After once again waking up to a cold fog, when we approached St. John’s, Newfoundland, the weather began to clear and we actually had a sunny day, and one of the hottest Newfoundland had had for a long time, according to a local café barista.
St. John’s has a remarkable natural harbor. Deep and very sheltered, with two high hills standing guard at the harbor’s entrance. One of those is Signal Hill, where Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless telegraph transmission in 1901.
We docked at noon. P.J and I had a shore excursion that was supposed to start then but because of a delay by Canadian immigration to clear our ship, we were more than a half hour late getting started. Although the tour director tried her best, it gave the trip a hurried pace. We first went to Cape Spear, the most eastern point of North America. There was a large pod of whales swimming by. But, alas, we had a schedule to keep.
When we reached Signal Hill, P.J and I decided to leave the tour and hike down to the city, about an hour. It is one of the most spectacular trails I’ve ever been on. Starting at the top of the hill, it winds down over the rocks below that jut out into the ocean, with gorgeous views of the jagged Newfoundland coast line.
The perfect summer weather helped a lot. The trail then turns in towards the harbor along the near virtual rock wall at the harbor’s entrance. The path is very well engineered, with lots of wooden walkways and bridges over crevasses. At one point there’s a narrow ledge but a chain along the rock face made that easy too.
We sailed out of the harbor while we were having dinner near the panoramic windows of the dining room. There we saw humpback whales everywhere! A few came pretty close to the ship. The plumes from their blow holes made the ocean look like a geyser basin. Earlier, at Cape Spear, I had seen several whales breaching, not close by but still impressive. Our tour leader told us the number of them was enough to make the local news. The estimate was about 25 whales, but it seemed more to me.
Now it’s Sunday, July 17, an at sea day. We will be in Halifax, Nova Scotia, tomorrow.
Photographs © 2016 P.J. Gardner. All rights reserved.