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Sunday, July 12, 2015

On a wild goose chase, the before lunch part


Someone I know informed me he saw a huge iceberg on the other, northwest, side of Bell Island when flying over this past week.  Some guys went on the club camping trip.  The others did not express an interest in checking it out.  So, I went by myself.  I passed through the Pillars of Hercules to start my 5 km crossing to the island.


Its 5 kms across.  I like crossings because halfway is always in the middle of nowhere.


Forty minutes later I was across and arrived at Dominion Pier.  I was going to look for the iceberg but I was also doing a circumnavigation of the island.  I'd come back to this point before returning to St. Philips.


I turned north and paddled under the massive cliffs of siltstone and sandstone.


I arrived at the distinctive feature at Long Harry Point.  I was close to reaching the other side and I wondered what I would find.


No iceberg yet to see at Eastern Head.


After I came out of Number Two Cove I had a good view down most of the length of Bell Island.  Nothing.  Again, it was a two mission paddle so I carried on with my circumnavigation hoping the berg may have drifted down to the south end of the island.


Between Gravel Point and Big Cove an attempt was made to mine iron ore at sea level.  The dark spots in the cliffs are cavities where the ore has been extracted.  The lighting wasn't great.


The same sequence of rocks are exposed in this sea stack.  At the bottom just above the flat slope a bed of iron ore about 1 meter thick is exposed.


At the southwest side I reached "The Bell".  The was no iceberg on the westerly side of Bell Island.  I crossed my fingers and padded ...


... through the opening and ...


... emerged with the view south.  Off in the distance towards Holyrood was one berg but I needed the Hubble Telescope to get a good view.  It looked small so far away.  Maybe a project for another day?


With "The Bell" on my right and under "The Clapper" in Front Bell Cove I stopped at 12:30 for lunch, 20.5 kms into my 35 km circumnavigation.  I was disappointed with not finding an iceberg close by but I was feeling good about the second part of the day's mission.

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