Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve

Sunday we drove south to Cape St. Mary's, site of one of the largest nesting grounds for seabirds in North America. On the way, we stopped at the Salmonier Nature Trail, a 3 km boardwalk through the forest which houses various native animal and plant species. We were very impressed by this facility, not to mention the fact that it was free! The animals we saw included a moose, a snowy owl, a great horned owl, caribou, and this cute little artic fox, among many others.
Our journey continued down highway 90, which winds its way across the peninsula and then down the coast. It was incredible how little traffic we saw. We might pass a car going the other direction about every 30 minutes or so. The terrain also changed drastically as we drove. It started off very rocky and then turned to tundra - not a tree in sight for miles. And it's not like there was any farmland, either. Just miles and miles of nothing. In order to get to Cape St. Mary's, we had to drive off the main highway 13 km down a very narrow road (hardly big enough for 2 cars to pass). At the end, there was a small interpretive center, and a parking lot. It really seemed like the middle of nowhere. We had to hike about a mile over the hills to get to the viewing point of what they call Bird Island. It was a truly amazing site. The sea stack was literally covered with thousands and thousands of gannets, all making noise and many of them soaring overhead around the cove. Lower down on the ledges were other types of seabirds including murres and kittiwakes, but the gannets were definitely the most prominent and impressive. Clicking on the photos below will give a better sense of how many birds were there.

Here's Dave on his way to Bird Island - like I said, miles and miles of ... nothing.

Newman Wine Vaults Candlelight Tales

Saturday evening it was time for something different. The local Shakespearean theatre company was putting on a candlelight reading of Edgar Allen Poe in the Newman Wine Vaults, a provincial historic site. They set up chairs in the cave, and we listened to 3 storytellers who dramatized The Signal Man, The Tell-Tale Heart, and The Cask of Amontillado by candlelight. It was very well-presented and a suitably spooky venue for such an event.

Quidi Vidi Village

After returning from Cape Spear, we drove out to Quidi Vidi Village, which is a tiny, historic fishing village just on the edge of St. John's, although when you get there, you don't really feel like you are still in the city. The village borders Quidi Vidi lake, which is the site of the annual St. John's Regatta. In the village, there are a few very old houses, some boats, an antique shop and the Quidi Vidi brewery. There is also a battery in the hills, some nice hiking trails, and of course, more amazing scenery, sheer rock cliffs and beautiful seaside vistas.

This cat apparently lived in a house just at the edge of the parking lot, but he certainly knew his way around the hills. He followed us up the steep rocks and balanced himself on the ledges more skillfully than I would've imagined a cat could.

Like most everything in Newfoundland, Quidi Vidi village was very picturesque and serene and harkened back to the fishing villages of the past.

The most easterly point in North America

Today's travels brought us to Cape Spear, site of the most easterly point in North America, as well as the oldest lighthouse in Newfoundland. The weather clearly has the potential to be pretty nasty up there, but we were lucky that it wasn't too foggy or windy.
At the top of a very long set of stairs, you come to the site of the original lighthouse. I cannot imagine living up there even in the summer, let alone the winter.
The lighthouse is now automated, of course, and makes for a spectacular scene against the backdrop of the foggy harbour and the sheer rock faces. Not surprisingly, it's a favourite spot for wedding photos, as we saw today.
The views are spectacular, and the most easterly point is conveniently marked for the tourists!

Bay Bulls Boat Tour

Today we drove out to the village of Bay Bulls, about 30 min. from St. John's, to take a tour with O'Brien's Puffin and Whale tours. Our boat left the harbour in Bay Bulls and toured us through the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, home to millions of seabirds and, if you're lucky, a whale or two. The sheer number of birds was mind-boggling; the island we passed was literally black with murres, kittiwakes, gulls, and of course everyone's favourite, the North Atlantic puffin.

Here's Loyola, our animated tour guide, getting the crowd going with a rollicking Newfoundland sea song. Sadly, we did not come upon any whales today, as the season is getting late. But, as Loyola pointed out, "This is Newfoundland, b'ys (boys), not Disneyland!"


The puffins are a lot smaller than you'd imagine - only about 7 inches high and weighing about a pound or so. They can fly up to 80 km/h and you can always spot them in the air because their wings flap twice as fast as any of the other birds.

You'll have to look closely at this picture (or click to enlarge it) to make out the thousands of murres nesting here.


This is what is known as a sea stack, a rock formation jutting out of the water. The coastline of Newfoundland is unbelievably rugged and rocky, and the different colours and layers of rock make for amazing scenery. There was actually a bald eagle on one of these treetops, although it doesn't show up in my photo.

Ferryland

Today's adventures started off with an unplanned visit to St. Jean Basilica - unplanned because we just happened to pass it on the way to Sobey's (which ended up being closed for the Regatta Day holiday anyway).

The Basilica rivals any of the cathedrals I have visited and the stained glass was amazing.


Next, we took a day trip to Ferryland, which is about an hour south down the east coast from St. John's. This unassuming little village is actually one of the most important archaeological digs in North America, and is the former site of the Avalon Colony. This colony was built in the 1600's and was governed by Lord Baltimore of England. The original cobblestone streets have been uncovered, as well as over one million artifacts. Yes, one million! It continues to be an active site, and we saw 2 archaeologists working on it (one all the way from Ireland) along with several students. It was an amazing place to see and the tour was well worth the trip. The first photo shows a fireplace which was uncovered - everything is original.


This photo shows the 2 archaeologists hard at work.

This photo shows the room where all of the artifacts are counted and catalogued. It is mind-boggling how each tiny piece of pottery, glass, or what have you is accounted for. In the interpretive center, we saw ceramic bowls that were painstakingly put back together piece by piece. Plaster is added in for the missing pieces, but nothing is permanently fixed just in case the missing piece were to show up in the future.

This photo shows a view of the town of Ferryland. It is typical of the many villages we passed on the highway driving south from St. John's.

The highlight of today turned out to be a lighthouse picnic. From the village, we drove up a steep, winding road for about 5 minutes. At a certain point, there was no further vehicle access, so we had to hike up another steep portion for about 15 minutes. At the top of the cliff was the lighthouse, but the best part was that they had picnics for sale! There are different choices on the menu (lunch, afternoon tea, etc.) and once you have ordered, you are given your picnic blanket and you go outside to choose your picnic spot. In a few minutes, your picnic lunch is brought to you in a picnic basket. We had homemade bread, cheese, homemade dessert and coffee. The photo will show what an idyllic setting this is for a picnic!
The food was scrumptious, and amazingly it is all prepared by the ladies in the lighthouse, which has been set up with a full kitchen. In fact, the smell of freshly baking bread was wafting through the air as we entered! If you are ever in Newfoundland, a lighthouse picnic is definitely an experience not to be missed. As an added bonus, we actually managed to see whales (I think they were humpbacks?) diving in the bay. They were close enough that we could see the tail fin as they dove - which was pretty impressive considering the season is getting late for whale sightings.

As they say in St. John's: "There was a time to be had!"

Tonight was the final night of the George Street Festival. George Street is a short, narrow street that is famous because it is supposed to have the most bars per capita of any street in Canada. After tonight, I can believe this! For the festival, they block off the street at both ends, charge a flat cover fee ($15) which gets you in to any and all bars (normally it's $5 - $10 cover per bar). At one end of the street is the main stage where there were 3 bands playing from 7 pm to about 11 pm. All the while, you are allowed to wander the streets with your drinks - although it is so crowded that by around 9 pm, you can't wander much anymore. We estimated there were about 10,000 people there in the space of city block- it reminded me of the fireworks crowds in Vancouver.

Downtown St. John's

Downtown St. John's is like no other place in Canada, or anywhere, for that matter. All of the buildings look like the ones in the picture above. I only counted about 3 buildings which you would consider modern. It's quite unusual in that respect. The streets are winding and steep going down to the waterfront (even steeper than in Vancouver). In a way it's like stepping back in time. This city is about as different from Vancouver as you can get in Canada; we seem to be all about luxury and newness, whereas here history is most important.

Harbourside Park hosts two dog statues: the Newfoundland and the Labrador, not surprisingly. Strangely enough, they don't really know where the Newfoundland dog came from exactly - but we are pretty sure the one in the photo is bigger than life size (?).

Signal Hill

We started our day on Signal Hill overlooking St. John's harbour. This is the sight of the Cabot tower, where John Cabot landed when North America was first settled. It is also the place where Marconi sent the first wireless transmission between England and North America. There is a steep winding road up to the top of the hill (or you can walk), and hiking trails around the area with lots of stairs for exploring the various lookout points. Here you see an incredible view of the city and you can imagine just how adventurous you would have had to have been to set out on such a journey all those centuries ago.

Coast to Coast

We arrived in St. John's right on time after a 9 1/2 hour flight. Our first stroke of luck - we got a Ford Escape instead of the compact car that we were supposed to be getting - don't really know why. Had no trouble finding our hotel even though the weather is just like Vancouver: fog, rain & wind. Luckily the humidity seems to be keeping it from being too cold. St. John's is quite a sleepy place at 10:30 pm - so it was really hard to find food. McDonald's will always do in a pinch - and the clerk at Tim Horton's told us how to get there since they only had doughnuts to offer at this hour!



The Balmoral Inn is quaint and Victorian, and the wireless is working very well, so stay tuned for lots of photos & updates over the next few days.