On Wednesday we woke up and got ready at a liesurely pace. I went for anrun along the harbour road and enjoyed more of the beautiful scenery that Bonavista had to offer. We had breakfast in the Harbour Quarters restaurant and checked out ready for the next leg of our journey. We fueled up and were on our way. The drive was long and took us through Gander. But the scenery wan unparalleled. The first part of the drive took us along the shoreline so we were treated to a lot of land, sea, and sky. We spotted a bald eagle sitting on a tree top overlooking the water, waiting to catch its food. I was able to get a great shot of him from the side of the road.
We had a brief pit stop at the slowest Tim Horton's in Canada and then were back on the road again. Newfoundland roads are full of pot holes and once in a while a helpful sign warning us of pot holes. The TransCanada was a fairly smooth journey except for the 20 km stretch that was undergoing culvert repair every 100m or so. The GPS had us take a couple of unusual turns and sometimes had us located in the middle of the trees as opposed to on the actual road but turned out to be a fairly useful companion all in all. If anything else, she was someone to blame if we ended up in the wrong spot or taking an unplanned detour.
We arrived in beautful Twillingate at about 4:30. The weather was misty and rainy on and off and it was a grey type of day but perfect for travel. We checked into another lovely room and made plans for the evening.
Dinner was had on site at Georgie's Restaurant. Dad and I both had the lobster. We were lucky enough to get the last two lobsters that the restaurant had to offer. Like so much on this trip, it was just meant to be. The restaurant overlooked Twillingate Harbour which boasts beautiful scenery. Then the rain came down pretty hard althought that did not last too long.
The Captain's Pub, downstairs, was our next stop of the evening. Matthew Hornell, a Newfoundland musician, was playing there for the evening. Dad and I enjoyed a pint and some music. Matthew Hornell does not play traditional Newfoundland music rather singer songwriter style of music with some Bluegrass. He is worth listening to and is in the middle of a cross Canada tour. Check his website out at www.matthewhornell.com. We sat at a table with a couple from Ottawa and were able to swap Newfoundland travelling stories.
After a good night sleep we decided to head out to the lighthouse at Crow's Head to enjoye the panoramic views. Along the road, before we reached the lighthouse, there was a meagerly signed dirt road we decided to follow. This road lead to a small look out point. We parked and sat on a picnic table. The view was spectacular. We looked out to a couple of rocky islands directly in front of us. To the left, the land curved a bit, and to the right, we could see the top of the lighthouse. We spotted a number of icebergs from this vantage point. Also, we began to see the tell tale release of mist that means there are whales in the area. Once again, dad and I were able to view a number of whales popping up above the surface of the water. This area seemed to be a protected part of the ocean, similar to the area where we saw a lot of whales in Bonavista. We assume that this was a great spot for caplin once again. One spectacular find was a whale that was continually smacking its tail against the water. We have been told by locals that they do this in order to remove barnacles that are stuck to their body.
After some viewing at this location, we headed back into Crow's Head for a coffee and muffin, a late breakfast. Our mission to find a breakfast location having been intercepted by the whales. We met a family vacationing from Montreal. We had a chat about focusing on the scenery and taking mental images to store up in our memory rather than constantly snapping scenery or viewing whales through your phone as you record video. Having enjoyed our breakfast, we headed to the lighthouse for more scenery and whale watching.
The afternoon was our whale watching boat tour with Iceberg Quest Ocean Tours. We were on the 1pm tour. As Captain Arthur took us out to the location where dad and I had been overlooking from the lighthouse this morning, he told us the history of Twillingate and pointed out spots of interest within the harbour. But the highlight of the boat tour was the icebergs and the whales. We were able to get extremely close to both. The icebergs being 15 000 to 25 000 years old are different shades of blue and white. The are intricately shaped, appearing to have been carved of ice. We circled around a number of icebergs. We were told that within eyesight, there were upwards of 60 icebergs. We boated around growlers and past bergie bits while enjoying an Iceberg Beer.
We spotted a number of humpback whales. The were mainly popping up for air and diving down in a shallow manner to come up again, or, when you see their tail, they were diving down for a longer time. Captain Arthur was able to get us metres away from a couple of whales. He told use he would get us close enough so smell their breath. The tour was two hours and as we were coming back into the harbour, the mate pointed out a couple of additional humpbacks. Captain Arthur pause and were were amazed to witness the humpbacks smacking their flukes against the water repeatedly. Once again, we were metres away from these whales. We were able to watch this activity for a bit until we were told it was time to head home. I sat at the back of the boat for the entire tour and was able to watch the humpback wave us almost all the way back to harbour.
We couldn't have ordered better weather for the day has been sunny and hot on land and warm on water. As dad said today, each day seems to bring us new treats. We couldn't have ordered a more perfect vacation if we had tried. We have been able to experience everything that any tourist would want to see while travelling to Newfoudland.
One interesting thing that I have noticed about travel is that, most often, strangers are willing to chat with strangers. Striking up a conversation with a stranger on home turf is not often done. But when we are all from away, it seems to provide people with the icebreaker to begin a conversation. Shared experiences about travel and advise or suggestions about where to head next are offered. We have met some interesting people on this trip. A couple we met last night were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary with a three month road trip around the Maritimes. The couple from Ottawa were enjoying a vacation together in Newfoundland. We met a few people out at the lighthouse this morning. The gentleman was a retired police officer who loved travelling with his wife and we swapped stories about places we had visited in Europe. We haven't yet met anyone who has won their trip but people seem to find that to be an interesting part of our story.
So now, dad and I will be off to dine at The Canvas Cove Bistro. Fish is on the menu for tonight's dinner. Got to grab all the fresh seafood we can while on the east coast.
Life if good.
Sounds like an awesome day :)
ReplyDelete