Exploring Rose Blanche

Rose Blanche Lighthouse

When approaching Rose Blanche, the most striking feature on the landscape is an impressive stone lighthouse, one of a series built between 1871 and 1873 along this coast. The Rose Blanche light is one of the last surviving stone lighthouses on the Atlantic Coast of Canada, and had fallen into disrepair by the 1990s, but the stone steps inside the tower were of such robust construction that they kept the building from falling down; restoration of the building was completed in 1999.

The Harbour at Rose Blanche

The little harbour of Rose Blanche is now accessible by road, but is still well off the beaten path so it sees fewer visitors than many more accessible Newfoundland communities. My own first visit here was on a superb July morning in 2015, on a cruise with  Adventure Canada. We dropped anchor just outside the harbour and made our way to shore in Zodiacs, landing at the public wharf and hiking to the lighthouse. The old path led around the inner harbour and over the hills, where the sun warmed berry fields and small ponds along the way. After seeing the lighthouse and the well-designed interpretation area at the end of the road, there was a warm welcome for the ship's passengers at St. Michael and All Angels Anglican Church on the hill overlooking the harbour.

Lighthouse Point

Looking seaward

Rose Blanche now shares government with neighbouring Harbour Le Cou, the subject of a well-known traditional song from Newfoundland, here performed by the group Ryan's Fancy. If you're visiting by road, the community is located on Newfoundland's scenic southwest coast, about 45 minutes east of Port aux Basques via provincial Route 470.

Lighthouse interior

Take a walk through Rose Blanche via Google Street View here. Amenities include bed and breakfast accommodations, shops and cafes.

Life on the Rocks in Point Riche

Marine gastropod fossil

One of my favourite moments during a visit to western Newfoundland is the "life on the rocks" exploration of Point Riche. The headland lies near the town of Port-au-Choix, on the island's Great Northern Peninsula, and its white octagonal lighthouse with a bright red lantern room is a striking sight. Below the lighthouse, though, is where this spot's treasures are found. In the broad limestone beds on the shore, thousands of marine fossils, mostly cephalopods and gastropods can be seen.  It takes only a moment for the eye to become accustomed to the search; when it has, a scan of the rocks reveals one tight spiral after another, sometimes dozens within a space the size of a small notebook.

Fossils at Point Riche

Among the fossils are tidal pools that evaporate quickly in the summer sun, leaving a rim of salt around their edges. In the cracks of the rock, tiny plants take root in the most challenging of circumstances. Minke whales, seals and dolphins can occasionally be seen passing by, and when there are small fish like capelin or juvenile herring in the area, northern gannets knife into the water. There is a small herd of caribou living in the area, and a few moose can also be seen from time to time.

The limestone barrens on the Northern Peninsula are home to many varieties of calcium-loving plants, some of them found only in this environment, so it's necessary to tread carefully on the plateau above the shore. Just up the road, also part of the Port-au-Choix National Historic Site, is an interpretation centre that concentrates on the area's remarkable human history; a succession of occupations of the area by various cultures go back some 6000 years.

The nearby towns of Port au Choix and Port Saunders are centres for fishing in the area, and there are restaurants, hotels and other services nearby.

A miniature garden among the rocks