Day 02 – Umber Arm, Frenchman’s Cove and Lark Harbor

Today, our first full day of our trip begins around 9:00am with us heading to Captain James Cook National Historic Site.  Captain Cook was instrumental in mapping Newfoundland.   

From the top of the mountain where the site is located, you can see for quite a distance over Corner Brook and the surrounding countryside.  You can clearly see the golf course up on the hill and the paper mill on the left side. 

The paper mill is one of the largest employers in town.  The wood logs seen in this view are only a small portion that is in the wood lot waiting for processing. 

Leaving Corner Brook we will make our way along the south side of the Humber Arm until we reach the Bay of Islands.  Before reaching Frenchman’s Cove we have a view of one of the islands in the bay.  As you can see it is clouding up a little. 

With a quick stop in Frenchman’s Cove we get to see some of the colorful fishing boats that are in port.   

Part of the working waterfront includes lobster traps and motor skiffs.  Unfortunately the lobster season is done for this year or we might have been able to see some in the tanks. 

Leaving Frenchman’s Cove we continue our trek along route 450 and just after York Harbour we find a waterfall in the unlikeliest place, high up on a mountain.  Not sure where the water is coming from, but it does make for a nice waterfall. 

Nearing the end of the ride to Lark Harbour we come to Blow Me Down Provincial Park.  Here the crescent beach is made up of thin rock instead of sand.  Still, it would not matter either way, the water is too cold. 

Speaking of rocks, here is a portion of the “beach”.  Some people were looking for sea glass, but I don’t see any. 

On the other side of the beach stands a rock cliff in stark contrast to the small stones on the beach.  You can just see a portion of the Governor’s Staircase in the cliff side. 

Here’s Carmen getting ready to check out the hidden staircase.   

The staircase leads up to the top of the rock cliff.  You can see the rock wall overhangs the stairs which would make a great place to be if it starts raining.  Where the stairs go we do not know because we did not have much time left when we found the staircase. 

Our next stop is at Bottle Cove where as you might expect from the name happens to be a cove with a bottleneck.   

The beach here at least has some sand and drift wood bleached white from the sun and salt air.   

Heading back to the bus, I spot this one and only Iris just popping out of the surrounding grass.  It looked so lonely needless to say I had to take a picture. 

At lunchtime we make it into Lark Harbour and stop at Marlaine’s Tidewater Café and had sandwiches out on the whale watching deck (as it was called).  No whales but the sandwiches and pastry were good.  Looking from the deck we can just about see the open waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.   

Since we can go no further, we begin our return to Corner Brook.  At the end of the road are several boats out of the water. 

On our return we are able to get some pictures that we missed.  Here we can see the hills and area we just visited with just a little more dark clouds. 

Not sure if this is a real working lighthouse, but I thought it was a good picture with the white building and the dark storm clouds on the horizon.

Almost back in Corner Brook we get a picture of the Humber River as the sun make a quick appearance.  We make a couple of stops in town for people to get supplies and are soon back in the hotel.  We begin getting ready for tomorrow as we leave Corner Brook and make our way to Gros Morne National Park and finish at Plum Point.