Twillingate and Iceberg Alley

The drive to Twillingate from Trinity is a good 3h30 parle along the coast, some ponds and thick forest. Our first stop is the Beothuk interpretation centre. The kilometre and half trail to the remnants of the indigenous village is punctuated with interpretive signs detailing the life of the Beothuk in the area more than 100 years ago.

We come upon the beautiful statue of Shanamdithit, the last known Beothuk, sculpted by local artist Gerald Squires. This was the impetus for the creation of this centre following excavation by archeologists in 1981. She was very detailed and striking.

Once at the end of the trail we lookout on some indentations, revealing the location of housing from that time, as well as Boyd’s cove. As we look up, we see a large bird with huge wind span….a juvenile eagle lands at the top of a nearby tree! What a sight!!

Back at the interpretive centre, we learn more about the way of life of the Beothuk as well as their extinction with the death in 1829 of Shanawdithit.

Onwards to Twillingate as we have an iceberg boat cruise with the “iceberg man” in the afternoon.

We arrive at Iceberg Alley Inn and meet our lovely, chatty host Thelma. We are also greeted by their friendly golden retriever…I get my fix!

After checking into a large, well appointed room, she directs us to Canvas Cove bistro for lunch. Excellent mussels and soup. Off we go to the cruise, all bundled up with multiple layers, hats and mittens, and thank god we have those!

The sun is shining and the winds are strong and cold. We are safely sitting on the front of the boat where Iceberg Man takes us to smaller “bergs” to explain the origin of the notch which are from the iceberg flipping in the water and that the ones we will see today, would have left Greenland 3-5 years ago!

We then approach a larger one and we circle multiple times to take pictures from all the different angles that are stunningly different.

He brings up to another site where we can see an iceberg that has split up the day before.

We then start cruising up to the coast to a cove where a third iceberg is located. A cold and windy 25 minutes, Chuck makes his way to the back for shelter but I choose to stay at the front to take the magnificent views.

Back to the original iceberg where the sun is now lower and reflect beautifully on the iceberg and the water. We are told that we are lucky this year, as last year there was only one iceberg all season and it only stayed for a week.

We opt to go to nearby Annie’s for dinner where the fare is ordinary. Back home for an early night as we must be off at 6AM the next morning to catch the ferry to Fogo Island.

Thelma prepares us a nice bagged breakfast with yummy baked oatmeal and off we go for the one hour trip to the ferry to make sure we will make it in the 8:30 crossing as it is the dangerous good trip so less spots. Thelma is on top of this!

Once a across we drive to Fogo island Inn for our tour of the Inn and our lunch. There really isn’t much to do so we sit in the library to wait as we are early.

The Inn is underwhelming for all the press and write ups. I find the structure not very appealing but the tour gives us a nice perspective on the vision of the founder,……she made her money in fibre optics in Toronto and chose to return home and invest her $42MM in her social entreprise dream. Everything is sourced on the island as much as possible as well as with the environment in mind. They seem very proud of their locally designed wall paper but I much prefer the quilts and the needlepoint bench cushions.

Over at the dining hall, we are impressed with the rope chandelier and the views are truly magnificent. Lunch is lovely with all ingredients organic and from farm to table as much as possible. I am surprised that there are no vegetarian option on the main but the salad bar is excellent!

We leave quickly to catch the 2PM ferry to avoid waiting for the 4:30 one and make it!

On the causeway, we pass the sea ice and notice a seal sunbathing.

Back in the lovely commons room at the inns. There are more quotes on those walls than anywhere I have seen!

I take the opportunity to phone mom and take care of some work issues which Chuck attempts a nap prior to our lobster dinner. Thelma sends us to Samsone for dinner where their live lobster pool will assure us of a “lobster fresh as a daisy”.

The 15 minute drive is well worth it. The staff is very friendly and the view is awesome. I pick my lobster and and am transported back immediately to my youth having lobster with my mom. It all comes back very easily and Chuck and I share a delicious local lobster.