Day 17 (Aug. 18) - Whales and Ospreys

Today we finally saw a whale! More on that later. We joined the other inn guests for a pancake and sausage breakfast this morning. We chatted with the couples, one of which was from Newfoundland, so they gave us suggestions on what to see on our trip to St. John's tomorrow. Another couple from Ontario has a wheat farm and plans to visit Washington, D.C. in October. They told us they were on the same harbor cruise on Tuesday afternoon as us, as was the Premier of Newfoundland. 

We got out the door around 9:30am and planned to visit the Long Point Lighthouse area and hiking trails. Although we did not tour the lighthouse, we spent the morning hiking the trails around it that hugged the coast. 

It was then Rob spotted our first Newfoundland whale!

Michele said she saw one show its flipper. We spent about three hours walking around and enjoying the scenery.

Around 12:45pm we finished the hiking trails and drove to the Black Crow Cafe for lunch. We shared their vegetarian lentil soup and beef and cheese panini. Both were delicious and we had a view of the harbor from our window. 

After lunch, we drove 10 minutes to nearby Spiller's Cove that was recommended by our Gros Morne hiking guide Chloe. This area had 7km of hiking trails around the coastline. We couldn't believe it was possible to be more beautiful than our morning scenery, but it was.

After awhile, Rob saw a whale again. Or so we think. Maybe it was an orca?  At this time an older couple hiked over and Rob told them we could see whales. They were so excited and sat nearby waiting for them to surface. The whales were further out than at the other location. A tour boat with some lucky customers were very close to this whale as it breached the surface. The boat obscured our view a bit, but we could still see the whale.

We then discovered an osprey nest on a tall rock outcropping! There were two large chicks on the nest. 

Aren't they gorgeous? At one point the male brought back a fish for the chicks. Later, a crow was squawking nearby and the female left the nest to go chase it off. A man who was photographing them said he's been watching this nest every year for ten years. We stayed a long time to take pictures and videos. Then we walked down to the beach area and watched the seagulls. They were noisy and comical.

This little squirrel paid us a visit. It looks similar to our regular gray squirrels at home but is only slightly larger than a chipmunk.

By 3:45pm we hiked back to the car then drove back to town to grab items at the grocery store for our early breakfast tomorrow. At 5pm we went back to Annie's Harbor Restaurant where we ate last night and shared the Screech Chicken, salad and another cheesecake. Screech is the #1 selling dark rum in Newfoundland. 

The harbor looked colorful in the late afternoon sun.

Today was the best weather we've had in our time in Newfoundland, maybe the whole trip so far. It was 65-70 and sunny all day. The sunsets in Newfoundland never disappoint. This is the view from our balcony.

Tomorrow we depart for St. John's on the eastern coast.

Day 16 (Aug. 17) - Rocky Harbour to Twillingate, Newfoundland

After a busy day yesterday packed with activities, we had an easy 268 mile drive today towards the north central part of the island. We reluctantly said goodbye to Diane and Peter and wished them well on selling the B&B and starting their new dream life in Baja, Mexico. We said that if they are ever in the U.S. to let us know and maybe we can rendezvous on the bikes. Diane said she'd likely give us a week's notice to meet them in Utah. Rob said, "Let's go!" 

The weather was perfect this morning with blue sky, sun and a few clouds. 

We got out the door at 9am. Our destination was Twillingate. Take a look at a map to see where this unique place is. It's in a region called the Isles because there are so many. 

We drove highway 430 out to the TransCanadian Highway 1 East. We encountered some fog as we drove through the mountains. 

At Noon we arrived in the town of Grand Falls-Windsor at the Juniper Kitchen & Cafe. We shared a turkey sandwich on sourdough with a cranberry relish. When Michele ordered ice tea, the waitress said, "Just so you know, we make it ourselves with real tea leaves, it's not from a can. Do you still want it?" Why, yes! Michele asked if people really don't like the real stuff and she said yes. It was Rooibos, which has a distinctive taste, so that may be why. 

After lunch we had just two or so hours to go. We were warned by several travelers that the roads to Twillingate would be terrible once we turned off Canada 1. About 15 miles before we exited TCH 1, we passed this group of motorcycles pulling trailers. They looked to be on a great adventure.

We turned north at the Notre Dam junction to Highway 340. For the first 5-10 minutes it had a lot of potholes, ripples, patches and dips.

Near a construction area, Rob learned where his arm has been this whole time.

Then the road smoothed out and was very good for the next 45 miles to Twillingate. We only hit additional rough roads the last 5-10 minutes into Twillingate. 

We arrived at our B&B just before 3pm. The host texted the self-check in codes and we found our room at the top. It's a spacious room and we can see the cove from our little step landing outside. We opened the windows and relaxed for two hours. 

Right when Michele was thinking that this house is in a cute seaside neighborhood, the people who live in the house next door had a fight. It was loud, angry and lasted 20 minutes. They yelled over each other the entire time and repeated themselves, so clearly they weren't finding a resolution (nor wanted to.) Michele thought about hollering over to them to be quiet and take it inside, but Rob wisely warned that they would likely join forces to yell at us. He discreetly shut our windows instead. By the time we left for dinner all was quiet next door. 

Just a five minute drive into town, we found Annie's Restaurant right on the water. They had a nice table open by the window so we both had great views of the Twillingate Harbour. We ordered a burger with rhubarb jam, sweet potato fries and turtle cheesecake for dessert. These are views of the harbour and town.

Our room has Netflix so we watched a movie and ate our cheesecake. Rob also scoped out a few sightseeing locations and small hikes for us to explore tomorrow.

Day 15 (Aug. 16) - Tablelands, Trout River, SE Brook Falls and Lobster Cove Lighthouse

The weather improved today and we made the most of it. Breakfast included several new guests, four of which were at our table. They were friends from Pennsylvania, two of whom were from Canada originally, and back for family visits. They were in their 70s and very spunky. After laughs and great eats from Diane and Peter, we raced out the door just before 9am to make the 10am tour at the Tablelands. 

The Tablelands is part of Gros Morne national park, at the southern end, and a must-see. It is separated by two bodies of water and takes an hour to drive around it to get to the other side of the park. We took highway 430 south along the coast to Wiltondale, then took 431 south. Without wind the water was a big mirror.

We missed the gas station in town, so we stopped off in Silver Point. Michele noticed that the convenience store was pristine and the attached mechanics garage had several very tidy bays with cars/trucks getting fixed. Back on the road, we had to make haste for our tour. We were starting to see the big change in the mountain's appearance and were excited to soon learn all about it.

As we crested the hill, Rob said we left too late. Michele saw the group already gathered in the parking lot and said that we had six minutes to spare so we'd definitely make it.

This tour is offered free with the park admission and our group had 50+ attendees since it is only offered once per day. Rebecca was our guide and led us on the trail, stopping to explain the unique geology along the way. We learned that 500 million years ago, when two ancient super continents existed, the tectonic plates came together through subduction. But, instead of only the crust of one plate moving on top of the plate being subducted, the earth's mantle along with the ocean crust above it (about 7km thick) was forced on top. After millions of years of erosion (mostly from glaciation), the ocean crust on top of the mantel was worn away leaving the rock from the mantel exposed. The Tablelands is the result of that. It's the largest area in the world where the mantle is above ground and accessible to see. It's very important geologically and the rocks are called Peridotite. It is a very heavy stone (much more so than granite) and is rarely seen on the earth's surface. It is gray in color, but due to the iron in the rock, the exposed surfaces oxidize to a rust brown color, and that's what is seen on the mountains. Its mineral content is heavily composed of metals making it toxic to plants but some have adapted in this harsh environment. This toxicity is why there are so few plant forms on the Tablelands giving it a very distinctive barren characteristic compared to the surrounding areas. We learned that several carnivorous plants live in this area! Some were so tiny we thought they were just weeds.

The tiny little red plants below are the meat eating plants.

This one is the pitcher plant, Newfoundland's provincial flower. The name is due to the plant looking a bit like a pitcher you would use to pour liquids from. Our guide said it digests the poop of the flies that go in to eat the bugs caught within. Look very closely at the upper edge and you see hair like strands that point downward. This keeps bugs from climbing out when the go in.

Our tour guide took out small squeeze droppers and sucked out some of what was inside the plants' "stomachs" so we could see. At this point, Michele lost her appetite to eat the apple she brought.

Once our tour finished, we walked a bit further to reach the end of the trail. 

Rob wanted to climb to the top. Our guide told us it can be done, and there are recommended routes, but not on a day like today with fog at the top. We wondered what it might be like at the top.

When done, we drove 20 minutes over to Trout River for lunch at Seaside Restaurant. We had a great view of the Trout River Bay. Rob had a delicious fish chowder and Michele had a ham sandwich. She tasted the chowder and agreed it was very good. After lunch we walked along the short boardwalk by the dark sandy beach, and found 150 steps leading up to the Eastern Point Trail. 

We walked a bit and when it got muddy, Michele said she was going back. Rob went further, but the trail ended right in a waterfall. Up on the ridge we got incredible views of the quiet bay.

Rob noticed this bird that seemed to be molting as its feathers were a bit sparse on its head.

Back on the road, we stopped at the Discovery Center which is more like the visitor center we were expecting. It had exhibits about the Mi'kmaq people and the park geology. We watched a movie that showed drone footage of the entire park.

It was about 3pm by now, so we made the rest of the drive back towards Rocky Harbour. The day became sunny and beautiful by this point. We decided this drive around the water had the most incredible views of the trip so far. 

Along the way we stopped at South East Brook Falls. After a peaceful walk through the trees and ferns, with signs along the way telling people to relax and enjoy the peace, we arrived at this cool waterfall. 

Then, we headed back to town and over to the Lobster Cove Lighthouse. While there we bumped into one of our hotel guests and talked to her about what we've seen and what activities she did. She's from Ottawa and knew the town where Ray and Chantal live. At the lighthouse we walked 3-4 small trails around it and down to the beach area. 

This is Gros Morne mountain. The top of this mountain use to be a beach over 500 million years ago when Newfoundland was south of the equator!

By now it was about 6:15pm so we went to the cafe to get takeout for dinner. We did some packing and then Rob went out to photograph the sunset. The picture below (a 30 second exposure) is looking out the mouth of Rocky Harbour towards Lobster Cove Lighthouse. You can see the lighthouse's beam of light reflecting off the still water of the harbour.  

Today was a great day and we're so lucky to have had very good weather to see and experience as much as we did on our last day in this area. It will be sad to say goodbye to Diane and Peter, as we've been so comfortable here. Tomorrow we head north to Twillingate.