August 1-2, 2024 – Baie Verte Peninsula, Central Newfoundland

We left Terra Nova National Park Thursday morning and drove north towards the Baie Verte Peninsula.  On our way we stopped in Gander at the Compassion Monument.  We all remember the events of 9-11-2001 and the closing of North American airspace resulting in 38 aircraft landing at the Gander Airport.  This monument sits on the lawn in front of the town hall.

The rock that the beam sits upon signified Newfoundland (often referred to as The Rock). The shape of the rock is meant to invite people to sit down and ponder the events.

This is the plaque that is on the side of the monument.  It reads:

“Town of Gander

Compassion Monument

On September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States resulted in the closing of North American airspace.  Gander received 38 aircraft with over 6,500 people from 95 countries.  Our population increased by 70%.  For 6 days, the plane people had a place to sleep, eat and feel safe.

The Bethpage Fire Department, New York, gifted this World Trade Centre beam to the residents of Gander and area who selflessly assisted our unexpected guests.

Dedicated September 11, 2021 by the Mayor and Councillors.

We were fortunate to be at the monument when Brian Williams, Tourism Development Office for Gander, was giving a presentation to an American Caravan group. Brian shared many stories of those 6 days.  The passengers were only allowed to take their carry-on luggage.  In addition to needing food, nutrition and shelter, many passengers also required clothing, medications and baby needs.  The residents of Gander ad surrounding areas stepped up to the task and fulfilled all these needs. 

It was evident that Brian is very proud of his community.

 

We also visited the North Atlantic Aviation Museum. We learned about Gander’s airport history and how it was an important strategic airport during the Second World War. 10,000 warplanes were ferried to Europe from Gander.

To commemorate the 20^th anniversary of 9/11, the town of Gander received the International Community Resilience Award at the 9/11 Commemoration Summit in Washington DC on September 8, 2011.  At the ceremony, this partial steel beam, cut from one of the fallen twin towers, was given as a significant symbol of thanks to the people of Gander for their selfless role after the terrorist attacks.

We continued north to Springdale on the Baie Verte Peninsula and stayed at the Blue Canoe Campground.

We enjoyed seeing this version of the tow truck “Tow Mater” from the film Cars at the campground entrance.  The flowers and top hat made it even more fun.

Friday, we drove along the coast to Triton where we stopped at the Triton Sperm Whale Pavilion.  A nice young man gave us a very informative tour and we learned much about sperm whales.  The main attraction was the 13-metre (42.65 ft) skeleton of a sperm whale that washed up on a shore nearby.

This is the skeleton from the back side and as you can see, it takes up almost the entire pavilion.

There is also a display of a giant squid measuring over 12 ft long that washed up on shore in Badger Bay.

This was the view of Badger Bay from the parking lot.

We next drove to Green Bay where we stopped at the King’s Point Whale Pavilion.  They have the world’s largest reconstruction of a Humpback whale skeleton. – 50 ft.  Here we learned about the Humpback and other whale species. 

We enjoyed our drive, and the whale pavilions were very interesting.