24 July 2022 – Sunday –

We took a bike ride out to the lighthouse and brought along a picnic lunch packed by a local cafe. It is hot here, about 87 degrees. We rode along the water most of the time so we had a bit of breeze but the ride had lots of uphill challenges. We stopped at the lighthouse for our picnic lunch. There were lots of puffins on the rocks nearby but they are tiny and hard to photograph. They are just fun to watch.

The return trip was mostly an easy downhill run.

Our next adventure was a taxi trip to a nearby town, Elliston, to visit the sealing museum. Seal hunting was a dangerous but lucrative business in the 1800s. Men would go to the ice bound waters, jump on the ice and kill seals for food, oil and skins. There were several major ships that sank with all aboard. Men also died from falling into the icy waters or from hypothermia. Tough business.

When we returned to Bonavista we had 3 huge thunderstorms. The storms had dramatic lightning and heavy downpours which was all fun to watch from inside the boat. One local said it was quite unusual to have big storms because the intense heat wasn’t typical. Climate change???

I have had to be an enforcer along with Bill Strassberg, the other physician on the cruise, because 2 boats have people who are COVID positive and ill.  We visited each boat to remind them that they could not join our activities or even leave the boat. One of the boats had a second person who wasn’t feeling well but its hard to isolate on a boat. We expect there will be more illness on the 2 boats. No one has interacted with any of those who are ill. They have both been cases that showed up before we got together.

Our evening event was a barbecue which was held in a covered outdoor venue. We had moose burgers, hamburgers or moose hotdogs. The hot dogs were delicious! Moose is very lean so the burgers were dry but tasty.

Since it was still early, we went back to Friendship and played Rummikub. I won 2 out of 3 games! But luck passes around. Tomorrow will be different.