Bonavista and Puffins

 

It was time to move on.  It wasn't the nicest day, but we stopped at Terra Nova National Park for a picnic lunch and then a quick tour of the little aquarium.  

Not exactly a picnic sort of day.

 From there we were heading to Bonavista.  Should we take the short route or the scenic route?  We opted for scenic.  And that it was.  Around every bend was another view of ocean with little villages strung out along the highway.  The roads were another story. So many potholes. 

We got to Bonavista and the weather was threatening to close in so we though we'd better catch some sights in case we’d have an inside day in the morning.  We drove out to the lighthouse.  The waves were crashing and wind was threatening to blow us off the cliffs on the spit of land of Cape Bonavista.  The lee side of the John Cabot statue was calmer.  This is where he landed in 1497. I’m not sure how this was a hospitable place with cliffs and rocks.

From there we took a side road, through a community pasture to the Dungeons.  First we were distracted by some very friendly horses who were expecting treats from the tourists, sticking their heads in the window to check for something! 

The Dungeons is an interesting feature.  It’s like a cave where the roof has collapsed.  Or, like a natural bridge across a bit of ocean.  The ocean has washed away the layer of sedimentary rock creating a sea cave.  The harder igneous rock roof collapses and creates what’s called a ‘blowhole’ or ‘gloup’.

In the morning, we woke up to a foggy drizzle.  What to do?  This might be a museum day.  Ryan Properties is a National Historic Site that explores the history of the cod fishery.  It was interesting to learn about how cod used to be caught, dried, salted, and then shipped out by the barrelful.  We also learned a bit more of the history of Bonavista. Fishing is still a big industry even though the methods have changed over the years. 

The Mufflin’s Tea Rooms was recommended as a place to sample some real Newfoundland dishes. 

baked beans, fisherman's brewis, toutins, fish cakes and bologna.

In the afternoon, the skies cleared and we went to Elliston to see the puffins.  It’s almost as if it’s a secret hiding place as there aren’t a lot of signs to get you there.  The puffin viewing area was looking from one cliff over to another cliff island.  Binoculars would have been a good choice, but nevertheless, there were hundreds of little puffins, waddling along the edge, taking flight into the abyss between us and their home rocks and then coming back up and landing with a plop.  The puffin lives most of its life on the water and only comes on land to mate, lay eggs and raise its young.  They lay the eggs in a burrow or in a narrow crevasse between the rocks to protect them from the seagulls.  After 45 days, the eggs hatch and then its another 45 vulnerable days until the young can fly and fend for themselves before they go back out onto the ocean.  At one point it seemed like a large number of their little white bodies were lined up along the edge of the cliff -- ready for flying lessons?  I don’t know.  The rain started again and we headed back to the vehicle.