Newfoundland to Nova Scotia

 Wow...    Almost a month has gone by.   It seems to be harder and harder to try and find the time to get the blog updated.   But sooner or later, for better or worse,  I get it done,  So here we go again.

We left you last in Terra Nova National Park in Newfoundland.   Since then we've traveled to St Johns, Newfounlands capital and largest city.   Then onward south and west to Fishermans Cove Provincial Park on the  Burren Peninsula.   From there we retraced our steps back west thru Gander to Port Aux Basques and took the ferry over to Nova Scotia.   Once in Nova Scotia we visited the Cabot Trail and  Cape Bretton Highlands National Park.   Eventually traveling further south along the West Coast of Nova Scotia to New Glasgow, then Digby, before heading up the east coast to Chester and Graves Island Provincial Park where I'm writing this from.   The Map below shows our travels from June 12 thru today.

Our travels June 12 to July 30

St Johns, Newfoundland

We stayed at Pippy Park - a municipal campground in St Johns.   Its in a great location and had 50a full hookups allowing us to visit while getting caught up on laundry etc.

While in St Johns we went on a whale and puffin watching boat tour thru Gatherall's.   They've been doing it for years and this was a good choice.    We waited for a perfect weather window and was able to choose a day when the sea was smooth as a millpond.

We were rewarded with dozens of Humpback Whales feeding on Capelin.

Thar she blows!

We were told that when the whale spreads its long pectoral flippers (white underneath) that means they are going to make a deep dive - so be on the lookout for a tail to come out of the water.   Look for the white on both sides of the body just before the deep dive.

white pectoral fins visible.

And sure enough - this whale went deep and gave us a shot of his tail.

water drips off of whales tail

The tour also took us to Gull Island which is in  Witless Bay Ecological Reserve.   Gull Island contains the largest puffin colony in North America, with approximately 350,000 Atlantic puffins among the over 1 million seabirds of 9 different species that breed there and make the island their summer home.

Below are some of the over 600,000 pairs of Storm Petrels kicking back on the island.

Storm Petrels Everywhere

Needless to say - getting in close to the island gives one the sounds of a million birds screeching along with a pretty ripe scent of bird poop.

Speaking of screetching....   Kate and Pat participated in a "Screetch in".  It's a ceremony where one becomes an "official honorary Newfoundlander".  

There are many different ceremonies to accomplish this, but our host at Christians Pub - Skipper Lukey - feels his is the most respectful of Newfoundland traditions and is done with a bit of dignity.

At least as much dignity that can be mustered in a ceremony that includes kissing a cod that is.

Its official!

At noon each day, Water St in downtown St Johns is closed and turns into a pedestrian mall.  

We visited the picturesque nearby neighborhood of Quidi Vidi, home of the brewery of the same name.

Quidi Vidi Harbor

We also visited Signal Hill where the first transatlantic wireless signal was received.  Overlooking both St Johns Harbor and the Atlantic, it occupies a strategic location with great views.

The view from Signal Hill

Some of the colorful houses in St Johns.

Colorful homes in St Johns

Another trip was to the Cape Spear lighthouse.   Cape Spear is the easternmost point in North America and where the first sunrise on the continent takes place each day.    Another great location with wonderful views out over the ocean and along the rocky coast.

Cape Spear Lighhouse

Kate & Pat hold down a rock while enjoying the view.

After Cape Spear we drove down to Petty Harbor.    Another picturesque fishing village with Chafes Landing - a great seafood restaurant.   We enjoyed some excellent fish & chips for lunch there.

Petty Harbor

Somewhere in our travels we were chatting with a local who gave us a tip on where to really find Humpbacks feeding from the beach.  He said to head down to St Vincents which is a beach about 2 hrs south of St Johns.    So around noon we headed south on a warm sunny day.   Just before we arrived the fog rolled in and the temp dropped.

We were rewarded for our efforts.    A fast moving river dumps into the ocean at this spot, and the water gets very deep right off of the beach, so the whales are able to dive down and come up to the surface with their mouths wide open to catch the Capelin and eat them.    All of this happens mere yards off of the beach.

Surfacing with mouth open

There were Capelin littering the beach so I went and picked on up for my cod kissing wife.

Frenchman's Cove / Burin Peninsula

We stayed in St Johns for a week and then headed south and west to the Burin Peninsula and Frenchmans Cove Provincial Park.

Our plan for coming here was to take the 24km ferry ride to St Pierre and Miquelon, the last French Colony in North America.   It would have been cool to visit France for a day but unfortunately the ferry schedules would not accomodate us so we had to skip our excursion to France. 

Border Crossing - Canada to France

Frenchman's Cove Provincial Park is a nice park that is really off of the beaten path.   For us it was challenging as the roads were narrow and the trees needed trimming.   It was tight squeezes navigating thru the park.

We did drive down to Grand Bank to tour the area and stopped at a nice cafe for lunch.   Inside was an ecletic mix of items....  most for sale

We were only here for 3 nights and then it was time to start the drive back west across Newfoundland to Port Aux Basque and our ferry - scheduled for late evening 2 nights hence.

Heading to the Ferry to Nova Scotia

Chasing R&P down the road

Leaving Frenchman's, we drove about 4 1/2 hrs to Gander where we spent the night at a Harvest Host stop - in this case - the North Atlantic Aviation Museum.    This was my first ever HH overnight.

The museum told the story of Aviation in Gander from the 1930's thru 911.

Gander was at one time the busiest airport in the world.   Before the age of jets it served as a refueling stop for transatlantic traffic.  During WW2 the town grew exponentially as thousands of flights were made each year from the US to Europe to support the war effort.

Today, Gander is the home of the Gander Oceanic Control Center which controls all fights transiting the Western Half of the Atlantic Ocean.

One interesting exhibit were the actual paper "flight strips" that were used by air traffic controllers to redirect the 38 aircraft that landed here when US Airspace was closed on 911.   

Each strip contains information such as:  Flight No, Aircraft type, speed, altitude, Departure and destination, etc.

Our busses at the Museum.

During the war the population of Gander swelled in size.   When the war ended many chose to stay but the housing at the time was barracks located at the airport.   The government decided to build a new town away from the airport and the Gander of today was born.     One interesting fact is if you look at the photo below - I have taken a google map of the town and highlighted one of the main roads that loops around the town.   It traces out the profile of a Ganders head.     

Accident??

A Goose or a Gander?

After our night in Gander we headed west on the Tran-Canada Highway.   I, under the watchful eyes of both Annie & Phoebe carefully navigated our bus to our next stop - another Harvest Host, this time at the Marble Mountain Ski Resort near Corner Brook, Nl.

My backseat Drivers keep an eye on me

The location at Marble Mountain was the enormous parking area for the ski area.    A nice location with tons of room and a decent view.    Easy off and on the TCH and only a couple of hours from the ferry.

Harvest Host Marble Mountain Ski Area

Leaving Marble Mtn, we had a couple of hours drive and stopped at the big parking area where we slept the morning we arrived in Newfoundland after our overnight ferry.    We got here about noontime and our ferry did not leave till 11pm so we had time to unhook and take a drive into Port aux Basques to see the town.

Around 5pm we got in line for the ferry and by 10pm we were loading.

We again had a cabin to sleep in and the dogs remained in the bus.

By daybreak we were arriving at the N. Sydney Ferry Terminal in Nova Scotia.

AM Arrival in Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

The map below shows our stops from the Ferry terminal (#1)  up to today (#5)

Our next stop was the Broad Cove Campground in Cape Breton National Park.    It was only about 90 minutes from the ferry so we found a nice pull off next to a lake and took a nap for a while.

A quiet roadside pullout on a lake

We booked the National Park sites late, so had to settle for what we could find.   There are some FHU 50a sites in the park but ours was a large open site with no hookups.   It was quite warm during the period but I managed to take a nice dip in the ocean to cool off as well as some cold showers in the bath house.

Site 154 Broad Cove Campground

The beach at Broad Cove

The main attraction in these parts is the scenery along the Cabot Trail.   The road conditions from the south up to Broad Cove were among the worst we've driven.   The potholes, worn pavement, and bridge transitions would rattle your teeth, and the 15°+ grades added some spice to the drive.

We did get out and drive the Cabot Trail from the Campground to Cheticamp on the west coast and back.  It started off as a nice day but by the time we crossed the highlands over to the west coast it was. pouring rain.

The beach in the previous picture is about the middle of the photo below. 

This would be one of the nicest views if the weather was good.

We had lunch in Cheticamp and Kate & Pat did some browsing of shops.  Cheticamp is the French speaking part of Cape Breton.

Harbor in Cheticamp

From Cape Breton we moved south off of Cape Breton Island and onto Nova Scotia proper.  Our destination for 5 nights was the Harbor Lights RV Park near New Glasgow.    It is an older park which could use some substantial improvements to make it a really nice facility but the owners make up for that by being just the nicest folks you could imagine. 

Upon arrival - another hot day - the owner Cameron greeted us with ice cream cones.    He then walked us over to the 2 sites that he had created just for us complete with water views.

Unfortunately,  prior to our arrival, this area had received record breaking rains and the ground was soft.   When Rob tried to get into his site his front and back wheels sunk in and he was stuck.   Some creative engineering by Rob along with some gravel and lumber provided by Cameron allowed Rob to back out and get unstuck.   So we then moved to a pair of sites elsewhere in the park.

A summer residents waterview site

Most of the residents are full-time (summer) residents with most of the remainder being overnighters on the way to the PEI Ferry.

While here Rob needed visit a Vet in Truro to get his US paperwork done (new rules) for Olivia.  Once that was done, our timing was perfect, so we visited the Fundy Discovery Center to see the tidal bore arrive.

Tidalbore arrives moving left to right

With the tides running up to 54' in the Bay of Fundy, when the tide changes and comes up the river, it comes as a wave rushing upstream.    A video of the wave coming up the river:

I found a nice pet store with a dog wash so we also took the mutts in for a scrubdown.  They are now nice and soft and smell slightly of honey and vanilla....  nice.

Departing New Glasgow, we drove about 4 hrs to Digby and the Digby Campground.

Digby calls itself the Scallop Capital of the World.   I'd assume its because of the delicous scallops that they harvest from the Bay of Funday.    I partook of many of them and can say that I was certainly not dissapointed.

Digby Waterfront

Digby Harbor

We drove over to nearby Anapolis Royal.   A lovely town with beautiful homes and a nice Farmers Market.    There were lots of fresh local fruits and veggies plus food vendors.   Kate had a great waffle with strawberries the last time we were here in 2016 but sadly the vendor was not here this year.

Annapolis Royal Farmers Market

We visited the recreated tiny house of the Canadian Folk-Artist Maud Lewis.    Some of you might recognize the name from the 2016 movie Maudie

The original house was taken apart and reconstructed in the Nova Scotia Museum of Art in Halifax.

This house is true to size and layout but the original had her paintings all over everything in the home.

This link to a google search would show you some photos of the original house and interior

Maud Lewis Home Reconstruction

Maud Lewis Home Reconstruction Inside

On Sunday July 28 we went to the Digby Farmers Market, but they should call it a Crafts Market because there were loads of crafts, but not a single Fruit or Veg to be found.    They did have a real good Auto show with lots of refurbished automobiles.   There was over 90 vehicles on display.

We are now at Graves Island Provincial Park, near Chester NS.  (#5 on the map)   From here we have lots of options to tour south and north.    That will be the subject of our next post.

View of the Ocean from our window

Well we are now finally caught up.   I dont think I've been caught up since we left in April.

Sorry for the long post but you do have the option to ignore it.

I hope you are enjoying riding along.

Newfoundland Part 2 - Gros Morne NP to Terra Nova NP

 I've heard the phrase "better late than never" so many times, and I sure hope that you agree with it, because we left you last in Gros Morne National Park and it was June 21 ish.   This post will move the football a few yards down the field and bring you up-to-date as of July 3rd or so....   5 days ago.

First order of business is the trip map for this blog.   The map below (above the yellow line) shows our travels on the island since our arrival thru this post.    The section below the yellow line includes where we are now.

We departed our Campground in Gros Morne National Park on Sat June 22.   Our next stop was Peytons Woods RV Park in Twillingate, NL.   Often called "the iceberg capital of Newfoundland"

We departed on a clear sunny morning and enjoyed the beautiful sights along the way.    There are just so many coves on the craggy shoreline of newfoundland.   At first I think we are passing by a lake and the expand the view on the GPS to find out its another long fjord

After stopping in Grand Falls Windsor to shop for groceries, we finally arrived at our destination for the next 4 nights.

Peytons Woods RV Park Twillingate

A neat clean park in a great location, we already wished we were staying longer.    Unfortunatley we are learning that this year has seen few icebergs and there are none in Twillingate,   Perhaps the few we found last week was our huckleberry.

Peytons Woods RV Park Twillingate

Twillingate is a picturesque town set on a picturesque landscape.    All the homes here on the rock are painted in these bright colors which I am sure lends some color to what at times must be a bleak landscape.

The photos below were taken on our morning walks about town

The gang on our morning walk.

Colorful homes along the shore in town.

Driving further afield yields views of more colorful homes and businesses.

A few miles further out on the peninsula brings you to the Long Point Lighthouse.   The views from there we just stunning and no pictures can do it justice.

In town, the harbor in Twillingham was busy with boats of all types.

Canadian Coast Guard returning to port in Twillingate

Kate has been finding the trip a bit exhausting so we stoped to rest on this bench.

We visited a wooden boat museum and spoke with the gentleman building this boat.   He told me that in the past - generally if a fisherman needed a boat - he built it.     We had a nice chat talking about boat building techniques.   I built some wooden boats in my past using different techniques so we enjoyed trading war stories.    This man was a real craftsman and this boat was somewhere around his 40th or so.

Outside the boat museum (below on left) with the local church - one of the oldest wooden churches in Newfoundland

We went to a local fish market and bought some pre-cooked lobster and mussels for dinner one night.

And on our last night in Twillingate we were treated to a decent sunset.   Not an Arizona sunset mind you - but I'm gladly trading the heat for the loss of sunsets right now.

Wed June 26 we were back on the road headed to our next stop for two nights.   The town-owned Banting Memorial Municipal Park Campground in Musgrave Harbor.   The campground is named after Thomas Banting who was a Canadian Pharmacologist and Nobel Prize winner, who first isolated insulin and died in a plane crash near the park.

Yours truly leading the way

This campground is a pretty nice place.   Nestled between a salt water pond and the ocean, it has a long sandy beach, which is a rarity in Newfoundland.

The view out the windshield of the salt water pond

Our campsite had 30a electric and water hookup

Across the dune to the beach

Looking back towards campground from the top of the dune

Long wide sandy beach.

Cold, cold, water

We let Annie get in some runs on the beach.   This was her second time to the beach, the first being in England.   She ran thru the water for a bit which was new.

Annie gets her feet wet in the cold Atlantic

Everywhere we travel, the wildflowers along the roadsides are a constant, beautiful, companion.

We left Banting Park in a rain that got heavier as the day progressed.   Our next stop was Terra Nova National Park - the Newman Sound Campground.     Its a very nice campground.   We had water and 30a electric.    Compared to Gros Morne, this National Park seemed to benefit from more money and upkeep.

Amazingly enough, I did not get a single photo of the campground or our site.

While here we did a number of day trips.   One was to the little fishing village of Salvage.

Salvage, NL

More pretty views and colorful houses in picturesque locations.  Not much more I can say as this place seems like endless eye candy.

Salvage, NL

On Sunday night we had tickets in Gander to see a production of "Come from Away".  It's a play about how on 911 about 38 airline flights were diverted to Gander when US airspace was closed.    The town, with a population of about 10,000 played host to about 7,500 stranded passengers for several days.

The play was excellent and the story was heartwarming.

We visited the 911 memorial in front of the Gander town hall.   The steel beam from the twin towers was donated by the Bethpage NY fire dept and is reportedly the only one that is outside of the US

Local school kids donated art work for the memorial

Another day saw us taking a 2 hr drive each way to visit the Bonavista Peninsula and the town of Bonavista.   It was a damp, foggy, and rainy day but we got some real decent views of whales right from the shore.

Another reason for our trip was to see the Puffin Colony.    The Puffins like to nest on islands but this one is close enough to see them from shore.  There were thousands of Puffins on the island and on the sea surface.   We were lucky that one flew over to our area and we got up close and personal.

Rob and Pat walking back to the car.   You get an idea of the weather.

We all agreed that the weather was perfect for this outing.   A little bit of good ol Newfoundland weather makes the outing more authentic.

Well I'm going to cut it off here.

We are now in St Johns, the capital of Newfoundland and have a bunch more things to talk about but that will be in our next post.  Lots of sights, more Whales and Puffins, and even some screetch.

Hope you are enjoying riding along.