Western Brook Pond Boat tour

2010.08.24

In the morning we went to Rocky Harbour to pick up our Western Brook Pond boat tour tickets. They only issue tickets on the day of the tour for fear of potential weather issues.

On the way to the parking lot for the boat tour, we stopped by the park's Green Point campground because they have Wi-fi. In retrospect we should have stayed there the night before. While it was a few miles further from Rocky Harbour, it was cheaper and closer to the shore.

We then drove on to the parking lot for the boat tour. It was chock full of vehicles, including folks on ours and the prior tour as well as those that hike out to the boat pier w/o taking the tour. Anyway we had to park on the periphery outside of parking slots, partially off the pavement. We put our levelers down to make sure the fridge would be happy and sealed off the front of the cab to make sure Tsing wouldn't make a nuisance of herself barking.

While it would have been nice if the boat tour was cheaper, it was very nice. The West Brook Pond is a fjord carved out by glaciers that has been cut off from the sea for some time. The water is unusual in that it has a very low concentration of minerals and is electrically almost an insulator. It is surrounded by cliffs of ancient insoluble rock. For that reason, it is very clear, but does not sustain a large variety of plant or animal life. Besides tourism, the main pollutant to the water is air borne.

We did get to see some moose on the shore of the pond (but a lake to me). It was a mother and a youngster moose. Moose is not native to Newfoundland, but was introduced by settlers in the early 1900's. Not having any natural enemies they have thrived and there are over 5,000 of them in Gros Morne alone. Snacking on saplings, they are gradually changing forest land to meadows. Periodically, there is an effort to thin them out.

Overnight, we stayed at the Sea Breeze B & B and RV Park in Cow Head, NL. Full hook-ups and Wi-fi were nice.

Odometer reads 67,846.