Anticosti

During my visit to Newfoundland and Labrador, I really wanted to see Anticosti, and it turns out that the island can be perfectly incorporated into a trip to this province. WHS fans must take a ferry to Labrador to see Red Bay and they usually spend a night in Blanc Sablon or the surrounding area. From Blanc Sablon, a small Air Liaison plane flies to Sept-Iles and then to Port Menier, the only settlement on Anticosti. Next day is a flight back, so you basically have 24 hours on the island. A ticket purchased in advance is not very expensive (it cost me 400 CAD round trip), and the trip itself is an adventure. The plane from Blanc Sablon to Sept-Iles stops at four other airports along the way – St-Augustin, Chevery, La Romaine and Natashquan. These places on the southern coast of Labrador (though belonging to Quebec) have no road connection to the world (apart from the last one), and can only be reached by sea or air. I flew a small Beechcraft-19 plane with no boarding passes or airport security checks! I've flown many times in my life, but never like this. Unfortunately, the airline is not known for its punctuality - both flights were delayed by 7 hours! By the way - remember that flight times are in Quebec time zone, 1h 30 m difference with New Foundland time zone.

Anticosti is a large (from the eastern to the western tip it is about 300 kilometers) …

Visit in May 2019

It is my understanding that the nomination of Île d'Anticosti, a large island in the Gulf of St Lawrence, is primarily supported by its being one of the premier locations for obtaining fossilized life from the Silurian epoch. If inscribed, the site will join several other Canadian fossil WHSs, and will share several features with those other sites. I was not able to determine exactly what the proposed boundaries of the site would be, or whether the site would include the entire island. From readings I did before arriving, it seems that fossils are often found wherever there is a rocky outcropping, especially at seaside cliffs and riverbanks. So it may be that most, or all, of the island is being nominated. The coordinates given on the UNESCO page for the site point to the western tip of the island, close to its one small village, which is where I made a brief visit. As of now, only a relatively small section at the center of the island is protected as a National Park.

Only an experienced paleontologist would be qualified to speak on the quality and number of the fossils present on the island, and whether they merit inscription on the list. However, there are two other situations that could affect this site’s chances of inscription. Over one hundred years ago, deer were introduced onto the island, which proliferated, and currently support the only significant tourism there. Specifically, hunters, who visit in relatively …