St. Barbe and Flowers Cove

On June 13, 2023, we had one day in St. Barbe, Newfoundland before boarding the Strait of Belle Isle Ferry for Labrador.  The weather was sunny (for a change!), so, after breakfast, we took a walk on the St. Barbe Walking Trail to investigate the beach along the ferry harbor.  The trail led out to an expansive view across the Strait:

 

 

To get to the beach from our campground, the trail led through a beautiful wetland which included some small ponds:

 

 

The beach itself was mixed rock and gravel, giving Kathy some hope for finding sea glass.  We could see one neighborhood to the south --

 

 

-- and Labrador to the west across rocks (with seagulls) and water:

 

 

A few icebergs floated lazily in the Strait out in the distance:

 

 

St. Barbe has harbor lights directing boat traffic through the channel.  The light we passed was red and we recalled the sailors' maxim:  "Red Right Returning."  We hoped the boats all stayed to our right.

 

 

Seagulls kept us company all along our walk, perched on the round, pillow-like boulders, calling to each other, or to us, or to no one in particular:

 

 

In this region of the world, looking down can be as rich an experience as looking out.  We spotted beautiful little flowers blooming out of the spaces between rocks on the beach --

 

 

-- and some unnameable mass of plant life --

 

 

-- some stringy seaweed --

 

 

-- some Newfie's misplaced woolen glove --

 

 

-- and then a fishing boat some other Newfie might have beached while working his new fishing shed:

 

 

For a picnic lunch and outing, we wandered up to Flowers Cove to see the Flowers Island Lighthouse.

 

Until 1904, the Colony of Newfoundland had little jurisdiction over much of its west coast, because the right to fish there had been ceded in 1713 to the French under the Treaty of Utrecht. This treaty prohibited settlements along the coast.  Because the fishing and shipping traffic had little to do with Newfoundland settlers, the Newfoundland government was not interested in establishing lights along the island’s west coast.  Instead, the Canadian government wanted them, because its steamships from Montreal and Quebec City regularly passed through the Strait of Belle Isle, which borders on a section of the Newfoundland’s west coast, during their transatlantic voyages.

In late 1899 the Canadian government announced the construction of a lighthouse on Flower Island, in Flowers Cove.  It is said that the name "Flowers" does not refer to plants, but to the French word for flat rocks or ledges that lurk just below the surface of the water in the cove, posing a hazard to navigation.  The light would serve as an aid to navigation and a warning against the flat ledges in the harbor entrance.

Here is a view of the lighthouse (which includes the lightkeeper's house) and an outbuilding, visible from the point in adjoining Nameless Cove:

 

 

The style of Flower Island Lighthouse, including living quarters, is the only one of its kind in Newfoundland. A number of outbuildings were erected over the years on the island, including a hen house, storage shed, boathouse, and an outhouse. In 1942 a marine radio beacon station and dwelling were erected at the southwest end of the island.

 

 

The signalman's residence reminded us of the lonely, haunted house in "Shipping News":

 

 

We did a little beachcombing before leaving Nameless Cove.  While not all Newfoundland beaches have been generous in surrendering sea glass to Kathy's investigation, every beach has offered her some reward for her efforts and her supplication; so it was worth the effort.

 

We had a little time left, so decided to stroll the Thrombolites Walking Trail nearby:

 

 

For some reason known only to the locals who built it, we had to pass over Marjorie's Bridge to get to the Thrombolites.  It is true that we needed some sort of bridge to cross the perky little stream that ran down into Flowers Cove.  One local relates online that: 

 

"Marjorie Bridge was a critical piece of infrastructure that was originally built over 100 years ago by Patrick and William Burke to enable passage through Flower’s Cove to have access to the other communities in the early days if travelling by horse, snowmobile or other transport before the highway was complete."

It has clearly been kept in good shape over those 100 years, and the townfolk clearly seem proud of it:

 

 

After some further steps, we reached the famous Thrombolites:

 

 

Thrombolites (from Ancient Greek meaning "clot stone") are clotted accretionary structures formed in shallow water by the trapping, binding, and cementation of sedimentary grains by biofilms of microorganisms, especially cyanobacteria.  They are found nowhere else in the world except here, in Flowers Cove, Newfoundland, and in one location in Australia.

The entire small peninsula we walked on seemed to be composed of the Thrombolites; however, moss and grass had grown over most of the area where we walked, so it appeared that the pillow-like rock structures were not visible as we walked over them.  Still, they peaked out from the grass toward the end of the peninsula, where we admired them while looking out toward the small harbor light beyond:

We got home by mid-afternoon.  This was not an epic trek by any stretch, but we logged perhaps 4 relaxed miles and learned quite a bit about the natural features in this area around St. Barbe.  We called it a night early so that we could be up early to prepare for our ferry crossing the next morning.