I’ve been in Newfoundland four times. The first trip was for a 1969 university journalism conference largely spent carousing. I was also there in 1983 with Charles & Diana, in Canada for their first major overseas tour, and again with Pope John Paul the following year. In 2017 I returned for a few days holiday in St. John’s.
But I had never been off the Avalon Peninsula where St. John’s is. Time to explore further. So, much of June was passed on the island and crossing to Labrador.
Early in the season, but I wanted to go before school was out. The area’s northernly and coastal and, inevitably, has weather issues, but I knew that. ‘Atmospheric’ fog, some bearable drizzle and snow patches still on hills. I often wore a scarf and, a few times, mittens.
Much of Canada was burning (and still is as I write) and my phone regularly getting Toronto poor air quality alerts. However, fire wasn’t a concern on the island ... and a reminder the pictures are clickable.
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Cool, even cold, damp weather also meant no black flies, which can be murderous and, for that, I am grateful. This is Cape Spear, North America’s most easterly point. There was also fog the day I went with Charles & Diana.
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At Cape Bonavista, where Giovanni Caboto (or John Cabot as he’s better known) is said to have landed in the New World in 1497, weather was much the same.
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A kind lady agreed to ‘pose’ next to Cape Bonavista’s lighthouse.
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More than my fair share of icebergs. This is at King's Point.
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The next three shots, including a moulting seal, were taken crossing the Strait of Belle Isle between the island and mainland Labrador, part of the province of Newfoundland. The ship is Canadian Coast Guard.
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L’Anse-Au-Clair, a village on Labrador’s coast.
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Witless Bay, just outside St. John’s, has North America’s largest puffin colony. Something like half a million, a little more than four times the population of St. John's. Fog and rough seas mean I count myself fortunate to at least get one.
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The next two pictures are from St. John’s harbour (from where the ill-fated Titanic submersible departed) and Quidi Vidi.
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Petty Harbour.
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Trinity, a small formerly bustling fishing port. As lovely as it is there’s a wistful air in a village once important for its size.
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Colour ‘mid Twillingate’s photogenic gloom.
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On the island’s west coast Highway 430 North.
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The next two shots require brief explanation. The ferry from the island of Newfoundland docks where Quebec borders Labrador. This is Salmon Bay, Quebec.
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Three photos from the Labrador coast.
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Oh, and I did see one whale, this in Red Bay, Labrador. Don’t know if it’s a minke, blue or humpback whale!
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Second post upcoming.
