14 August, 2026 0 comments Leave a comment

After a nine-hour drive, our group of six Airstreams was thrilled to reach the tiny coastal village of Red Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But the biggest surprise was the enormous iceberg grounded just offshore.

If you haven't been following my Labrador travel story, you can catch up in my previous post, Our Labrador Adventure From Churchill Falls to the Coast.

Red Bay was one of the highlights of our Expedition 51° Airstream camping tour. Although temperatures hovered just above freezing and the winds were fierce, the community gave us a wonderfully warm welcome.

After searching for the authentic Labrador experience I had been hoping to find, Red Bay felt like the place where everything finally came together.

Before the Trans-Labrador Highway was finished, Red Bay's supplies came in by sea or by air. The town very kindly allowed us to park our rigs for free on the former airstrip, which was also used by the locals to process and store their winter firewood.

Our group was the first organized caravan of travel trailers the village had hosted. We arrived early in the tourist season, just as things were opening after the long winter, and the town had even regraded the airstrip access road to make our arrival easier.

Our row of trailers is visible on the far right, within easy walking distance of the harbour, a great restaurant, a brand-new café and several excellent museums. With full tanks of fresh water and propane, plus solar panels, batteries and generators, we were well equipped for about ten days of dry camping.

The next day was calm with a sun/cloud mix, just perfect for some iceberg viewing. We walked down to the harbour to board the little cruise boat that would take us out to sea.

The red building housed the new café and a whaling exhibit.

The café became a gathering place for locals and tourists, and we spent many happy hours there listening to stories of daily life, past and present.

Bundled in all our winter clothing, we enjoyed several hours of comfortable iceberg viewing.

The huge iceberg had been grounded in 120 feet of water for four days, but it would disappear by the next morning.

We were incredibly lucky to see it up close during its brief layover in Red Bay.

Here is a video I made from our cruise. Turn on your speakers and enjoy!

Back at the docks, the boat crew hosted an outdoor lobster boil for us, with grilled scallops. Shown below is Captain Rick doing the honours at the barbeque. He grilled scallops in their half shells with seasoned butter. They were the best scallops we've ever tasted, and we even ate the roe and frills along with the main muscle. Absolutely delicious!

Afterwards, a local Parks Canada guide took us on a fascinating tour of historic Saddle Island, where we saw archaeological evidence of the Basque whalers who processed whale oil here in the 1500s. The remains of the Red Bay Basque Whaling Station were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013.

The site includes rendering ovens, cooperages for making barrels, wharves, temporary living quarters and a cemetery, along with underwater remains of vessels and deposits of whale bones. In the photo of Boney Beach, those grey rocks in the foreground are actually 500-year-old whale bones.

Standing among these remains, it was astonishing to realize that Red Bay once supported the world's largest whaling operations.

Red Bay became the primary source of whale oil, which was shipped to Europe for lighting and manufacturing. By the 1570s, an estimated 2,500 men arrived each spring from Spain and France to work in seasonal whaling stations along the Strait. As many as 15 galleons used Red Bay to hunt bowhead and right whales, with each ship capable of carrying 1,000 barrels of oil, the harvest from about 20 whales.

Red Bay ranks among the major archaeological properties of the world and we felt incredibly privileged to experience this extraordinary piece of Labrador's history.

As memorable as Red Bay was, our upcoming stay in historic Battle Harbour would become our favourite experience in Labrador. Stay tuned for the next chapter!

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