A great day trip to Long Island in Central Newfoundland

By Keith and Heather Nicol

    On Friday, July 4 we left Triton and caught the 10:30 am ferry to nearby Long Island. Wanda Roberts at the Parkers Bluewater Inn in Triton had suggested we visit here and since all of this area was new to us we couldn`t resist. And the iceberg finder web site showed bergs in and around Long Island so that clinched it. 

Board the modern ferry "Hazel McIsaac" to go to Long Island

   The ferry leaves from Pilley’s Island and serves both Long Island and Little Bay Islands, but the crossing to Long Island is just 10 minutes. And this must be the deal of the century since for both of us with a car the fare was just $2.50 1 way! And when we arrived at the ferry dock there was a large iceberg part way between the two islands which we got to see up close as we sailed by.

Icebergs from Wards Harbour

      Long Island is composed of 3 communities and they are connected by 9 km of paved road (there were lots of side gravel roads that we didn’t venture on). We drove directly to Wards Harbour at the far end of the island and there were many large icebergs in the distance. Wanda had told us to be sure to drop into the Long Island Heritage Centre so we drove back to Beaumont and it was almost like everything had been set up. The sun was shining, there was a small iceberg glistening in the harbour and Roxanne Rowsell, who runs the Tea Room in the Heritage Centre welcomed us in. The local heritage community has done a great job with the display of Long Island historical information and the tea room has lots of good inexpensive food on the menu. Where else can you get a moose burger for $3.00 and a piece of partridge berry pie for $2.00! We ended up taking the 1:00 pm ferry back to Pilley`s Island and then headed back to Corner Brook ending another great adventure in Central Newfoundland. No matter where you travel in the province, be sure to get off the main roads and explore the numerous islands, coves and bays that exist at the end of the road.

Heather chats with Roxanne Rowsell who is the chef at the Tea Room

The icebergs around Long Island were very photogenic