Newfoundland10

With just a slight taste of Puffin-sighting, I was ready to go; but before we left, we toured the replica of Matthew, John Cabot's ship which landed at Cape Bonavista in 1497.  Little did I know that John Cabot was actually an Italian sailing under British sponsorship, thus the name change.

Not far from Bonavista, is Elliston Lookout, a geocache site and  puffin colony.  With puffins to watch, we almost forgot about the fact that Elliston is the root cellar capital of the world.  We sat down on the grassy bluff and watched puffins flying around the rocky island just a few feet from our perch.

We were able to find lunch at the Seafarer Inn in Port Union, although there was no fish on the menu.

We drove through Trinity, a restored 19th century community, home to a theatre/art enclave. Driving down the peninsula gave us time to take in what we had seen so far:

100's of puffins, gannets, snow geese, black guillemots, one American Black Duck, murres, eiders to name a few. Then, 20 or so icebergs, 3 moose, 3 foxes and 2 kits, 1 coyote, 1 groundhog, 4 dead porcupine, 1 dead black bear.

We found the Horse Brook Trailer Park just outside Fortune, NFL, run by Bridges Employment Corps, providing job training for multi-challenged. They also operate a tea room in town.  We were their only guests for the night.  We failed to find the Horse Brook geocache, a small camo just off the trail.  Maybe too many muggles in the tourist season.

From there we drove to Grand Banks, found a small tea room/cafe for lunch and then toured the Seaman's Museum, a very nice facility.  This is, after all , the Grand Banks with a commercial fishing harbor. Nearby Fortune actually has a larger harbor and has ferry service to the two French islands offshore.

The Fortune Head Ecological Reserve Interpretation Centre is not large, but does have a good explanation of the 500 million-year-old fossils nearby. The drive out to the Fortune Head Lighthouse and geocache was worth the trip just to talk to the two lighthousekeepers. When the guidebooks say to stop and talk, they really mean it.  We had a pleasant chat before driving the rest of Burin Peninsula counter-clockwise. Burin maybe the name, but barren might be the best description since the day became overcast and windy.

Jack's Pond Campground near Arnold's Cove is a lovely site overlooking Placentia Bay.  We drove up a gravel road to a cleared area with a perfect view of the water. Before long, trailers began to arrive and by nightfall all but 2 of the eight sites were taken. We all were backed in a circle like wagon trains.