July 9-14, 2023

We drove into St. John’s, Newfoundland on Sunday with our Florida friends Bill & Beverly for a two night stay. It was just after noon when we arrived so we decided to go to The Rooms Museum for lunch in their 4th floor cafe. We had heard from several people that the views of the coast from there were stunning. Unfortunately….you guessed it…it was foggy and we couldn’t even see the water at all.

Oh well, making the best of it we enjoyed seaweed gin & tonics and this fancy Caesar (a cocktail created and consumed primarily in Canada, similar to a Bloody Mary except made with Clamato instead of tomato juice). Oh, and the food was pretty good too 🙂

After our meal we strolled through the museum, learning some interesting Newfoundland history. For instance almost half of the current population are descendants of Irish immigrants who came over primarily from Waterford, Ireland in 1700-1850 to support the cod fishing industry.

We checked into our hotel and later that night went down to the pedestrian walkway by the water and had dinner at an Irish pub, The Celtic Hearth, which we thought was appropriate.

The next morning we drove south to Bay Bulls for our 2-hour whale and bird watching tour with O’Briens Boat Tours. I was  especially excited to be able to see the Atlantic puffin, Newfoundland’s Provincial bird. We had seen some in Alaska in the past but nothing like what they have here at the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve (North America’s largest colony of over 500,000 puffins!). Puffins mate for life and return to the same spot for a couple of months each summer to be reunited with their mate in the same burrow, lay one egg and raise their puffling together. The rest of the year they spend out at sea. A puffin spends the first few years of its life at sea until it is fully grown and then it returns to its birthplace ready to find a mate. Another interesting fact is that puffins can dive up to 200 feet flapping their wings under water. Wow, such fascinating birds!

Here is what they look like (unfortunately this is a picture of someone else’s picture but I wanted you to see how beautiful and unique they are up close).

Shortly after taking off on our trip it was announced that there were humpback whales in the area so we headed off in that direction knowing that the birds would wait for us. We got to see quite a few whales all around the boat so it was very exciting. I know that the pictures are unimpressive but when you are right up next to these 60 foot, 80,000 pound creatures it is quite exhilarating!

After spending about 30 minutes enjoying the whales we set off for the Ecological Reserve. In addition to the puffins, some 1 million common murres call this their summer home and nest in “raucous throngs on these crowded sea cliffs”. True! This is in contrast to the puffins who live in widely spaced burrows in the grass. There were also numerous gulls nesting here on the rocks and several other species of sea birds. This is one time I would have really loved to have a good camera since my iPhone couldn’t really get clear pictures but here’s what I got. So amazing!

After our fabulous tour we ate lunch at the dock and then headed back to St. John’s. On the way we stopped off at Cape Spear Lighthouse but again the beautiful coastline was shrouded in fog.

Before returning to our rooms we set off to find the famous “Jellybean Row” in St. John’s. With no exact location we soon came upon the rows of colorful houses (jellybean colors) near the water in downtown St. John’s on Gower Street.

Okay, now for a very interesting finale to our trip, a ferry ride and overnight stay in St. Pierre, France. Yes, I did say France. We boarded the ferry at 1:00 pm in Fortune, Newfoundland and landed in France 90 minutes later. St. Pierre is part of a French archipelago of 8 islands, the last piece of French territory in North America. Its 6,000 residents are citizens of France, they trade in the Euro and have their own time zone. In the 1920’s during American prohibition alcohol was allegidly smuggled into the US through St. Pierre by the likes of Al Capone who reportedly stayed in our hotel, Hotel Robert, just a 3 minute walk from the pier. Although the outside of the hotel was unassuming our rooms were beautiful.

We had dinner reservations that night at La Select, a very highly rated restaurant. The restaurant was beautiful and the service was great but we were disappointed not to find more French dishes, like escargot and foie gras, on the menu. I saved room for cream brûlée, served with tonka beans, that have a nutty vanilla spicy flavor. I looked up tonka beans when I got back to the room finding that they have been illegal in the US since 1954 because they can be lethal in high doses and may cause liver disease and cancer. Yikes! Luckily I only had a small amount (and I’m still alive and well).

In the morning we walked around town to see some sights.

We went to the visitors center to ask for a lunch recommendation where they offered more authentic French food. She made a reservation for us at Le Feu de Braise and we were not disappointed, dining on delicious escargot and foie gras. Ah, the real taste of France.

After lunch Beverly arranged for us to have a private hour-long tour around the island with Logan. He took us to some beautiful spots and we really enjoyed seeing more of the countryside.

After our tour it was time to board the ferry and head back to Newfoundland. Upon arrival we retrieved our car and set off for nearby Grand Bank and Abbie’s Garden B & B for the night. We had a cute two bedroom cottage with a shared kitchen/coffee area.

We visited the Copper Kettle Pub in the quaint town of Grand Bank for dinner and had fun with the proprietor, Diane, who ended up sitting down for a glass of wine with us after she locked up for the night.

The next morning after a delicious breakfast at our B & B we drove about 4 hours to Argentia to catch the ferry back to Sydney, Nova Scotia where we would part ways. It was a 17-hour journey so we ate dinner and played some cards and then headed off to our cabins for a good night’s sleep.

After exiting the ferry we drove back to the KOA in Sydney and then Bill & Beverly headed off for their journey back to Florida. We had a wonderful 3-week holiday with them and created lots of great memories. Next we head west to explore the rest of Nova Scotia.