Fogo Island is prominently shown in the Newfoundland tourism TV commercials so this was a must-see stop for me. The Flat Earth Society declared that Fogo Island was one of the 4 corners of the world (I'm not making this up).
A sign of modern civilization. You can see the ferry at the end of the row of cars.As its name implies, getting to Fogo requires a ferry ride. About an hour's drive north off the Trans Canada you'll arrive at the ferry terminal. I remember a few winters back that the island was once cut off from the mainland (or rather, the mainisland) by thick ice and Fogo came close to running out of food. I'm sure the Coast Guard has their hands full trying to keep the ferry up and running all winter.
A beautiful day for a ferry ride.
A beautiful day for a ferry ride.Fortunately, the weather was spectacular during my trip. The ferry ride over was an uneventful as we passed by the many islands which make up the archipelago. I only had 3-4 hours to spend on Fogo Island before I had to return to catch the last ferry of the day so I started driving to my first stop as soon as I arrived.
The town of Fogo from Brimstone Head.The towns on the island itself is reminiscent of many rural outports in Newfoundland -- you get the definite impression that time seems to run a little slower here and you can feel you're in a somewhat isolated place. Brimstone Head is arguably the major tourist attraction on the island and that was my first stop.
Brimstone Head.
Brimstone Head.The hike up Brimstone head wasn't particularly difficult although you did have to watch your step. The large rock juts out into the ocean and offers a scenic lookout point. Tourists come across the following sign which proves that Fogoans have a sense of humour:
Oh realllly?
Almost at the top.
Hmm, you don't say?
Thanks to the clear weather I was able to see the horizon pretty well once I reached the top. You could also feel the stiff Newfoundland breeze which helped cool me off from the climb.
Experiment: I'm just about to do a no-look, back flip dive and I expect to bounce off the corner of the earth and return to the platform - unharmed.
Well, I can't possibly see how anybody can rationally call this a corner of the world -- you look out to the horizon and you see....more land (islands) in the distance!
I believe Flat Earthists would claim that I'm seeing an optical illusion.
I drove around the area a little more and explored the town of Fogo a little. Aside from a local selling iceberg water ("10,000 year old water") and few other trails there wasn't much else to see other than the town itself with its historic buildings. I quickly drove to Joe Batt's Arm (again, I'm not making this up - that's actually the name of the town) and had lunch at Nicole's Cafe which was rated quite well on the internet. It was a nice restaurant and I munched on a caribou hamburger (yummmy!) with clam chowder and a salad for lunch. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time left so I decided to head back to the ferry and return to the mainland.
Next up was Twillingate but unfortunately it's going to get the short end of the stick in this post. Twillingate is reputed to be an excellent iceberg watching spot and I was visiting at the end of iceberg season. The drive to Twillingate was quite fun as it involved twisty roads jumping from island to island over causeways. As the old cliche goes, it's the journey that counts and not the destination. Here's a photo at the highest point in Twillingate:
A dearth of icebergs.
Oh realllly?
Almost at the top.
Hmm, you don't say?Thanks to the clear weather I was able to see the horizon pretty well once I reached the top. You could also feel the stiff Newfoundland breeze which helped cool me off from the climb.
Experiment: I'm just about to do a no-look, back flip dive and I expect to bounce off the corner of the earth and return to the platform - unharmed.Well, I can't possibly see how anybody can rationally call this a corner of the world -- you look out to the horizon and you see....more land (islands) in the distance!
I believe Flat Earthists would claim that I'm seeing an optical illusion.I drove around the area a little more and explored the town of Fogo a little. Aside from a local selling iceberg water ("10,000 year old water") and few other trails there wasn't much else to see other than the town itself with its historic buildings. I quickly drove to Joe Batt's Arm (again, I'm not making this up - that's actually the name of the town) and had lunch at Nicole's Cafe which was rated quite well on the internet. It was a nice restaurant and I munched on a caribou hamburger (yummmy!) with clam chowder and a salad for lunch. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time left so I decided to head back to the ferry and return to the mainland.
Next up was Twillingate but unfortunately it's going to get the short end of the stick in this post. Twillingate is reputed to be an excellent iceberg watching spot and I was visiting at the end of iceberg season. The drive to Twillingate was quite fun as it involved twisty roads jumping from island to island over causeways. As the old cliche goes, it's the journey that counts and not the destination. Here's a photo at the highest point in Twillingate:
A dearth of icebergs.Drat, I guess I'm going to have to come back to Twillingate in the spring again. There was one iceberg on the horizon but it was tiny. Pity.
