This morning we saw off the last of the gravel road on our way into Red Bay, a picturesque village on a rocky barren cove. This place is famous for the discovery (in 1978) of a Basque whaling galleon that sank here in the 1500s while laden with a seasons haul of whale oil. Interestingly the search for this vessel was triggered by documentary research conducted in the Basque region of France and Spain. This research unearthed not only the existence and sinking of this ship but also shed light on the existence and extent of Basque whaling operations in the new world. Apparently at the time (early-mid 1500s) the Basques were the only European nation actively hunting whales using small boats and harpoons. The two exhibits in Red Bay (one of the galleon and the other of the smaller whaling boat called a chalupa) were quite interesting and highlight Red Bays role as a major whaling settlement during the Basque period.

An interesting historical twist is that the Basque whaling ventures in the new world ceased when the King of Spain impressed all possible naval resources into service for the failed Spanish Armada's attempt to invade England.

The area was thick with black flies. We had already observed that many locals out picking berries called Bakeapple (elsewhere known as Cloud Berries) were dressed in insect protecting jackets. So before attempting a nearby hiking trail-boardwalk we acquired a couple of these jackets for ourselves. We then spent a comfortable though warm hour or so climbing to the top of Americas Rockyman a big rock on the top of 500' Tracy Hill.

As an interesting piece of linguistic trivia; the name Bakeapple for Cloud Berries is a corruption of the French phrase baie qu'appelle which translates as what is this berry.

We finished the day by checking out the ferry dock to ensure we knew the procedure for tomorrow and found a nice headland overlooking the Atlantic for our nights camping spot.