Newfoundland - Day 3 - Skerwink Trail

 We left Dildo behind and headed to Trinity and a 3 hour hike along the Skerwink Trail.   Gorgeous scenery with plenty of OMG comments.  Perhaps one of the most spectacular trails we have been on.  

The pictures simply do not do justice
to the rustic majesty of the scenery. 

Pine cones reaching for the sky

We worked up quite the appetite so we headed over to Port Rexton to have lunch at Oh My Cheeses.  Great cold beer and grilled cheese sandwiches with plenty of additional ingredients making them the best cheese sandwiches ever.  

Elliston is the root cellar capital of the world

Following that we stopped in at Elliston to scout out the Puffin viewing however it started to rain so after a quick look it was on to Bonavista.  We got there just in time for the sunset.  

Our accommodation is the red house in front.
Not one clothes closet in the entire house. 

The view from our front porch. 

We stayed 4 nights in Bonavista.  Plenty to do and see. 

Newfoundland - Day 3 - Dildo

 Left St. John's to head for Bonavista and hopefully leave the rain behind.  First stop was Dildo.  A little off our route but with a name like that we thought it was worth a look.

Great little fishing village 

Rain and Cloud but the weather got better in Dildo

As always.  Lots of colour

Master fish murderer.  
Guts over the side and the gulls went crazy.

Now pay attention George.  

Next on to the Skerwink Trail.  Perhaps the best hiking trail we have been on. 

Swan River Harvest

 A bit of a side trip from the Newfoundland pictures.  

We don't get up to Swan River as much as we used to but still have a few people to visit.  Robert is always a gracious host and put us up for a few nights.

Our visit allowed Lori to put new flowers on her parents grave sites and we took a drive around the countryside allowing me to take a few pictures.  Our first clue that we had hit Saskatchewan was when the clock on the car kept changing time.  Harvest is a great time to drive the countryside and the Swan River valley has lots of rolling hills making it a bit more scenic than the flat Red River valley.  Last year harvest was in full swing but this year it was all but done.  Still got some good shots.  We finished the day off with dinner at the Pizza Place with Marie, Robert and Willetta.

Our drive back took us through Clear Lake.  One of our favourite spots.  We visited Bob & Brenda, long time friends, had lunch and caught up.  We had booked a hotel for the night hoping to get some good sunset and sunrise shots around the lake however Mother Nature had other plans with rain and heavy cloud cover.  The walk along the lake shore was cancelled but breakfast at The Whitehouse, a restaurant and bakery, was not to be denied.  A half dozen cinnamon buns made a trip home with us.     

Lean on me. 

Now back to those Newfoundland pictures. 

Newfoundland Day 2 - Cape Spear / Fort Armitage

 We made a couple more stops on our way back to St. John's.

Cape Spear Historic Lighthouse is the eastern most point on the island.  

Fort Amherst.  Located across the Chanel from Signal Hill and at the entrance to St. John's harbour. 

That's it for Day 2.  Day 3 we are off to Bonavista with a stopover in, wait for it, Dildo.  With a name like that one just has to stop even if it was a little off our route. 

Newfoundland Day 2 Petty Harbour

After getting our feet planted firmly on solid ground again we drove up the coast to a little fishing village called Petty Harbour.  For those Great Big Sea fans this is the home town of Alan Doyle and we were hoping for a sighting.  Alas we missed him by a week.

We had a great lunch and walked around town for a bit, ducking under cover during the squalls that blew in.  Pretty little town and no shortage of colour. 

Some of these would make good postcards. 
Do people still use postcards?

Signage on the side of one of the fishing shacks. 

Drying rack for the days fishing attire 

Coming up a few more stops and the conclusion of Day 2. 

Newfoundland Day 2 Whale and Bird Cruise

Day 2 was highlighted with a boat cruise from Witless Bay out to Gull Island with the guarantee of seeing thousands of birds and the hope of spotting a whale.  It was a pretty calm day, at least according to the captain of our boat.  However once we got out of the bay and onto the open water even the gentle swale of the ocean waves made both Lori and I a bit nauseous.

Somebody spotted a water spout and a whale breaking the surface so the chase was on.  Out to sea we go Billy.  We headed out putting the mainland and gull island further behind us.  The rolling boat and my roiling stomach made it impossible to stand and get a shot of the brief glimpses we had of the whale but it was there.  Every few minutes it would break the surface and we would catch a glimpse of its back or a flipper.  At this point all I wanted to do was head back towards shore. 

Finally we turned back and headed for the relative sheltered waters on the leeward  side of the island.  There we settled in for a great view of tens of thousands of birds.  Taking pictures on a boat with a 400mm lens at a high ISO and then having to crop those shots does not make for crisp pictures, however, while not photography masterpieces they do tell a story.   

The only mermaid we spotted on this day. 

Passed a fishing trawler on our way out to sea. 

Once we got past the point the birds were every where. 

Hard to make out but all those white spots among the
grass are Puffins plus a few gulls in flight

Each Puffin seems to have its own personality
and watching them is often comical. 

Puffins are kind of like big hummingbirds.
Squat, fat bodies with little wings flapping 400 times per minute
to keep aloft.  There is no gliding when your a Puffin.  
Wings stop they plummet to the sea. 

They nest in the little burrows in the hillside

The Common Murre were as plentiful as the Puffins

No songbirds on the island and if there were we wouldn't have heard
them over the screeching of the Puffins, Murre, Kittiwake and other gulls.
About as enjoyable a sound as nails on a blackboard.  

Really couldn't make out the details of what was happening from the
boat but once I cropped my pictures there were lots of interesting
conversations going on between Puffin pairs.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5,... 714, 715....

Puffins use their wings for propelling themselves underwater. 

Where's the Puffin amongst the Murre's.
I found 5.  

So where is Junior.  
I leave you in charge for 5 minutes and we are chickless.  
You know we can only have one chick per year.  
My mother warned me about you and now I'm stuck with you for life. 

Watching them land can be interesting.
Often its ass over teakettle. 
The phrase "graceful as a puffin" has never been uttered. 
See the Puffin butt below the flying Puffin

 Look who is wearing his new sporty racing goggles. 

We leave Gull Island behind. 

The coastline is rugged, often uninhabited by humans and
we mostly had the hiking trails and lookouts to ourselves
and a few other adventurers .
So different than many of the tourist hotspots. 

That's it for the first stop on Day 2.  Lunch at Petty Harbour is our next stop if my stomach would only stop doing flip flops.  Maybe there will be an Alan Doyle sighting.  That would make Lori's day.