Red Island Instead

Captain Wayne and Brother Jim at work while the cousins goof off

When my cousin came for a visit last month his big wish was to take a ride out to St. Kyran's.  Unfortunately the water in Placentia was still a little rough after the affects of Hurricane Dorian. Don't worry, the Avalon Peninsula just had a tolerably windy few days, but I think the western side of Newfoundland got hit a bit harder.

The water was even rougher than that, I wasn't able to hold the camera in the roughest, not to mention the wettest parts of our attempt.  Not wanting to be miserable or to take twice as long to get there, we settled for a trip to Red Island instead since we were already halfway there.

Red Island harbor, we entered from the right
Cemetery up behind old church on upper left

Chris' friend Devon joined us on our excursion, and sent me this older photo of Red Island before resettlement.  Wayne's brother Jim's wife Donnie is originally from Red Island, and other people we know from the Placentia area have summer homes and cabins out there.

Being so close to Placentia it is easier to get to, so folks have kept things up around there. St. Kyran's  crosses the rough open bay and is a much farther distance to travel so visitors are less frequent.

Wayne and Jim on the wharf after tying up The Nomad -
after going to cemetery we circled harbor to see homes on other side

Not all of the cabins are up to date, some have been left to the whims of time and weather in recent years.

Being big history buffs Chris, Devon and I headed straight up the hill past the foundation of the old church for the cemetery...

Harbor entrance view - "beach" to the right of the harbor,  strip of reddish rocks just visible

...and to get some great views of Red Island and Placentia Bay!

A lot of it was overgrown, the dead were unknown to us, and Chris fell down in the thorns so we didn't linger there long.  But on the way back down down I found a great spot for one of my painted rocks that wouldn't get lost in the weeds...I hope.

Red Island "rocked" by PJ! Hiking fox a great image for this area

Wayne and Jim knew everyone currently "in residence" and stopped for chats.  The electric street lamps work off a generator when the owner is out there, how cool is that?

We all made our way around the harbor, enjoying the sun while it lasted.

Jim was going to be in big trouble with his wife for going out to Red Island without her... I hope she wasn't too hard on him!

Brothers

Wayne and Jim spent time checking out the wharf contruction techniques of each resident, making plans for St. Kyran's next year.

It was disappointing to not be where we had planned, but when the weather is the boss you learn to live with what you can do and not what you can't do.

After enjoying listening to Jigs and Reels floating out through an open window and accepting a bottle of water from a newly made friend, we carried on past the homes in the harbor toward the rock beach.

Red Island's red rocks and a young dolphin skeleton 

Not all residents are buried in the cemetery, we also passed this lovely site for a final resting place just behind the beach.

It would have been nice to stay longer, but we knew we had a rough ride ahead of us so we had to move on after our short time in Red Island.  I'm sure we'll be back next summer, Donnie will be in the boat next time we go to St. Kyran's and insist on a stop at Red Island I'm thinking!