On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Winter Wren
Hi, decade long time lurker here. In 2017, Spanish Moss and I (along with some of our boys) took our 4th of July weeklong vacation in Newfoundland. We rented a house in Bauline on Conception Bay. Bauline is within easy commuting distance of St. John’s, the only major city on the Avalon peninsula. Whales, sea birds and rugged coastal vistas were on our vacation agenda.
Bauline is a small (non-tourist!) fishing village of about 20 houses with a man-made harbor. This is the view from our rental’s balcony of the busy harbor. Every day, we saw lobster boats going out or returning, as well as minke whales and gannets passing by going up and down the coast. We quickly found that the easiest way to spot whales is to look for circling or following gannets in the sky above and watch to see if a whale would surface.
I liked the composition of the lupines in front of this abandoned boat looking across Conception Bay. This view is from the quarry which was used to build the breakwater of the town harbor. Far across on the other side of the bay is an enormous grounded iceberg, barely visible as a white speck above the stern of the boat.
The rest of the family caught summer colds just as we arrived, so I did a solo hike one day on the East Coast Trail to the hill overlooking Bauline harbor. On sunny days, the water near the rocky shore is crystal clear.
A spotted sandpiper pretended to have a broken wing in a small meadow on the hike. Presumably, there were young or a nest nearby, but I was unable to see them.
View from the top of the hike looking back down on Bauline harbor. You can see a few of the houses (our rental was the yellow house), the quarry and the boat near the quarry. Bell Island is in the distance on the right behind some tree branches.
Every day, when we didn’t have a day-long side trip planned, we went to Signal Hill at the entrance to the St. John’s harbor to enjoy the vistas and to watch a pod of resident humpbacks and their attendant gannets. Opposite Signal Hill, active duty Fort Amherst here continues to guard the excellent deep water harbor.
We took too many pictures to count of the humpback pod. Here one is diving to feed while another is resting on the surface. You can see the paler looking fins through the clear water.
Spectators on the hill were enjoying the humpback show and the gannets flying about. In addition to being able to drive to the top of Signal Hill, there is also a path from a city neighborhood along the bottom of the harbor entrance cliff which we took on our last day. Excellent views without being too scary.
Looking down the coast toward the headlands of Cape Spear – claiming to be the most easterly point of North America. Further down the coast is Witless Bay and its famous seabird nesting colonies (featured in part 2). Bonus whale tail in the foreground.
eclare
The water is so blue! I had no idea. Looks like it gets cold in the winter!
raven
Sweet
AM in NC
That photo with the lupines was straight out of Miss Rumphius! I loved reading that to my kids when they were little. Thanks for sharing these – makes me want to visit, and isn’t that the point of these posts?!
J.
Very cool and beautiful! Thanks for sharing!
MazeDancer
Beautiful!
JPL
Lovely photos!
OzarkHillbilly
Looks peaceful. My folks loved Newfoundland, went there 3 times iirc.
Albatrossity
Gorgeous! Newfoundland is on my bucket list, and it may have just moved up a notch or two!
Lapassionara
Lovely! Thanks for sharing.
stinger
Wonderful photos and stories! Thanks!
arrieve
Wonderful way to start the day! I love Newfoundland and would love to go back some day.
Rachel Bakes
Gorgeous and sounds like my kind of vacation.
KM in NS
Newfoundland is a wonderful place to visit! I’ve been twice. The scenery is amazing.
pieceofpeace
The crystal blue Bauline harbor water looks refreshing as the temps soar in NoCA.
The land and water look vast and immense. Thank you.
StringOnAStick
We’ve been considering a trip to eastern Canada; Newfoundland just moved to the top of the list for that region, thank you!
Redshift
Beautiful!
NutmegAgain
Wonderful pictures.
And of course one comment: what no dogs!?!
way2blue
Winter Wren. That’s my kind of vacation—reminds me of visiting Vancouver Island in 2019 and watching a pod of Orca circling just offshore.. I’ve been wanting to visit Nova Scotia. Now I’m intrigued by Newfoundland. Thanks for sharing.
Winter Wren
@NutmegAgain: Our greyhound at the time was not one for traveling.
Dagaetch
Lovely. I keep thinking about a drive up to that area to explore, really should do that one day.
Winter Wren
@way2blue: Vancouver is on my bucket list. Seeing a pod of orcas would be awesome!