We are sad that we are leaving Newfoundland today but not until 10:00pm. This gives us the whole day. Because we got rained out for our tours in Twillingate, we decided to book a boat tour in Bay Bulls but not until 2:00pm.
When we looked outside and saw that it was not raining or foggy, we decided to go to Signal Hill. The hill overlooks the city of St. John’s and the view is spectacular. The fog started rolling in and obstructing the view of Fort Amherst. But it did make for nice pictures. We stopped in at the Vistor Centre to check out the Newfoundland Chocolate Café and picked up some treats and a couple of hot chocolates.
The drive to where we were taking the boat tour from was about thirty minutes away. We were about an hour early so we drove past Bay Bull to Witless Bay where we had lunch ocean side. I saw on Google that there was a place called Mama B’s Bakery about five minutes away. The description said that it specializes in home baked goods. We put the address in and when we arrived, we did not see any store front. It truly just was somebody’s house. A woman came out and said that all of the baking was sent to the St. John’s Farmer’s Market today but that The Hutch down the road had some bread. I guess they truly meant home baked goods. We then remembered that we actually sampled her Apple Flip a couple of days ago and it was delicious.
We headed back to Bay Bulls for our Award Winning Boat Tour ($74 CAD / person not including taxes) with O’Brien’s Boat Tours. The tour is two hours and it takes you to the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve which is the home to the largest Atlantic Puffin colony in North America.
After getting on board, we were introduced to the crew. Our Captains were Jerry and Joe, Duncan was tending the bar and Con O’Brien was our guide. He is actually a member of the musical group The Irish Descendants and he started out by singing “I’s the B’y”. This was going to be an entertaining trip.
We were about twenty minutes into the trip when Captain Joe spots a mama whale and her calf. This was a great surprise since no whales have been spotted in the last few trips they have taken. We hung around the area for about twenty minutes and we did get to see them a couple more times.
It was then off to Gull Island where approximately 500,000+ puffins live along with millions of other seabirds including the Common Murre, Black-Legged Kittiwake and Razor-Bill Auk. Con and Captain Joe said there were four kinds of birds on the rocks. I have never in my life see that many birds in one place. It is something that needs to be experienced in person.
We did not want to leave Newfoundland without having one more seafood dinner so we headed to Chafe’s Landing Restaurant in Petty Harbour. Alan Doyle the lead singer for Great Big Sea is from Petty Harbour. For our final meal, we had Lobster Rolls. I won’t be able to enjoy lobster at home as much as I have here.
We got to the St. John’s International Airport and were surprised on how you actually return your rental car. First off you find your rental car’s agency parking spots, leave the car there but take the keys with you. No one checks on the car to make sure it is filled with gas or to see if you have done any damage to it. Next you walk to the terminal, go into the arrivals area and find the place you rented from. They ask you a couple of questions, you hand in the keys and then you are on your way.
Karen and I then walked over to Air Canada’s priority check-in counter and there was nobody in line. We have never experienced that in our lives. It took about two minutes to get our bags checked in and boarding passes printed. The gate agent put the priority tag on again so we shall see what happens when we got to Toronto. From there it was on to security and you guessed it, nobody in line there either. How odd.
Lucky for us, the airport has an Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge which we were able to access. I would say from the time we parked the car to the time we were sitting in the lounge was twenty minutes in total. We had about two and a half hours to enjoy the lounge along with the one other person that was there. There was a good selection of food and drinks but what I enjoyed the most was the quiet.
Before we left the lounge, we double checked the departures board. No use leaving the lounge if your flight is delayed but we were on time. We walked over to Gate 2 and in a few short minutes, Zone 2 was called to board. We made our way onto the plane and got seated in 18E and 18F, the exit row again. I am not sure how we scored these seats again without paying for them. I need to do some research. Anyways, the extra legroom was great to stretch out and made the three hour flight much more bearable.
We arrived in Toronto at 11:30pm and about a half an hour later our bags were off the plane. The bags were not the first ones down the conveyor belt but at least they were not the last ones. By the time we got the Uber and picked up the car, we arrived home at 1:30am. Maui was the only one up to greet us and he was very excited. Another great birthday vacation.
Put Newfoundland on your list of places to visit. The two biggest things that I loved about this province was the scenery and the people. Newfoundlanders are some of the friendliest people you will ever meet in your life.
Some final learnings from this trip:
- Layers – weather can change drastically in a day
- Check out local grocery stores for made to eat options – you will be surprised what you can find like sandwiches, salads, etc at reasonable prices
- Slippers – makes you feel cozy at any accommodation you are staying at
- Ziplock bags – many many uses for them
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