Newfoundland15 - Avalon Peninsula3 - St Mary's Ecological Reserve

Talk about a "natural high", the fossils, the brisk wind, tenacious plant life and a curious seal made this one of the most perfect days ever.  Happy that we took the time to visit the fossil beds, we motored on to St Vincent's where we had heard that whales can often be seen near shore.  We pulled into a parking area with picnic sites next to a rocky beach and started to get out of the van when a fellow camper from Ontario motioned to us to stay put.  He had been watching the whales all day from his motorhome.  Yes, they were that close.  He told us to look for gannet flying overhead because they look for fish.  The whales know that and they follow.  Schools of fish come really close to shore and the whales follow.  This was too good to be true!  We stayed the night.

Whale watching at St Vincent's

The long curved beach with a steep sand and gravel mix provided the opportunity for excellent viewing.  We saw 10-12 humpback whales cruise the shoreline.

We had been fortunate that we had arrived during a period of clear days, so we left the next morning for St Mary's because we knew we wanted to see the gannet colony there.  No need for a guide to take us; we hiked out 1.5 km to the gannet colony.

Atlantic Gannets at St Mary's Ecological Reserve

Murres and kittiwakes

In the second picture taken from the footpath, the middle bluff looks like it sticks out and this is where we walked to and sat down just a few feet from the gannets. Wow!  To our right were the murres and razorbills (black) and some Black-footed Kittiwakes. To gain some perspective, slightly above and to the left of that middle bluff, it looks like it is a bit level and there appears to be some yellow there.  That's where all the people were. I know, you can't see them; but compare that to the size of the bluffs and you can get a sense of what 100's of thousands of gannets look like when they come to Newfoundland to nest.

Knowing we had just experienced a most spectacular sight, we were feeling pretty content and so on day #42 we were ready to leave Newfoundland.  We were not scheduled to leave on the ferry just yet, but we drove to the ferry dock at Argentia and asked if there was room.  No Problem! One week ahead of schedule. but early enough in the season to get a space for the van and a room for the night aboard.  As we enjoyed a buffet dinner, we watched dolphins and whales. Such a nice way to say goodbye to Newfoundland.