Day 18 (Aug. 19) - Twillingate to St. John's, Newfoundland

We woke up at 6am since we had a 415 mile drive today. We rolled out at 7am and had overcast skies with sprinkles. The eastern sky was very pretty this morning and we had the road to ourselves for awhile.

We drove route 340 south out of Twillingate, and picked up 331 towards Gander bay. We then took 330 south to Gander and picked up the TransCanada Highway 1 east. We continued along the TCH1 to 230 north towards Elliston. It rained most of the four hours it took us to journey to Elliston. About 15 minutes from Elliston the rain stopped and we arrived in town around 11:30am.

The first and last 10 miles of the 70 mile diversion from the TCH 1 up to Elliston were pretty rough with potholes. Road conditions were pretty good otherwise. Most of the roads in Canada that we've experienced have two ruts worn into the pavement where the vehicle traffic runs. These ruts act as little troughs when it rains and you wind up with a lot of standing water in the road forcing you to drive to the left or right of the center of the road. Add in the pothole avoidance and you have a lot to focus on while driving these roads. Rob said he feels like he is zig-zagging down the road. 

We followed signs and GPS to the Puffin Viewing Site near the municipal park. We found a spot in the nearby parking lot and made the 10 minute hike out to the peninsula to the Puffin's nesting site. The weather was cloudy but other than a few rain drops, it was dry and breezy. 

We could see hundreds of puffins on two high rock islands. Michele was so relieved that they were there. A man at the artist studio we talked to yesterday said if they aren't there, they are just out to sea feeding and will be back. 

These are Atlantic Puffins. They breed April/May to August/September and thrive in colder waters. Despite looking a bit awkward in flight they are very strong flyers and spend non-breeding months far out at sea. Their average lifespan is 30 years! They normally dive 50 feet to capture many fish in their beaks and can even dive up to 200 feet.

The rock island directly behind us is covered with Puffins.

They were constantly flapping their wings and were very charming.

We were surprised to see many holed up in burrows. Can you see the puffin in the burrow? Peek-a-boo.

We could not hear their distinctive growly sounds over the wind noise and loud seagulls sharing the island. These two were having a conversation.

This one caught fish and brought it back to the burrow presumably to feed its young, called Pufflings.

We stayed for about 30-45 minutes watching them hop around, go in/out of their burrows, and fly back and forth to the ocean. They are quite active compared to osprey, eagles, or even the seagulls. Afterwards, we drove a short way back up the road into town to the Puffin Cafe for a hot turkey sandwich for lunch.

Today's detour of several hours and about 140 miles miles was specifically to see these cool birds. What a treat to be so close to so many of them!

We backtracked the 70 miles to TCH 1 (about an hour or so) then continued our journey east to St. John's, the capital of and largest city in Newfoundland. We passed by the end of the St. John's Harbour.

We arrived at our hotel at 4:30pm and after checking in, took a short walk to a local pizza place for an early dinner. We went back to our room and relaxed for the night.

Tomorrow we plan to drive south to Ferryland to see a lighthouse and, if we are lucky, whale watching.