Day 41 Argentia - Placentia

We are camped at Argentia Sunset RV park. This is an abandon US Navy base until 1994. Now only the roads a a few bunkers remain. Out spot has a great view of the Ferry dock and harbor. We will have to see what sunset there will be.

View from our campsite

Campsite

After lunch it was off the explore Palanecia. First stop is Castle Hill National Historic Site. This site is the remains of a 17th century French fortification. We arrived just in time to see a play reenactment of the French attacking the English in St Johns by going overland in the winter. 

After the play we hiked the trails to see the ruins.

Lastly we walked the boardwalk along the coast in Placentia.

Additional Photos

Day 40 Refueling

Today was a day to restock the food supply which was running low. We needed to take advantage of the real stores here in St Johns. It was also a day of R and R for the two of us. Tomorrow we begin the return  trip to the west coast. Just a short trip over to Argentia, that we will use a as base to explore Cape St Mary's Ecological Reserve on Tuesday. That is it  for today.

Day 39 Flowers and Music

We spent our morning touring the MUN Botanical Reserve. A local garden club was having a flower show. You will see the arrangements in the pictures. The grounds were also very nice. I took a bunch of photos but have little ideas of what all the flowers were except they were pretty.

The afternoon was spent at the George Street Festival. At the main stage they had children playing traditional Newfoundland music. It was a nice way to spend a warm sunny Saturday afternoon. I have include some clips of the performance to give you a sample (they are not real good quality).

Photos here

By the way comments and/or emails are always welcomed.

Day 38 Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve

Today we drove to the southern tip of the Avalon peninsula to explore Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve. This is the site of the oldest fossils that have been found in the world. Similar fossils have been found other places but were not nearly the 576 million years old at these are. It was just named a UNESCO World Heritage Site last year. By the way we had to take our shoes off and wear these beautiful blue booties while walking on the Fossils.

First however we had to go down to the shore where the Caplin were rolling in. These little fish wash up to lay the eggs and die. There were men on shore gathering them up for bait for fishing. They had a half dozen crate full.

Day 37 Puffins and Whales

What a day this was! The first stop was Cape Spear Light house but became distracted by the whales off shore. At one Point we could see four swimming side by side. We spent a lot of time just watching. The lighthouse was just another one with a spectacular view.

Next was our O'Brian boat tour to see birds and whales. I thought we had seen these before but this trip was exceptional. As we rounded the point in to Witless Bay you could see water spouts from the whales in nearly any direction and at anytime you looked. The captain however took use by Witless Island to see the birds first which was amazing. My favorites were the Puffins and Common Cormans.

Then we had the finale was the whale show. I don't have the words to describe the experience. Let's just say I took considerable time to edit the pictures down. Check this out.

Day 36 St Johns - Signal Hill

After a short drive we are parked in Pippy Campground in the middle of St Johns. The sites are very wooded and ours was a little difficult to get into because of the narrow road and cars parked in the way.

After lunch it was off to Signal hill. I must say without the GPS it would be a problem finding your way around. Crooked streets construction and sharp turns make it difficult to maintain your bearings. The lack of standard placement of French and English for many years. It is a great vantage point to watch for whales. There were probably a dozen in the area but too far off for pictures. If you look close you can see one tail flip of a humpback whale.

Cabot Tower

St Johns

Additional pictures

Day 35 Charleston to Bluefin Campground

Another driving day from Charleston to the Bluefin Campground outside St Johns about 40km. The excitement for the day was having to stand on the breaks for a bull moose to cross the road in front of us. We had no time for pictures. He just ran across 4 lanes of traffic unharmed. Thanks goodness traffic was lite. Laundry and showers again. Rain and fog this afternoon and evening. We will see what tomorrow brings.

Heres a late addition sunset photo after the fog lifted..