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
Part 2 of visiting eastern Newfoundland in 2017 – Witless Bay and the Cape Bonavista area. Newfoundland is a truly stunning destination that is very accessible for us jackals in New England.
We took one of the boat tours out of Bay Bulls to the famed seabird nesting colonies of Witless Bay. Here is a section where both Atlantic puffins and Common Murres – the predominant nesting seabirds – could be seen. Puffins nest in the burrows and Murres on the rocks. There are also gulls that nest nearby and predate on the seabirds.
This one cliff-side shows some of the scale for the number of birds nesting here – pretty much entirely murres here.
A gull or other predator caused this massive flight off of the cliff. Truly awe-inspiring. Interestingly, we saw no cetaceans on the boat ride.
Another side trip we took was to Cape Bonavista, our only venture off of the Avalon peninsula. We took a zodiac to go whale and iceberg watching. The zodiac took us through some sea caves.
We saw only one feeding minke whale, but got relatively close to this iceberg. The tour operators fished out some smaller ice chunks out of the water. The chunks hissed and popped as the trapped air bubbles inside were freed.
Later in the day, we took an eco-tour to some sea stacks near Dungeon state park where you could get close to nesting puffins and guillemots. We missed getting super-close, but did see this puffin pair across on one of the sea stacks. Our guide said that the puffins here had no success raising their young because a pair of ravens patrolled the area. Sadly, we saw one of the ravens carrying off a young puffling.
The sea stacks themselves were amazing!
We also took a side trip to the bottom of Conception Bay for a short hike on the Manuels River. There were some good-looking swimming holes frequented by the locals along the river. We didn’t brave them, nor any of the lakes nor the ocean during our trip. But this duck family enjoyed a ride on one of the rapids.
eclare
Those sea stacks are amazing. Do you think at one point they were connected?
Paul in Jacksonville
Did you put the glacier ice in cocktails, a la Martha Stewart?
Winter Wren
@eclare: I googled some as I didn’t remember the details of that particular sea stack. It is called the Chimney and is an igneous intrusion. This is actually at Spillar’s Cove. So, yes, it seems like softer sandstone around it eroded leaving the stack. https://discoverygeopark.com/geosite/spillars-cove-the-chimney
Winter Wren
@Paul in Jacksonville: I didn’t know that was a thing! But we did take souvenir pictures holding them.
Kristine
Lovely photos!
(I feel bad for the puffins, though. I love corvids except sometimes I don’t)
stinger
Great photos! What a trip!
Wag
The sea stack is really cool. An igneous version of a desert sandstone tower
eclare
@Winter Wren:
Thanks! These photos were a treat, I am in Memphis and doubt I’ll ever get there.
Citizen_X
@eclare: Yes, as a matter of fact, sea caves/arches are how they start. Headlands bend the waves so they wrap around the head, and the wave energy attacks the rocks at the waterline, behind the head.
Origuy
The closest I’ve gotten to Newfoundland was Sydney, Nova Scotia. My hotel window looked out to the ferry terminal. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to ride the ferry.
Winter Wren
@Origuy: When I was a teenager, my family took the ferry and camped across Newfoundland, stopping at Gros Morne, Twillingate, Terra Nova and near St. Johns. The trip back was a little scary – the ferry is huge, but waves were breaking across the bow in a storm. Almost everyone got seasick!
Gary K
Witless Bay — sounds like a place a visit often!
Gary K
@Gary K: I meant “I visit often” (thereby proving my remark).
NutmegAgain
My goodness, WinterWren, such gorgeous photos. Was it cold yet? Have you been during winter? My comment about dogs from Part I was related to Newfoundland dogs (although I think Greyhounds are dandy). I’ve been a Newfy enthusiast for close to 30 years. My life is built around fur, drool, swimming, drool, vet test results, fur, grooming, and and the love of a good dog. I have a cache of Newfs-from-Newfoundland stories as well, where they used to crew the fishing boats alongside humans.
Winter Wren
@NutmegAgain: Thank you. Generally the temperature on land was very pleasant, but much cooler on the water. The Zodiac folks gave us warm full body zippered suits to wear, which doubled as flotation. We saw no actual representative of the dog breed as far as I recall, but I think we did see some monument to the dog in St. John’s. Sounds like a satisfying life you lead 😀.