Time bandits

A scar in the fossil record

A diamond saw was used to deface the fossil bed at Mistaken Point. What was taken or destroyed? We'll never know. One thing for sure, what was here can't be replaced.

Recently fellow kayaker Neil reported that the Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve had been expanded and it is no longer legal to land a boat in the Reserve at Drook or Long Beach. This could be a safety issue for kayakers paddling in the area if they need to get off the water. My first reaction was sort of indignation.

On Saturday I visited Mistaken Point to see the world famous fossils and drove out with Richard Thomas who is the Manager and was our guide for the day. I raised the issue of landing a boat in the Reserve with Richard. The conversation went something like this:

Tony: "But Richard, kayakers aren't the type of people who would vandalize the fossil beds."

Richard: "That may be true but anyone intent on collecting fossils illegally could use a kayak to gain access and who can say whether anyone is a bona fide kayaker or a fossil collector?"

Good point.

After seeing the fossil beds and the damage already done, I thought that the custodians should do everything they can to protect the fossil beds. And, how much of an imposition is the restriction on kayakers? The area along the Reserve is very exposed and 99% of kayakers wouldn't be paddling here anyway. Those that do have to have advanced paddling skills and should be more than capable of an extended stay on the water.

People react adversely when something is taken from them. I think in this case, considering what is at stake and the number of people affected, its a reasonable imposition and I accept that.

Damage to fossil of Charniodiscus fronds

Charniodiscus (right side of picture) was anchored to the sea floor by a holdfast. A tube stood straight up from the holdfast with what looks like fronds flowing out at the top.

Someone was angry with the world and took a hammer to the holdfasts of the frondlike Charniodiscus. Damage like this can't be repaired and what detail may have existed is lost forever. This significant because future researchers will not have these details to study.

Mistaken Point

The trail head to Mistaken Point

Mistaken Point is a spiritual experience, simple as that.

Mistaken Point is a famous fossil site about 140 kms south of St. John's, Newfoundland. It has the best preserved Ediacaran fossils anywhere and they represent the oldest complex multicellular life forms yet found on the Earth. These organisms lived on the sea floor of a volcanic island archipelego 565 +/- 3 million years ago when this area lay south of the equator. The volcanic ash from an eruption settled on them preserving a picture of life at that time and it also made it possible to radiometrically date the event.

That's the short history version, there's hardly space here for a full discourse. If you want more information, just google "Edicaran fossils" or "Mistaken Point".

I had known about these fossils for over 40 years but just never made the effort to go see them. Why is difficult to explain now that I've been there. This past Saturday I finaly made the trip with wife Sherry and daughter Lisa.

Like I said, it was a spiritual experience. To actually stand on the surface of a 565 million year old sea floor and see the life forms that existed then was a bit overwhelming really. These weren't animals because they didn't have a mouth, digestive tract or anus but we were looking at the start of complex life forms taking hold on our planet.

The excitement begins to build

There's a well defined trail out to the coast where Mistaken Point is located, just over the heads of the group. Richard Thomas is the Ecological Reserve Manager and we were lucky to have him lead the guided tour, though he did set a bit of a torrid walking pace for some! We were also lucky to have a small group as the day before Richard said he had a group of 28. Access to the fossil beds is now only possible by guided tour. The tour is free and you can get information by calling 709-438-1100.

"Sacred" beds

We walked up over a small rise and we were there, within minutes of walking on the fabled fossils of Mistaken Point. Before we were allowed to walk onto the bed we had to take off our walking shoes and put on cloth booties that Richard provided. The fossil impressions are beyond price; they cannot be replaced so every precaution to prevent any wear on the fossils is necessary.

Bradgatia

The fanlike impression in the bottom right quadrant of the picture is called a Bradgatia. What it was all about is unknown. This fossil also occurs in Ediacaran beds in Charnwood Forest in central England.

A "pectinate" fossil

Another "un-named" fossil (the crescent shaped) that the internet calls a "pectinate" fossil. What it was is subject to a lot of speculation and maybe we'll never know. It would be nice to know but one thing we do know is that none of these Ediacaran fossils survived much past the Ediacaran - Cambrian boundary. It didn't matter to me that none of these life forms led to us, there's still a bit of a genesis moment on display here.

A disk among the spindles and feather dusters

There's a defined disk at the top of the picture and I think it was a holdfast for the organism laying below it. The organism was attached to the sea floor by the holdfast and floated in the current. These organisms couldn't move and its thought that they collected nourishment by collecting food as it drifted by. When the volcanic ash settled on the organism it caused it to collapse on the sea floor.

Spindles and feather dusters

These un-named organisms resemble spindles and feather dusters. They were most of the fossil impressions in the beds we visited. These fossils have much more fine detail than other similar sites because here the fossils were preserved on siltstones as opposed to sandstones.

An application to be designated a World Heritage Site will be completed in the near future. If anything deserves to be so-named, this is the place.

Another way to Avondale

Bound for a distant shore

Avondale is a popular paddling destination in the area of St. John's. Its about a 70 km drive if you put-in in Avondale. Sometimes I want to put-in closer to home and save the gas. There's more than one way to skin a cat they say and so it is with getting to Avondale.

Today Dean, Gerry and I put-in at Indian Pond (which was a 30 km drive for me) on the east shore of Holyrood Bay and we paddled west across the bay to Chapel Cove, Harbour Main and Salmon Cove Point. Avondale is on the other side of Salmon Cove Point but we didn't get down there as we were short of time. Nonetheless, its another option to paddle Avondale and environs but a more direct crossing would save time to be able to get down into Avondale.

Gerry bathed in bright sunlight

I caught Gerry backing into this cave and got out the camera for a shot. That's the thing about digital cameras, you don't always get the shot you want. The subject (Gerry) was partly in the dark cave but outside it was bright sunshine. The camera probably didn't know what light reading to use with the resulting picture a bit overexposed.

Salmon Cove Point

A bit of swell was running at Salmon Cove Point which we rode back to MacKay's Point. We discussed a run down into Avondale but time was against us, so, we headed back and just took our time.

Surf's up

The beach at MacKay's Point looked pretty inviting for a break even though it was a dumping beach. Still getting used to landing and launching the fibreglass Nordkapp in a bit of surf. The more I do the smoother it gets. Sometimes a plastic boat is a lot simpler; just get in and knuckle walk it until the surf picks ya up.

Harvest the wind

There were a lot of sailboats out today and this one caught my eye with is colourful spinnaker. The wind had dropped and this sailboat was doing its best to harvest speed from the wind with the big sheet spinnaker. Even with the spinnaker I had no trouble catching her for a picture.

All ship

Tanker "Vinland" lays at anchor

Stan and I had to pass by this tanker when paddling back to Long Pond after our excursion on Conception Bay Wednesday. It supplies the Holyrood hydro generating station with fuel and was laying high at anchor after discharging its cargo. Only the orange part of the hull is out of the water when the tanker is loaded.

From this vantage point, I paddled between the bow and anchor chain. I felt a bit like a mouse creeping beside a sleeping elephant - hoping that it wouldn't roll over!

Nothing but ship

I went to the stern of the Vinland and was struck by the enormity of the ship. I wanted to get a picture where the ship filled the whole frame but still be able to recognize it as a ship. Its not going to win a photo contest but I liked the effect.

The sun dances on the bottom of the hull reflected off of the water.

Pirates arrrrrr......

Arriving at Martin's Cove, Kelly's Island

Legend has it Kelly's Island was frequented by pirates in the 17th century. Cuper's Cove, not far from Kelly's Island, was settled in 1610 and the colonists there reported skirmishes with the pirate Peter Easton. Where there's pirates, there's pirate treasure and there are in fact legends of treasure that's supposed to be burried on the island.

When people think of pirates I believe they think automatically of the Carribean. Newfoundland is considerably north of that, so what were they doing here? It might be well be to bury their treasure here, far away from the watchful eyes of the British navy who was trying to capture them.

There might be treasure burried here but Stan and myself weren't concerned with that on this day. The treasure on this day was the paddle we had paddling around in the middle of Conception Bay.

Tour of Conception Bay - almost

Conception Bay, Newfoundland

Conception Bay lays to the west of St. John's, the capital city of Newfoundland. Stan and I (familiar theme) took advantage of the beautiful weather for a paddle but couldn't be gone all day as Stan had an appointment at 2:00. I suggested a paddle out of Long Pond and around Kelly's Island which Stan had never done. When we landed at Long Pond I suggested we do a "tour of Conception Bay"; do three crossing and visit the three islands in the bay. Turns out time didn't permit but we did do a mini-tour and maybe some time in the future we'd also cross to Bell Island. The mini-tour was for a total distance of 16 kms.

Black diamond?

Stan's black boat looks sweet paddling in the calm waters of Conception Bay with a massive tanker in the background. We'd have a chance to get a closer look at the tanker on our inward paddle.

We left Long Pond northbound for Little Bell Island in no wind and glassy waters with just a very gentle swell. We had the bay to ourselves but were under watchful eyes on doubt all along the shore of the Town of Conception Bay South.

Orangy cliffs of Little Bell Island

As we approached Little Bell Island the cliffs looked orangy (if that's a word, OK is now!). When we got closer we discovered the rocks were covered by a rusty or orange coloured lichen of some sort. I tried to get the orange of my deck in the picture to compliment the orange colour in the cliffs. The crossing from Long Pond to Little Bell Island was about 5 kms.

Stan rounding Kelly's Island

We left Little Bell Island and made for Martin's Cove on Kelly's Island, a short crossing of about 2.75 kms. Paddling up the backside of Kelly's Island it was surprising how the swell just piled up until the waves broke as they passed over sunken rocks. At one point I sidesurfed one breaking wave without consequence. We steered well wide of the point and submerged rocks and looked for a place to grab a bite to eat.

High and dry

After we paddled the backside of Kelly's Island we stopped for lunch on a small pocket beach. It was sunny and hot but there was shade to be found. Getting ready to put in again I thought the boat looked very fragile laying there on the cobbles and the cliff all around. Fibreglass looks great but ya can't just haul it up on the beach or seal launch. Handle with care!

Stan dwarfed by tanker "Vinland"

On the way back to Long Pond we passed by the Penny Ugland tanker "Vinland". Its a huge boat. I paddled under the bow, inside the anchor chain and along the side. I find paddling alongside a huge ship kinda creepy. After I sized up the stern I turned to catch Stan who looked like a speck in comparison.

A dandy mini-tour of Conception Bay and well worth scaling up to visit Bell Island. As usual, thanks Stan!

Entertainment

You never know who's watching

Stan watches Brian catch a surfride in St. Philips Saturday morning. A group of us also practice paddle strokes and rescues here Thursday evenings. Its a chance for all of us to safely practice in realistic conditions if the weather cooperates.

There's a popular restaurant in the cove where they serve excellent fish and chips. After I got home Saturday a friend of my wife called and asked about my kayaking. She also said she had been at the restaurant one evening when a few kayakers were in the cove. She explained how the kayakers would get out and in their boats and go upside-down and then right themselves etc, etc, etc.

I was amused because I realized that while we're practicing, we're also providing entertainment for the patrons of the restaurant.