Holyrood was once known as Holyrode in 1689. Hollyrode has been interpreted by historians as an old English name for "Holy Cross" from the ancient Anglo Saxon word "rode" meaning staff or cross. Many early settlers of Holyrood were of Irish Catholic descent. It is believed that many settlers relocated from Ireland during high immigration in the 1800's. Sir Albert Walsh, was the son of William P. and Sophia Butler Walsh, both of Holyrood. Sir Albert Walsh became the first Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland on April 1, 1949. 
Well that is what this frozen icicle looked like to me. You know those skeletal cow heads you see in the western movies next to rolling sage brush. At anyrate the image was as frozen in my mind as it was on this rock.
On our paddle today we ran into a Biologist on a boat photographing what we thought was just another gull. Not so as it turns out. This gull was an Ivory Gull, very rare and perhaps blown of course by a storm the biologist thought. Pagophila eburnea, is the only all white gull with "black legs". The gull is pigeon sized with a dove like head; wings long and flight Tern like. The bill is black with a yellow tip. The range of this bird is the High Arctic; circumpolar. Breeds locally on Arctic islands of northernmost Canada (NWT). Winters from pack ice south of to Gulf of St. Lawrence and Newfoundland. So we were fortunate enough to witness this little fellow as he played along the shore and in no obvious hurry to continue on his journey.
When you paddle with Tony you can be treated to his wisdom of rocks. Being a Geologist I can sometimes get cool info on the formation of some of the scenery we sometimes inadvertently glide past. Realizing that we are paddling where volcanoes once erupted and where they were feed by granite rock and spouted their molten regurgitation's millions and millions of years ago seems to echo our geologic past that we are dust and to dust we shall return!
Tony and I paddled in some nasty conditions this summer and fall. Mostly just to see how we would perform , how our boats would perform and how our developed skills would work and just simply to try and foster new ones. Sometimes waves were insignificant and other times well they put you well above the horizon or in this case the shoreline. It is kind of a weird feeling when you are on a wave and get a feeling that you may be going backwards for a second or so when you should be going forward like maybe when you are at a 15-20 degree angle perpendicular. At least that what it felt like on this wave at one of our fav play spots.
Well I posted a moose picture earlier of an Albino moose my friends said they took a picture of, wasn't their picture just a joke, but keeping with the winter and animal theme I thought I'd continue to post my own. This is a walk at Quidi Vidi Lake today, downtown St. John's. Even gulls which are always in flight around here need a bit of a rest at times. I guess this is their idea of sun bathing because the sun has not been out for long lately. 'Tis the season.'
An interesting fact I forgot to mention about Fermeuse yesterday was its Wind Power Project that will soon be under way in the community. There are about 7 or 8 huge wind turbines ready to generate enough power for about 5500 homes. The 24 Mega watts of energy will make that community and communities around it recipients of clean energy. An avian and bat study was accepted recently and the turbines should be spinning soon. I recently read an article about people living close to these colossal structures that are about 65-85 meters in height and about 60 -80 meters in diameter and how some residents may be affected by infra-sound in something that may be similar to sea sickness. It appears to be worse at night and may interrupt sleep. 1.5 miles is stated as being an optimal distance from community inhabitants but the ones you see in this picture are located fairly close to its inhabitants. I didn't see them when I put in for the morning paddle because it was dark but when I paddled down the south side of Fermeuse they were hard to miss.
I left home at 0530 this morning to be in Fermeuse for my Jan. 1st, 2009 paddle. Given the fore casted conditions this seemed like a safe place to be, and it was. I am here getting ready to paddle at about 0715 in the morning. It was an excellent way to spend two hours of my New Years day.
Some believe that Fermeuse, is a dirivative of the word Fermosa which means beauty. Maps dated to the early 1500's refer to the area as Rio Fremoze. Fermeuse was not settled until the early 1700's by English settlers and in the 1800's the Irish settlement in the area increased. In 1677 the summer census had the population of around 160 men. In 1732 Fermeuse had 32 English Masters, 267 male servants, 1 wife, 1 female servant, 40 children, and 35 male Irish fishing servants. I'm no mathematician but it just seems a little bit skewed on the male side. In 1905, Michael Shallow born in Fermeuse in 1874, becomes British Empire Heavyweight Boxing Champion.
Well I had to do A bit of ice-breaking as I began my Jan. 1st. 2009 paddle in Fermeuse Newfoundland.
Marking the waters and when you see these things you usually get some feeling of relief as either you have found your way or else you know if conditions get really out of hand you have something to cling to. This is about 0815 on Thursday morning, Jan. 1st,2009 as I make my way east to the entrance of Fermeuse Harbour in the distance on my New Years Day 1st paddle of the year
I had time to explore this old ship wreck on the south side of Fermeuse Harbour. I tried to make out the name on the bow but was unable to identify the vessel. It is always a treat to paddle near a wreck because your mind just wonders, or at least mine does, about all the tales stored up in its remains.
When I came upon this frozen formation I was caught instantly by the appearance of an open jaw with sharp protruding teeth on this rock face, ready to swallow the unwary.
This is what I was reminded of as I paddled close to sure on this cool day. The frozen run off along the way actually made the shoreline quite scenic and kind of peaceful in some strange way.
There were lots of frozen run-offs on the trip in Fremeuse today on both sides of the Harbour, however there seems to have been a greater display on the south side. I took a small break for a pee and a photo op. The new drysuit and pfd worked great and it was sweet to finally have a relief zipper in my dry gear.
On the way back from the entrance of Fermeuse Harbour the wind had blown all the ice chards to shore so I had to plough through them to hit my take out spot. It involved using my paddle, my hands and a short portage to get to my truck. Well worth it in the end and just as the boat was loaded the wind picked up drastically and the expected snow began to fall. Good timing.
After my paddle in Fermeuse Newfoundland I came to watch another group enjoy their New Years Salutation at the traditional New Year haunt.
