Travelling Hopefully - Cetacean Frustration

After steeping myself in all things Viking I met up with Ed who drove me around the various small villages that occupy the coves in this part of Newfoundland until it was time to go across to Quirpon Island which housed the lighthouse that would be my home for the next few days.  Well when I say I would be living in the lighthouse I actually meant the keepers cottage which was now a guesthouse.  I asked Ed if the lighthouse was working.  He said “yes” by which he meant “no”.  Officially the lighthouse is working but actually it’s broken down and so far it hasn’t been repaired.  In the meantime shipping in the area is simply going to have to watch where it’s going.

I and some other guests clambered onto a zodiac and were bounced and splashed out to the island.  Along the way the other guests spotted a whale, or so they claimed.  I didn’t see it but I had a whale pestering tour the next day to redress this lack.  Quirpon Island is about seven kilometres long and one and a half wide which doesn’t seem like much until you start walking around it.  I felt it actually bore quite a resemblance to the Isle of Skye although since I last saw Skye some thirty years ago I may be confusing it with the Isle of Dogs.  Trees do not happen on Quirpon.  The terrain is mostly exposed rock, moss and the kind of low lying shrubbery that looks like moss with ideas above it’s station.  Seabirds swoop around the cliffs wondering if they can move somewhere less chilly and waves crash against the rocks.

Overnight the wind picked up to such an extent that my boat tour had to be postponed until the next day leaving me stuck on a rock in the Atlantic with no idea of what to do.  Hiking is another popular activity with the (other) guests so I decided to follow their example.  In deference to my general level of fitness and enthusiasm I limited my walk to a five kilometre return journey to the next cove along called Cod Cove.  Ed informed me that there was a Palaeolithic sod hut dating back several thousand years that predates the Vikings and reality tv.  With a purpose thus provided I set off on a bracing walk.  Pretty soon I was braced to the point of hypothermia.

Still I got to Cod Cove and I did indeed see the sod hut.  At least I saw a sod hut shaped impression in the ground very carefully located so that the owner would be able to see anyone trying to land in the cove.  I stared at this ancient accommodation option and contemplated the person who might have lived there; what had their life been like?  How had they survived in what must have been a harsh environment without central heating?  What sort of hopes, dreams and belief systems had sustained them?  Fifteen seconds later I started walking back to the lighthouse.  Contemplation is overrated and it was very cold.

A couple of other guests who had walked off in a different direction came back claiming to have seen an arctic fox.  They produced a blurry photo of what appeared to be a malnourished husky to support their claim.  They showed the photo to Ed who confirmed it was indeed an arctic fox, or possibly a malnourished husky.  I couldn’t claim a malnourished husky from my walk.  The closest I came was encountering the mutilated corpses of several seabirds or possibly the extremely mutilated corpse of a single seabird.

The next day was calmer which was a blessing as I was leaving and didn’t particularly want to be hurled into an angry sea or even a mildly annoyed sea.  An ATV bumped us to the other end of the island where there was a nice little bay only a short hop from the mainland.  Ed dropped the other departing guests off and then we headed off on a circumnavigation of the island to see if we could scare up some whales.

Sadly the whales proved impossible to scare.  There would be no whales for Neil on my trip to Quirpon.  I’m afraid I have to admit I was bitterly disappointed.  What made it especially galling was that everyone else did see whales.  Guests, staff, workers everyone saw whales but me.  The whales were definitely there I just managed to be in the wrong place every time.  I did see a dolphin on the last cruise, it swam past us and right under the boat.  At any other time I would have found that pretty impressive.  Sadly in the mood I was in I would cheerfully have bludgeoned the thing to death with it’s own dorsal fin if that would have produced me a whale.  I tried to hide my disappointment and I don’t think I sobbed on Ed’s shoulder more than twice.

On reading the above I feel I’ve been a little unfair about my stay on Quirpon.  The place was beautiful, the food delicious and the staff were lovely, it wasn’t their fault I didn’t see whales.  But I think it is a lesson for me.  I doubt if I will travel so far or spend so much for an objective that isn’t guaranteed in the future.  Neither my time nor my money are infinite.