Boat Tour Gone Foggy...

Well, another interesting day on the Rock. We woke up to this...

Not looking good for our boat tour planned for today.

We had a decent night's sleep, it's never the same away from our own bed, up showered and ready for breakfast. Nicer spread than what someone described in TripAdvisor. Homemade breads and jams, fresh fruit salad, hard boiled eggs, selection of cereal and an interesting ham and cheese bread pudding. 

From there we took off for Western Brook Pond. The 430 takes you along a coastline for the Gulf of St Lawrence. As a prairie boy, it just seems weird to be this close to something we only talked about in history class many moons ago. Past a couple small fishing villages along the way with nets and lobster traps strewn about.
After about a 30 min drive we reached our destination. 

As we parked, we could kind of see the outline of the fjords we were about to tour, but the fog was still pretty heavy.

It's a 3 km hike, classed as easy around these parts, with a few inclines. Well, for a couch potato like me, it was more like climbing Mt Everest. Note to self to work on cardio.
Nice hike through woods and bogs and such. Didn't see a whole lot of wildlife. My guess is they were all at home sipping latte's and laughing at the mainlanders trekking across the marsh.

We did manage to spot this guy, or at least Arlene did. She does a lot of spotting for me.

As best as we can figure it's a Red Cross Bill. To me it looks like a sparrow that got spray painted, but if any of you bird experts out there know what this is please let us know.

Anyway, we reached the boat dock and went inside with much anticipation. Arlene in particular, has been looking forward to this tour. Crystal clear water, 200 ft waterfalls, steep rock face all in a land locked fjord carved out by glaciers.
Well, it didn't take long to figure out we were in trouble. The fog was really rolling in now and all we could do was wait and hope it would lift.

Two by two more couples arrived. Some with the help of canes that must've worked pretty hard to get here. All with the same anticipation. All with the same disappointment.
The nice thing about these situations is the opportunity to talk to other travellers. The place got pretty noisy the longer we waited as the visiting escalated. There was coffee, sandwiches and hot dogs to be had as we waited. Finally at 1 pm, the Capt came and gave us the final word. No go. They looked just as disappointed as us. I started thinking about the 3 km trek back to the car with nothing to show. Oh well, off we went. Back through the woods, bogs and such. Up and down the "gentle" inclines and finally reaching the parking lot. 6 km hike in one day. That has to be some kind of record for me. ;-)

On the way back to Rocky Harbour to get a refund we decided to stop along the way. There were some neat spots along the coast for picture ops. Figured we might as well make the best of the day that wasn't. One thing about Gros Morne National Park is there are no shortage of hiking trails and lookouts. You could spend a few days just exploring all of these.

As I write this, we are waiting for a restaurant to open up. It would appear most close in the afternoon to get ready for the supper rush. So if you don't get lunch by 2:30, you're out of luck. We're trying a place called Justin Thyme Bean and Bistro. Strongly recommended by others. Doesn't look like much from the outside, but rave reviews on the food.
I can't wait.

Wow, what a great meal! The outside isn't finished yet because this young couple just opened up and focused on getting the inside done, which is very nice.

Justin and Lynn opened 33 days ago. Justin does the cooking and Lynn does the meet and greet. We had a wonderful experience visiting with both of them and the food was absolutely fantastic. I had the Pepper Strip Steak and Arlene had the Chicken with a Brie, Apple, Cranberry sauce. Both were very good. We finished with a homemade recipe of Mandarin Orange Cake from one of their mothers. Dessert was accompanied by coffee from freshly ground beans ala Jonnys Java. 

All in all a disappointing start to the day wound up to be one of the best days yet. Chasing scenery down rabbit trails topped with a great meal served by great people.

If you're ever in Norris Point, NL their restaurant is a must. 

As for the boat tour, we've changed up our plans a bit and if it's sunny, we're going to take another stab at it. It means getting to our next stop late in the evening instead of early afternoon. But we think it will be worth it.

We'll let you know tomorrow.