. John's is the foggiest major city in Canada, if not all of North America. After a week of cold fog, I was beginning to feel bad for Jim Kakuk who was Kayak Newfoundland and Labrador's Retreat guest this year. But today we saw the sun.
Jim wanted to check out some of the sights so we drove to the picturesque fishing village of Petty Harbour, about a 20 minute drive from downtown St. John's where ...
... local fishermen were off loading the day's catch of snow crab. They had left port at 4:30 in the morning, steamed 15 miles off shore and pulled their crab pots in, I believe, 50 fathoms of water.
Hazen introduces Mr. Crab to the internet.
We drove a short distance north and east of Petty Harbour to Cape Spear, the most easterly point of North America were we climbed the hill to ...
... the new lighthouse which replaces the ...
... old lighthouse.
It has much more character than the new.
It was built in 1839 and has been restored to its original appearance. Looks good on the outside but wasn't open for tours yet. The National Historic Site indicates it is also restored on the inside to show how the lighthouse keeper and his family might have lived when lighthouses actually had keepers. That's another story which everyone in coastal communities is familiar with.
Then it was off to get a picture as evidence we could go no further east, at least, without a boat.
I don't know how well known Cape Spear is elsewhere. It is not as famous as Cape Horn but it is our "cape". It is a destination sought only in the right conditions because an offshore wind will blow us directly to Ireland. When we do get out there its a ...
... spectacular sight from the seat of a kayak.
So, today St. John's put her better foot forward and just in time before Jim heads home on Thursday.
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