Although the day started out cool and misty, we again enjoyed great weather for our boat trip out of Bay Bulls, south of St. John's. Bay Bulls was the first permanent English settlement in Newfoundland, being occupied at least seasonally since 1635. Over the next 2 centuries, French forces repeatedly invaded and burned the town during the struggle between France and England for control of Newfoundland. Each time, the English and Irish inhabitants rebuilt the town and continued their successful fishery. The deep bay is sheltered by headlands on both sides, and opens to the southeast, providing a harbor sheltered from the worst winter storms.
After an initial engine problem and transfer to a different boat, we were off. We motored along the shore, and wondered how the boat in this photo ended up way up above the water line.
All through Newfoundland, people paint their houses in bright cheery colors - perhaps to offset their long, dark winters?
A pretty waterfall cascaded down the rocky face of the headland. This picture really illustrates why they call Newfoundland "The Rock" - the whole island is rock covered by very thin soil.
The first whales we saw were fin whales - the longest of the whale family, with just a small fin set way back on their bodies. This whale has its head to the right, and the fin on the left - its back end and flukes aren't visible. Be sure to click on the photo to see a larger version. These whales move very quickly, up to 12.5 miles per hour, and we were lucky to have them in sight long enough to get several good pictures.
As the fin whales swam off, we spotted a group of humpback whales, who came right up alongside our boat. A mother and her calf were so close we could almost touch them.
When a whale exhales, you don't want to be down wind - their breath is quite odoriferous. Whale poop on the otherhand, is actually quite pretty!
After watching the whales for a good long time, we continued south along the coast to the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, a group of 4 islands that serve as a nesting colony for puffins, murres, and razorbills. Only research scientists are allowed to land on these islands - the rest of us look from the sea. Since these rocky islets rise quite steeply, we were able to get close enough for a good look. If you click on the photo, you can see many birds flying overhead (all those black spots in the sky).
Puffins dig burrows in the hillside as their nests, and what looks like just a grassy hillside is actually pocketed with hundreds of puffin homes.
Tom was able to get a much better picture of the razorbills here than at the Cape St. Mary's rookery. The razorbills have interesting white cross-hatching on their heavy bills.
More puffins:
The green tent is a shelter/blind for the scientists who observe the colony. I can't say I'd like to spend much time perched right above all these birds with their smelly output!
After we returned to Bay Bulls, several of our caravan members met at a local restaurant for what was becoming our standard Newfoundland lunch - fish and chips made with incredibly fresh haddock, and seafood chowder that was different at every place, but always delicious.
In the afternoon, we went to Cape Spear on our way back to our temporary home at Pippy Park in St. John's - Cape Spear and Signal Hill will be the next subject covered in this blog.
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