Greenland Passage

Lining part of the waterfront between the Fram's quay and St. Pierre's ferry terminal and town center are these colorful shacks, Les Salines, which once housed salt stores, salt fish and related everything else a fisherman would need. Today they are home to weekend sailors and their colorful fleet. Here are some more photos of Les Salines and its immediate environs. The photos of Les Salines from waterside were taken soon after the sun appeared, providing a glowing light. Returning in the afternoon along the road, behind the sheds, I found each adorned with a different banner reflecting the life and history of the community. I couldn't resist taking a photo of each one:

Fram  crew washes Panorama Lounge  windows This repositioning cruise of the Fram from Arctic to Antarctic comprises different segments, each of them bookable. My trip from Greenland to Halifax is the first of the repositioning segments, followed by New York; Miami; Puerto Limon, Costa Rica; then via the Panama Canal to Callao, Peru, and Valparaiso, Chile, before heading to Antartica. The problem for Hurtigruten, the operator of the MV Fram, is that these repositioning cruises do not draw full boats. Even on this first segment from Greenland, the 240-passenger vessel is barely half full. The two segments along the U.S. East Coast are even lighter. Only 84 souls are booked from Halifax to New York. Including me. I planned to end my journey in Halifax, but when I heard so few were traveling south to New York I asked the purser if he could make a deal. He said he'd get back to me in a couple hours "with an offer you can't refuse". He did. I didn't. So ...

The church and houses across the harbor are on L'Ile-aux-Marins. Permanent residents left after the electric cable was cut in 1963 and the government decided not to replace it. Summer homes remain. Today we arrived in France. The isles of St. Pierre et Miquelon, about 20 miles off the south coast of Newfoundland, are French territory, not a French-speaking part of Canada. The currency is the Euro. And the croissants and pastries are delicious.  This overseas territory, which sends is own senator and deputy to the National Assembly in Paris, is the last toehold of France on the North America landmass. Although the fishing industry remains present, it has been in steep decline, as in neighboring Newfoundland. Local officials hope tourism, fueled by a brand new airport, will boost the economy, though the dream of offshore hydrocarbons is there, too. The passengers abroad the Fram welcomed the visit for many reasons, but chief among them was docking at a St. P...

During our stay on Bonne Bay yesterday the Fram first stopped at Woody Point, a short ride on the Polar Cirkel tender boats as you can see from the photo above. The rain had stopped by the time we landed, with some travelers heading to an excursion into the park or a trail hike. I wandered the town. Both Woody Point and Norris Point across the bay (where the captain maneuvered the Fram for our afternoon landing, and more excursions and hikes for those so inclined) are fishing towns, although during the summer both communities can be overwhelmed by visitors to Gros Morne National Park, hence a number of music and literary fests and events during the season. But it was the fishing that hooked my interest. In Woody Point the center of the local fisheries is the 3T processing plant, owned by three brothers, Todd, Tom and Terry Young. At the retail store around the corner you can purchase their catch, usually in frozen form. The bargains hawked in the 3T store's window includes...

Bonne Bay, along the west coast of Newfoundland, is the gateway to Gros Morne National Park . And the park is all about rock. Some of the oldest you can find. And it's a place where the earth's mantle breaks the surface. No wonder it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I'm not particularly into geology, having been bored silly by John McPhee's "Basin and Range" and the similar tomes produced by a writer I admire, so I skipped the arduous hikes into the park's landscape. But even from our landing sites (we anchored in the morning off Woody Point, then moved during lunch to Norris Point) the stark beauty of this unique spot could be taken in, Here are some more photos: Vessel at far left, next to our Norris Point landing site, was unloading salt for the winter

The union church in Red Bay Not long after Columbus discovered Caribbean resorts Basque seaman established themselves along the south Labrador coast in search of whales. Red Bay, which we visited Wednesday, was one of the largest of their seasonal whaling stations. Today it's a national historic site, including the bottom of the bay where one of their whaling boats has been excavated after centuries of preservation in the bottom's silt. The bay, which gets its name from the color of the local rocks, provided a safe haven from storms and suitable land for "frying" blubber to produce oil, which was then shipped back to Europe for use as lamp fuel and the manufacture of paint, varnish and soap. The same rich marine life which attracts whales to the area -- herring, mackerel, capelin and other schooling food fish -- provided sustenance for the whalers, along with whale meat and the then abundance of cod. Parks Canada's interpretative center at Red Bank i...

Prior to this cruise, all I knew about St. Anthony was from a cable television reality series from six years ago, "Iceberg Hunters." The four-episode series followed locals as they took their small boat out to the icebergs congregated offshore, shot off pieces with their rifles then hauled them back to shore for bottling as water (or perhaps as part of the distillation process of making vodka). The town, the largest on Newfoundland's northern peninsula, remains a hub for fisheries, though the trawlers, draggers and netters based here travel as far as Greenland waters for shrimp, scallops and finfish. St. Anthony and the region, including mainland Labrador across the Belle Isle Strait, are closely associate with Sir Wilfred Grenfell, born in the north of England, who after hearing American evangelist Dwight L. Moody in London found his calling: Grenfell joined the Royal Mission for Deep Sea Fishermen and in 1892 dispatched to Newfoundland where he devoted his life to i...