Vacation#6: Final Installment

Our last night in Newfoundland was a bit of a disappointment. From our fantastic zodiac tour, we headed further along The Irish Loop and spent the night in Trepassey. The b&b was clean, and the hostess was very nice, but the home was not up to the spectacular standards we had in the previous few nights.

However, without stopping in Trepassey for the night, we would not have been in St. Vincent's the next morning to see the whales. In 2003, Saltscapes Magazine recommended seeing the whales on St. Vincent's Beach as one of the top things to do while visiting Newfoundland. And we were in luck. The capelin had just started "running"...capelin are fish that head into shore and onto the beaches to spawn starting in late June. The whales follow the capelin, and since the bay at St. Vincent's is so deep, the whales come quite close to shore...just meters from the shoreline.

It was cold, only 9 degrees celcius inland, so I have no idea what the temperature was on the beach. John and I were the only people actually on the beach (many people came and went while we were there, but they stayed up behind the breakwater barriers). We stayed there, sitting in our portable folding chairs, for 2 1/2 hours. It was fantastic to watch the whales. One came in quite close and lifted right out of the water. The sound of the water as he splashed down was just amazing. Such power and grace.

I didn't get many good photos. It was a little foggy and the salt spray clouded up the lens a bit. Here is one series of 3 photos of the same whale:

Another favourite memory is when I saw 2 whales at the same time...one had his back out of the water, and the other was right beside him with the tail raised above the water.

my soul has been torn from me
and i am bleeding
my heart it has been rent
and i am crying
all the beauty around me fades
and i am screaming
i'm the last of the great whales
and i am dying

last night i heard the cry
of my last companion
the roar of the harpoon gun
and then i was alone
i thought of days gone by
when we were thousands
but i know that i soon must die

next morning the sun did rise
prison in the skies
the ice was the color of blood
and the winds they did sigh
i rose for to take a breath
it was my last one
from a gun came the roar of death
and now i am done

now that we are all gone
there's no more hunting
the big fellow is no more
it's no use lamenting
what race will be next in line
for the slaughter
the elephant or the cod
or your sons and daughters

my soul has been torn from me
and i am bleeding
my heart it has been rent
and i am crying
all the beauty around me fades
and i am screaming
i'm the last of the great whales
and i am dying
from The Last of the Great Whales by The Irish Descendants

Thankfully the humpbacks are not gone yet.

They had just started to come to shore, so the next few weeks will have more and more whales coming in. It would be fantastic to see.

But, we had to get on the road again. We were headed for Argentia to catch the ferry back to the mainland.

One more stop along the way...we went to the Ecological Reserve in Cape St. Mary's. There is a 1.5 km walk along the cliffs to see one of the largest sea bird colonies in North America.

The sound was unreal. I've never heard such a thing before....tens of thousands of birds make a lot of noise! John walked most of the way with me, but didn't go right to the point "to see a lot of birds pooping and squawking". So I continued along to the cliffs
Why not go all the way?The smell was, shall I say....interesting. It was quite the experience. On the way back, I took a couple of photos of the wandering sheep (watch where you step!)

I just had to post this photo as a tribute to Lauren of Pretending to Farm. I thought of her when I took it.

From the reserve, we headed to Argentia. We arrived 6 hours early for our ferry ride (departure time 12:30 am). And let me tell you, there is absolutely not much to do in a ferry terminal for 6 hours. Finally, boarding time. We were on a waiting list for a cabin so we went to the lounge to hear some entertainment and wait for an hour. We made it! We did get a cabin to spend part of our 18 hour ferry ride. The ferry ride was actually not bad...like a mini cruise ship. Lounge complete with entertainment, gift shop, restaurants, coffee shop, pinball games room, tv lounges, movie theatre... and our 18 hour ride turned into a 14 hour ride. Seems they have a new ship that makes it in 14 hours. We landed at 2:30 pm the following day and were "mainlanders" again. We drove for several hours and stopped for the night. Next day, 11 hours of driving and we're home.

I loved the trip. But as Dorothy said "there's no place like home".