2 Grace & Jude in Nfld - Fav Photos 2025

Grace & Jude in Newfoundland - cont'd

The continuing series of photos of Grace and Jude's family trip to Newfoundland

Whales in St. Vincent

On Sunday June 29 we arrived at St. Vincent on the south coast of the Avalon peninsula in the hopes of seeing whales. It's one of the very best places in all of Newfoundland to see whales from shore. There's a two kilometre long gravel bar across the mouth of a river, where the beach drops steeply into the ocean, and the whales like to come and scrape their barnacles on the gravel, and feast on the Caplin when they arrive.
Bonnie and Jamie were very excited to spot the whales....

There was a family of whales swimming from one end of the bay to the other.

The gravel bar drops steeply into the ocean, so the whales often came very close to shore....

Then Bonnie spotted a new arrival, breaching not far out in the ocean....

St. John's

No visit to Newfoundland is complete without a visit to the capital of St. John's. We headed through the city to Signal Hill with the intent to visit the Cabot Tower, but it was mid afternoon and there were no parking spaces left, so we went down to the harbour across from the foot of the hill, near Fort Amherst where all the fishing boats are...

Jamie and Bonnie went out on the dock to take a closer look around....

Across the harbour they could see all the colourful houses at the base of Signal Hill...

...and the city of St. John's

Canada Day

The next day was July 1st, Canada Day, and it was time to start heading back westward towards the ferry. Now, there's only the one main road, the Trans Canada Hwy, across the 900 kilometres of wilderness between St. John's and the ferry in Port Aux Basques, so for a break from the endless driving we decided to make the side trip to Twillingate again to check on the icebergs. It was evening when we arrived, and we headed to the nearby town of Durrell to take some photos at their museum to celebrate the day...

Twillingate Harbour

Just enjoying the scenery in Twillingate...

Picnic at Bottle Cove

Back on the west coast, we needed to have the RV propane valve looked at in Corner Brook, and since it was such a nice day, we went out along Humber Arm again to Bottle Cove.

So we hiked out to the point through the tuckamore (coastal trees severely bent by the prevailing winds)

The views out on the point were stunning....

"Did you know that Captain Cook explored this whole area back in the late eighteenth century?"

"I think This would be a wonderful place to have a picnic."

So, Grace went back to the RV to pack a lunch....and when she returned, they all sat down to enjoy it....

Sandbanks Beach

We took the lonely road through the wilderness to the remote village of Burgeo on the south coast, where we stayed at Sandbanks Provincial Park. It has one of the best beaches in all of Newfoundland...

The children were checking out the seaweed washed up on the beach...

"Look at what I found."

"I'm not sure what it is. It doesn't look like kelp..."

Jude and Grace sat down to just relax....

...and enjoy the deserted beach....

"This is such a beautiful place."

"Yes, it is...." he replied.

"But ... not as beautiful as you..."

Model Boats

Later that afternoon, Jude and Grace took their family into the village to check out the harbour...

Jude had already purchased a model boat for Bonnie....

...when he arrived with an even bigger one. "This one is for you Jamie..."

"Wow! Thanks Dad!"

Now both kids had their own boat....

"Look at my ship, boy."

In the Fog

The next morning Burgeo was still under a thick blanket of fog....

...as we headed out of town.

The Burgeo Hwy is a remote two hour drive through the wilderness back up to the Trans-Canada Hwy. We hadn't gone far up the road, when we came across a herd of caribou...

They didn't seem to be in any hurry to get off the road...

Then a bull (I'm assuming) with a hug rack of antlers joined them.

After a little while they left the road and disappeared into the fog...

A few kilometres up the road we came across another group....

The fog finally began to lift as we continued north....

when we came across another single caribou.

I took the photos with my tele-photo lens through Jan's rolled down window....

Several hours later we arrived at Channel Port aux Basques, back on the south coast, and took the coastal drive through the fog to Rose Blanche, where Grace hiked out to their famous stone lighthouse...

Goodby Newfoundland

Next morning the sun was struggling through the fog as we waited to board the ferry....

The ferry is cavernous inside, and this is just one of the three vehicle levels...

Looking back towards the ferry docks, as they finish loading trucks on the open deck below...

Sailing out of the harbour...

...and passing Port aux Basques.......

...and heading into the open ocean, as Newfoundland disappears in the fog behind us....

On the Way Home

The drive across Cape Breton Island was on a dark, cloudy, rainy day. We did stop for a few photos at the overlook at Irish Cove.

We drove through all of Nova Scotia, and took a dinner break at Cape Tormentine, just inside the province of New Brunswick. Cape Tormentine was the site of one of the ferry terminals to Prince Edward Island, before they built the Confederation Bridge across Abegweit Passage in the Strait of Northumberland. Opened on May 31, 1997, the 12.9 km (8 mile) bridge is Canada's longest bridge, and the world's longest bridge over ice-covered water.