Wednesday 26 June - St. Johns

We spent the morning at The Rooms and took lunch there.

There are some wonderful views from the fourth floor cafe/restaurant at The Rooms

Fish cakes were very good indeed.

We wandered around afterwards, taking in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist and then down into the Duckworth/Water streets area to visit the chocolate shop and view the fog which changed continuously.

Signal Hill above the fog.

Tuesday June 25 (2) - Cape Spear

After lunch we visited Cape Spear, the most easterly point in the North American continent.  This is a Parks Canada site which in undergoing renovation.

This is the modern light which dates from 1955

This is the original light with accommodation for the keeper's family

The building was uninsulated and must have been very cold in winter. When it was renovated by Parks Canada they found over 100 layers of cotton wool in the walls.

Tuesday June 25 (1) - Bay Bulls, Whale Watching and Sea Birds

So many interesting pictures to post that I have divided up the day into two.

In the morning we went to Bay Bull and took a sight seeing boat.

We had hardly left the dock when we saw a Minke whale. These are small whales, about 30 feet long. This one came in quite close and we enjoyed watching the gannets dive vertically into the water.

The islands are an incredible sanctuary for murres, puffins, kittiwakes and others.  The air and the water is alive with birds flying and swimming past. The birds are crammed very closely together and at one point we could see about 50,000 puffins at one time. I think the pictures do more justice than  my words.

The puffins live in burrows 

An iceberg seen through a rain of seabirds

A bald eagle was sitting quietly in a tree on our return

On the way back to the dock a couple of Minke whales put on quite a display. They came very close to the boat and one swam underneath us.

The weather was fine and sunny and we had an excellent morning.

Monday June 24 - St. Brides to St. Johns

We got in after dark last night and had no idea of the spectacular views from our room.

St. Brides

We started out the day with breakfast at the small diner at St. Brides where we had had dinner last night,  There was the same attention to detail.

Our first visit today was to the Cape St. Mary Ecological Reserve. It as one of the highlights of the trip.

We saw three red foxes  from the boardwalk up to the front entrance.  Their parents go over to where the murres nest and bring back eggs or baby murres to feed them

We took a short walk with an excellent guide along the cliffs to see the nesting sites of gannets, murres, kittiwakes and razor bills. It is difficult to capture the site with its constant movement of birds and the noise they make. The kittiwakes were upset as an eagle had flown by them earlier.  I will just post the best of my pictures:

Mainly gannets

Kittiwakes

Kittiwakes

Murres and one kittiwake

This was a fascinating visit, not only for the sea birds but also for the plant life.

We then went on to St. Johns and enjoyed a city tour

The Narrows

The Narrows

Signal Hill

Lieutenant Governor General's Residence

View from our hotel window

Sunday June 23 - St. Pierre to St. Brides

There were heavy winds this morning so the ferry was postponed until 1430.  Late breakfast and some waiting around.

The fog had cleared in St. Pierre by the time we left

The ferry journey was pretty smooth and nobody was seasick.

Fortune

Jesse was waiting for us with the bus after we had cleared Canadian customs at Fortune and we made the journey to the Bird Island Resort in St. Brides with just one stop. There were wonderful views of the sea coast with heavy breakers as we made our way along the east side after Placentia. Dinner was at a diner in St. Brides which had stayed open for us. The owner and four young girls gave us a rousing welcome and the food was home cooked.  One of the servers had an exam the next day. She is completing grade 13, born in the NWT and is hoping to go to Ottawa U.