By John & Sherrill Knight, and Brian & Sue Duffett
Trip length: ~18 kms
Group: John & Sherrill Knight, and Brian & Sue Duffett
Topographic Map:
Random Island, 2 C/4, 1:50,000
Nautical Chart: Smith Sound &Random
Sound, 485201
Map of trip location
In our search
for somewhere different to paddle during the Labour Day weekend, Brian Duffett suggested
that we try the loop from Little Heart’s Ease out past West Random Head and back in
to Little Heart’s Ease along Heart’s Ease Inlet … ‘out around and back
by a different way’.
So on Sunday, September 7th, the four of us
headed from St. John’s to Little Heart’s Ease, a little over 2 hours drive. Initially, we were undecided about where to launch,
so we drove out to Fox Harbour-Southport to have a look around. From Southport, you can look west up Southwest Arm
and across to St. Jones Within Harbour on the other side of the Arm.
After taking in the sights at Southport, we retraced our
steps towards Little Heart’s Ease, checking for a suitable launch site at the end of
several side roads to Little Heart’s Ease Harbour.
We wanted easy access to Little Heart’s Ease Harbour (launch), and the
shortest walking distance to Heart’s Ease Inlet (take out). The best launch spot seemed to be down the first
road to the left as you come down the hill on Highway 204 into Little Heart’s Ease,
just before the main highway swings north. There
are several launch sites a few hundred meters down this road along the east shore of
Little Heart’s Ease Harbour.
We unloaded the boats at a small, protected beach,
adjacent to ample space for parking. Just to
be sure, we checked with locals about parking and were given the okay, as long as we
didn’t block any lanes or buildings. From
here, it was a little over a kilometre to the dock at the head of Heart’s Ease Inlet
(back to Highway 204, left turn towards Southport, then down the first gravel road on the
right). While the headwaters of
Heart’s Ease Inlet come right up to Highway 204, and are indeed tidal, they are not
navigable all the way to deep water about a kilometer further east down the inlet.
After launching our kayaks, we headed north through
Little Heart’s Ease Harbour, exploring Little Harbour along the way. On both sides of the harbour, each cove is lined
with houses, each with its own dock and slipway.
Upon leaving Little Heart’s Ease Harbour, we entered the open waters of Southwest Arm. It’s about 2 kilometres to the opposite side of Southwest Arm from the entrance to Little Heart’s Ease Harbour, and about 20 kilometres west to the head of the Arm at North West Brook. For our trip, the wind and weather were fine to travel down the Arm; southwest 10-15 km/h, and broken clouds. On days with strong southwest or northeast winds, heading up or down Random Sound is probably not a good idea, given the long open water fetch in either direction.
The shoreline east of Little Heart’s East Harbour
is bordered by Late Proterozoic (more than 570 million years old) sandstones,
conglomerates and shales that were deposited in riverbeds and delta-marine settings. While the shoreline is generally cliffed, there
are a few small beaches that could be used for landing on good days for either lunch stops
or camping. There are also occasional sea
stacks to explore around.
Fox Harbour is about 4 kilometres from the entrance to
Little Heart’s Ease Harbour. Having seen
Fox Harbour from land, it was now fun to see the harbour from the seaward side. Southport is nestled behind the protection of Fox
Island, and in the lee of Bluff Head to the east. Besides
the islands shown on the map and chart, there are also numerous smaller islands and narrow
channels to explore along the shoreline.
Southport (photo Brian Bursey)
From here northeast, the shoreline is again cliffed, but with fewer landing sites.
On this day, we could see several remnant icebergs from
the large iceberg (an aircraft carrier-size, according to locals) that was grounded at the
entrance to Random Sound last spring. These
bergs were situated on the north side of Random Sound, about 3-4 kilometers away. Unfortunately, they were not along our intended
route, and were too far away to detour over and back across Random Sound.
As we rounded West Random Head, we could look out to the
vast expanse of the open sea at the entrance to Trinity Bay. This is not the place to be with a northeasterly
wind. While the cliffed shoreline was
impressive, there is no place to land or seek shelter.
We had been paddling for a couple of hours at this
point, and hunger pangs were setting in. We
could have stopped at Fox Harbour, but that seemed too soon, and now there was no place to
go ashore. So, we had an OTWS (on-the-water
snack), and on we paddled to the southwest. As
we gazed southeast to Green Islands about a kilometer away, a minke whale surfaced nearby.
Ahead of us to the south lay Long Island. The trees on Long Island looked as though they
had been partially burned at the southern end, causes unknown. We didn’t explore Green Islands and Long
Island, but that might be a destination for another trip, wind and weather permitting.
The southeast shore of Bluff Head from West Random Head
is again cliffed with no landing sites until you reach the barachois between Heart’s
Ease Point and the mainland. This is where we
stopped for lunch.
The beach here is steep and comprised predominantly of
boulders, reflecting that this is indeed a high energy dumping beach during
Nor’Easterly storms. The barachois
provides a protective barrier across much of the entrance to Heart’s Ease Inlet that
extends to the southwest. One can imagine
fishing boats being moored in the lee of Heart’s Ease beach when the inlet was an
active harbour. There are remnants of an old
partially burned slipway at the south end, southwest side of the barachois where it joins
Heart’s Ease Point. It appears that the
slipway fire was centred on where the hauling winch would have been located. The only sign of fresh water was a small stagnant
pool at the north end of the barachois.
There were several spots on Heart’s Ease Point that
would be ideal for camping. After Sue and
Sherrill had a swim, one without a wet-suit (yikes that was cold!!!), we had lunch, then
paddled around Heart’s Ease Head. On the
south side of Heart’s Ease Head, we were surprised to find a small sea-arch through
which you could paddle. From here, we headed
southwest up Heart’s Ease Inlet.
As the afternoon winds picked up, we stayed close to the
south shore, passing Gooseberry Cove, Gunny Cove, Butter Cove and Ship Cove, all located
along the north shore. At its widest,
Heart’s Ease Inlet is about 500 meters wide, so it is quite protected, except for the
funnelling effect of southwesterly winds.
The journey up Heart’s Ease Inlet is not terribly
exciting. The low rolling hills on either
side of the Inlet are treed down to the high water mark.
About half way up the Inlet, on the south shore, there are the remains of an old
wooden fishing boat grounded in the intertidal zone.
Just past George Cove, the inlet narrows and the
navigable portion for power boats ends at a government dock and launch site, a little over
a kilometre east of Little Heart’s Ease. When
the tide is low, the water flowing out of the headwaters of Heart’s Ease Inlet look
and flow like a river. From here upstream,
the water depths are too shallow to paddle through the exposed rock garden at low tide. We were not there at high tide, but a local
indicated that you might be able to paddle, at this time, all the way past the boulder
garden right to the head of the inlet near Highway 204.
Since, for us, it was low tide, we beached the boats at
the dock, and two of us headed up the gravel road for a welcome kilometer plus walk back
to the cars.
What a great day and a nice paddle!
Safety
Considerations
There are few take-out points after leaving Little
Heart’s Ease Harbour, except at Fox Harbour. The
cliffed shoreline and exposed nature of the coast makes paddlers vulnerable to strong
winds from the west, north and northeast. Once
around West Random Head, the first take-out point is the barachois at Heart’s Ease
Head. The paddle up Heart’s Ease Inlet
is well protected, but strong winds can funnel down the inlet from the southwest. There are many take-out options along the inlet
and the communities of Butter Cove and Gooseberry Cove.
If winds came up from the southwest, one could scoot
down and around West Random Head and stay in the lee of the barachois and Bluff Head. However, if the winds went around to the
northeast, there are no places to hide unless you can duck into Fox Harbour, or get around
Heart’s Ease Head.
During our paddle, we noted local boat traffic, both in Heart’s Ease Inlet and Southwest Arm.
Trip Rating
Comments
Little Heart’s Ease is a little over 2 hours from
St. John’s.
Other paddling destinations from Little Heart’s
Ease might include (see regional map at the end):
· Hodge’s Cove on the south shore of Southwest Arm;
· St. Jones Within Harbour, Loreburns Cove and Fords Harbour
on the north side of Southwest Arm:
· Hickman Harbour on the south shore of Random Island:
· A long exposed paddle to The Thoroughfare (?)
Notes from the Encyclopaedia of Newfoundland and Labrador
The population in 1986 was 510. It gets its name from the early, nearby fishing
village of Heart’s Ease which was located at the entrance to Heart’s Ease Inlet
and which apparently may have been named after an early fishing ship.
Earliest settlers date back to about 1850. As inhabitants began to leave Heart’s Ease,
they moved to Little Harbour (just north of what is now Little Heart’s Ease). More people subsequently moved here from House
Cove, Clay Pit, Loreburn and Deer Harbour during the government resettlement program.
Heart’s Ease Inlet and Heart’s Ease
This Inlet was one of the first harbours known to English fishermen in Trinity Bay. It is mentioned in early writings dating back to the 1600’s, and is a recorded destination from Poole in 1673. While an early destination, it was not likely inhabited continuously until the 1790’s. Heart’s Ease had a population of 35 in 1836. The community was even visited by a geologist, J. B. Jukes, in 1839.
The French under Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville and the English are reported to have clashed at Heart’s Ease Island. No dates are given for this altercation.
Once Heart’s Ease Island was no longer able to support a community, the inhabitants began moving west to Gooseberry Cove, Little Harbour and Little Heart’s Ease where there were better land resources.
Southport
Originally
known as Fox Harbour until early 1900’s. It
was considered to be an alternate anchorage by English ships operating out of Heart’s
Ease during the 1700’s. Its population
in 1991 was 134.
Southport
was settled in the early 1800’s. The
earliest settlers likely had their fishing buildings on Fox Harbour Island. In 1836, there were only two families with a total
of 11 people. By 1845, the population had
grown to 38. The early settlers were
initially inshore fishing families, but by the 1870’s, they were involved in the
Labrador fishery.
Although
Hickman Harbour, to the north, was the local mercantile Centre by the late 1800’s at
least one banking schooner, operated by Captain Edmund Seaward, operated out of Southport
by 1880. By the early twentieth century
schooners were being built in the area.
Gooseberry Cove
Situated
along the north shore of Heart’s Ease Inlet, it had a population of 195 in 1981. It began supporting a winter population by 1753. Early settlers were from Heart’s Ease Island,
and used Gooseberry Cove for wood and berries.
In
1836, the census shows that there were 12 people living here. By 1857, there were 49 residents, apparently all
Newfoundland born. The settlement grew to
105 by 1891, and reached a peak of 145 by 1966.
Early settlers were occupied both by the inshore and Labrador fisheries.
Butter Cove
This
is a resettled fishing community that had a population of 95 in 1945. The 1874 census listed 6 families, totalling 34
people, who were occupied with the inshore cod fishery.
The community grew to 81 people by 1901. By
1965, 10 families remained, and these were resettled to Norman’s Cove in 1966.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Paul Delaney who provided the community information from the Encyclopaedia, and to Alison Dyer who gave some editorial comment and suggestions to improve the report. Both Paul and Alison helped to improve the trip report with their input.