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

\\

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.