A Day for All Seasons

Yesterday was a day of driving. Dad and I left Twillingate by 9am, after a run and packing up again, we stopped off at The Newfie Fog Cafe for a coffed and an iced cinnamon bun (to share). Driving day was essentially a lot of "hey, look at that beautiful view" and "watch out for that pot hole" and "there's another sign for construction work with not construction workers anywhere to be seen". We made stops in Gander and Clarenville for stretches and coffee.  

We made it back to St. John's by about 4pm with one slight moose viewing. We checked back into our olde haunt, The Sheraton. Back in St. John's, we enjoyed a light salad dinner and then drove up to Signal Hill to watch the ocean and the sun set over the city. It seems like a lot of the city had the same idea as us as there were many cars and hikers at Signal Hill. The wind was up and as the sun was setting we decided to head downtown. We drove along Water Street, and again, it seems like everyone else had the same idea. There was a lot of traffic downtown and it seems that people were just driving back and forth on Water Street. So we bacame a part of what livyers do on a St. John's Friday night!  

This morning we were up early (by the alarm) in order to head out to Cape Broyle for our sea kayaking adventure. As an experienced kayaker, I was not worried. Dad, on the other hand, was a bit anxious. The major issue was getting out of St. John's as the GPS was not working when we got started this morning and I had totally be relying on the GPS to get us anywhere. So, we circled until the satellites decided to connect to our car. Then we were off. There was a bit of a discrepency between the travel times to Cape Broyle listed by MAXXIM Vacations, Stan Cook Sea Kayaking Adventures, Google Maps, and the GPS. Anywhere from a 45 minute drive from St.John's to 1hour and 24minutes. So, having circled a bit waiting on these satellites, I was getting a bit concerned that we would not make Cape Broyle on time. Alas, we arrived at Stan Cook with 15 minutes to spare.   Stan needs to work on a bit better signage leading to his shop. Having said that, there were quite a number of people who found there way there. The small shop where we signed waivers was packed. There were a couple of work groups going out ahead of us. Once they were all cleared out, we met Daniel, a young Irish guy, who was to be our tour guide. Daniel was whitty and informative during the entire tour.  

Our group was made up of 6 people besides Daniel. We were given life vest and headed down to the water for lessons on paddling and steering. We were all assigned double kayaks, so dad and I shared. I was situation in the back, which meant that I was in charge of the rudder. I learned quickly that I don't learn quickly. The entire two hours was me choosing the wrong direction with the rudder peddles. Dad set the pace and I tried to keep up. Thank God for dad's paddling experiece as it was required to paddles us around waterfalls and squeeze into caves.  

Daniel had us follow the shoreline fairly closely. We stopped along the way to learn about vegetation, wildlife, rock formations, and lore about the area. We learned about a couple of types of seaweed and got an up close and personal encounter with a sea urchin. Daniel even used a knife to cut a sea urchin in half. By cutting it in half he exposed the uni which is gonads of the sea urchin and apparently a worth $40 an ounce. People dive for sea urchins in order to get the uni to sell. This is often served in Japanese resaurants. And we all tasted this delicacy. To me, it tasted of salt water and reminded me of salmon sushi. Daniel told us that cutting the sea urchin in half is not as destructive as it sounds as he said the reproduce this way. BUT as I have now been researching on line I can't actually find evidence of this. All information tells me that sea urchins reproduce sexually, similarly to how Pacific salmon spawn. So, there you have it, wildlife destruction.  

Daniel then took us around to a beautiful waterfall where he took our photo with the camera of a fellow kayaker. I gave Mark my email and hopefully he will email us the photo so that we will have the kayaking adventure evidence! We crossed over the narrow part of the cape and headed to the other side. There, we entered Satan's Nostrils which was two narrow cave openings. We were unable to use the paddles in these caves as the passages were so narrow. We had to use our hands to move us along the cave and the return backwards to be "sneezed" out of the nostril. I thought this was a pretty cool experience, dad said he prefers to be where he can see the sky.  

Daniel took us along to a shelled beach and explained to us that this was an area where caplin spawned and that when the caplin were spawning, the beach was covered with them. This cape becomes filled with capling. And, as we have learned, where there are caplin, there are humpbacks. Daniel told us that humpbacks have been known to come far into Cape Broyle but unfortunatley (or fortunately if you are dad) we did not see a whale there today.  At this point, we saw a young eagle soaring past.

The trip back across the cape was the most challenging part of our two hour adventure as it was a bit choppy and we were heading against the wind. When we returned to the dock area, we charged up onto the slotted wooden dock where Stan met us and pulled us up farther out of the water. After unfolding from the kayak and taking a stroll to stretch ourselves out, we headed back to the shop to view a map that demonstrated where we had just kayaked. Altogether, we paddled about 6 kilometres. Dad said that, even though he had been nervous about the kayaking adventure, he was glad that he had done it. It told him that sometimes it is good to do things that make us nervous. He said he wasn't so sure about that. Whatever the opinion, we enjoyed our adventure at sea.  

We continued south to Ferryland. Here, we were heading to the Ferryland lighthouse. The lighthouse is at the top of a very tall hill over looking The Atlantic. We were able to drive half way up the hill and then we had to climb the last kilometre to the to.  I think that, in Newfoundland, you can experiece all seasons in the course of a day. At Stan's we were able to kayak without a jacket and enjoyed calm waters (for the most part) while paddling around. By the time we got out of the car at Ferryland, it was extremely windy, the sky was looking distinctively grey, and a large bank of fog was making its way over the light house.  

Dad and I donned our heavier jackets and headed up the hill. In the unprotected areas, hats were at the mercy of the wind. There were some areas of the path that were protected by trees on either side and that cut the wind considerably. At the top of the hill stood the large, red lighthouse where we were able to order our picnic. The weather outside was not condusive to picnicing and we decided to head up the stairs to the second floor of the lighthouse where our meal was served. We enjoyed a delicious salad, sandwich, and dessert. This was accompanied by the famous homemade lemonade in a mason jar. This was a simply delicious, and filling meal. As we ate, we watched the fog pass by the window. At some points, we were unable to see the end of the land. But, by the time we were done eating, the fog was moving off and we were able to walk around a bit and take in the beautiful view.  

We headed back down the path to the car and down to the Avalon Interpretation Centre. At the centre, we bought tickets for a tour of the Avalon Coloy, Newfoundland's oldest colony. This colony was originally settle in 1621. From that point, there has only been one winter where there was no habitation in Ferryland. We walked over 400 year old cobble stone streets and learned about the colony. About 50% of the colony has been excavated and it is currently an active archeological site.  

Having been on the go from 8 am it was time to head back to St. John's. We were treated to another up close encounter with a moose. Alhough we stopped at the side of the road to get a better look, she quickly ducked back into the forest. I made one necessary stop at Tim's for a necessary coffee. We got back to St. John's around 4:30. I was really exhausted and we decided to have our meal in the hotel and pack and get organized ourselves for our last Newfoundland adventure. Tomorrow, we will be heading to Bay Bulls to O'Brien's Whale Watching and Puffin tour. This is the same tour where I saw Murdoch last year when I was with Kim and Sharon. So we will see if any other famour person decides to grace us with their presence. Although we have not met anyone famous on this journey, we did stay in the same  inn as Gordon Pinsent. So that is our only claim to fame so far this year.  

I can't believe that a week has already passed by and that we will be leaving The Rock tomorrow. But I am so glad that I have had the opportunity to share this trip with Dad. It has been an adventure and a real pleasure.