day 5 – july 5:

today was going to be the highlight of the trip, i thought, with a visit to western brook pond – more on that later… a drizzly saturday morning – not as quick to get out of bed on this day… that’s to say that i was out photographing at 6:30am instead of the habitual 5am or so!  nevertheless another wonderful day to be had with beautiful clouds/skies and a little bit of disappointment too – but not too much… 😉

i headed back to main street in rocky point, but this time i headed away from downtown, towards the coast and ended up at a fish-distribution plant where the views were fantastic:

the previous day, after having looked at the forecast, i booked a boat tour to visit the majestic western brook pond. i had seen the tv commercials promoting newfoundland tourism and the print ads as well. the shot of this fjord is what cemented the fact that i had to visit this province and witness all its natural beauty…

the forecast had called for a very unsettled day with possible clearing for that afternoon. i did not book the 10am because of the bad weather forecast (that transpired). nor did i book the 1pm because of the inevitable harsh light at that time of day (unless there was to be some cloud cover…) i did book the 3pm boat tour in the hopes that the nasty harsh light would be subdued by clouds (praying that the forecast was right!) alas, they were not operating their 5pm tour because of a lack of demand. in retrospect, the 1pm would have been the one to get on to because there was enough cloud cover, as it turned out… live and learn 🙁

i needed to be at the trail head for 2pm to do the roughly 45min hike to the boat launch. i headed out in the late morning – it was still quite unsettled weather-wise. it did start to improve by lunch time, but the 1pm was fully booked – would the weather gods be with me?

i was at the parking lot to the trail head by around noon or so, but there was no-one to talk to. having confirmed by phone that the 1pm was indeed fully booked, i went on my way to visit the general surrounding area…

i ended up in a deserted fishing village mere minutes from the parking lot. the gate indicating that it was private property was raised, so i proceeded down the dirt road to the village below. there was no-one around. there were both old and recent fishing shacks, maybe a half-dozen in all.  i walked over to one end of the village and  knocked on a few doors – no-one answered. i made my back towards where i had the car parked and someone had indeed made it back and was working on the docks.

i introduced myself as a fine art photographer to one thomas gilley – a 3rd or 4th generation fisherman working out of this village. he confirmed the village’s name as gull marsh, newfoundland (there were no road signs indicating it as such). he pointed out an old fishing shack that his great grandfather had built – it was over 100 years old and it was still standing next to a newer one! he explained that the lobster season was ending this weekend and that he was preparing for the forthcoming halibut season. we chit-chatted about this, that and the other – he was genuine and forthcoming and never did he make me feel as though i were imposing on his time. i asked for permission to take photographs in the village and handed him my business card. he told me to take my time… thanks thomas, i will always look back fondly on this day!

after i finished photographing gull marsh, i headed back to the parking lot for 2pm and got my gear ready for the hike and forthcoming boat tour into western brook pond. after doing the 45min trek to the boat launch, i did not take the tour after all, primarily because the light was awful! it was passable earlier in the day and it got downright gorgeous at around 5:30pm – but, at the time i was booked at, the clouds had all nearly disappeared and we were left with a hot sun on a mostly blue sky. in addition, the boat was packed and i was not in the mood to jostle for my photo ops… it will have to be for another time 🙁

i spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening driving along the coast as far north as st. pauls, more for a cursory glance at what was coming up for tomorrow’s trip north to st. anthony on the great northern peninsula.

the trip back to rocky harbour for my last night there was simply awesome with amazing clouds and skies accompanying me all the way back: