Newfoundland - Bonavista Peninsula

By the time we got to Elliston the rain had stopped and we headed out to the Puffin Viewing site which is only 5 minutes from our airBnB beach house.  

It was very windy on the site and hard to hold a long lens steady.  It's a good thing we persevered even though we knew we would be back the following day.  The wind was blowing in the right direction and the puffins were landing right behind us on the viewing site affording us some close up views.  

Puffins "kissing" or "billing" where lifelong mates tap their beaks together to greet each other or just to show affection. 

This one picked up a feather - nest building? or just for the fun of it?

Puffin conference

Just have to make some noise

The puffin rock 

This is the view out to the ocean on the way to the viewing site

Puffin family deck chairs - beyond cute!

A root cellar - Elliston is officially known as the "Root cellar Capital of the World" with over 130 traditional root cellars built from stone and earth into the hillsides to keep root vegetables cool in the summer and frost-free in the winter.

Sunset over the Atlantic

When we went back the following day, we were shocked to see the island with very few puffins on it.  Some regular visitors suggested they may have discovered a large area with fish and had gone fishing.  We were relieved they returned the following day but the wind direction has changed and they did not land as they did before in the viewing area. 

Puffins gone

Herring Gull and chicks

Taking a peek inside their burrow

Having fun

Going fishing!

An unusual rock face that looks like a lion with a mane

This one reminded me of the Moai statues on Easter Island

We went hiking the following day to explore the coast following the Spillar's Cove trail with its stunning Chimney stack and the neighbouring Dungeon Provincial Park with its "dragon's eyes".  The golden hour drive through Bona Vista highlighted the colourful houses and changed my first impression of the town.  We had cod, cod and cod the days we were on the peninsula - nothing like having seafood where they are caught!  Oh yes, and seafood chowder!

We missed the trail head and scrambled all over this heath to get to the cliffs - memories of the treks over the tundra in the Arctic

Spillar's Cove

The "Chimney" from different angles

The "Dragon's Eyes" in Dungeon Provincial Park, almost right next to Spillar's Cove

Love the coastal stacks in this area!

Bonavista - the town

Ye Matthew Legacy - the Museum that houses a full-scale replica of John Cabot's ship, The Matthew -  love the architectural lines on the building

The Old Pond

Cape Bonavista

Apparently there are puffins here too

At Cape Bonavista - this is so Newfoundland!

The Lighthouse

Sunset in the Harbour

Newfoundland - Avalon Peninsula

 This is my third trip to Newfoundland and this time I'm focusing on only three places - Cape St. Mary's for the gannets, Elliston for the puffins and Fogo Island.   

Cape St. Mary's is at the southwestern tip of the Avalon peninsula, about 2 hours' drive from St. John's, but we made a detour to Bay Bulls on the east coast after arriving in St. John's early afternoon.  It was late June and the days were long so we were able to fit in a boat tour with Gatherall's in search of whales and puffins.  Bay Bulls is right next to the important Witless Bay Ecological Reserve.  There were quite a few whale sightings but nothing spectacular and except for a few in the water, the puffins were too far away for any meaningful shots.  It was cold on the boat but glad it was the only time I had to wear my packable down on the whole trip.

Humpback whales

Humpback with cub

Puffin flying over water

Plenty of Common Murres around

The colourful Gatherall's office

The one shot I got of Bay Bulls from the boat

 

We headed to St. Bride's with its one and only lodging, Capeway Inn which turned out to be a very nice well-equipped boutique establishment. Cape St. Mary's is only a 20 minute drive from St. Bride's and Bird Island, where the gannets are, was just a short 1.4 km hike from the parking lot.  We were lucky the island was not covered in fog as it was the last time I was there.  We spent a whole morning and part of the afternoon watching the gannets going about their business.  It was quite productive as you can see from the photos.  

Word of caution: bring some ready made food to St. Bride's.  We arrived too late for dinner as the one and only restaurant closed at 7 (we were lucky we had anticipated that and bought a roast chicken with us).  The following day we arrived at the restaurant at 5:30 and was told it closes at 5pm on Tuesdays.  The one convenience store was not open.  Good thing it was a big chicken!

The Cape St. Mary's headland with Bird Island (covered in white)

Closeup of Bird Island

Affectionate gannet couples

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Bickering ones too...

Bringing back nesting material

Other than these two stops and drive through impressions of small towns on the way, we didn't see much else on the Avalon Peninsula so can't really say I am providing a good picture of the Peninsula.  I am sure there are lots more to it than gannets and whales!

The following day we drove up the peninsula to Bona Vista in the rain - no problem for a travelling day. There were a few lookouts along the way - one that stood out was Seven Islands lookout off the Cape Shore Highway. Otherwise the four hour drive to Elliston was mostly flat.