12 July 2013 Friday Elliston and Bonavista

Today we headed up Highway 230 to the northern tip of the Bonavista Peninsula. It was foggy until we turned off toward the eastern coast, when it cleared off and we had a great day of sight-seeing. We passed through several small fishing villages on the way up Highway 238. We're back in the land of small fishing villages and friendly people. At the visitor center in Elliston we heard from a local the damage to the area September 11, 2013, from Hurrican Igor. He told us about watching his woodpile on either side of his home be washed away to the sea, when accumulating rainwater was at three feet or more all over. Repairing of bridges, culverts, streets and basements still continues.                        

Our first stop was at the Provincial Puffin Site near Maberly. It's called Puffin Island. Puffins gather here to breed at this time of the year. A short hike along some rugged and steep cliffs took us to a viewpoint about 100 feet from the rookery.  Later they move to Labrador to winter over; there they can fish in the open water. We saw pairs of puffins clacking their beaks with each other as part of the mating ritual. The island was full of holes, called burrows, serving as their nests. Several couples had the best condos, into the rocks and good shelter.Several would fly over to pose for pictures where all of us tourists were gathered. We could get to within about 3 feet before they would fly off.

 Puffin rookery near Maberly

We are ready for our close-ups

Postcard worthy

Patrice could not resist this shot at the entrance to the Puffin Site.

A chair for tired Puffins 

Several humpback whales were feeding on caplin and cod in the Bay just below the rookery. What a wondrous opportunity seeing the puffins and whales from the same view point. It was magical.

Humpback whales spouting and feeding 

Humpback whale's tail

 Humpback whale feeding

Two humpback whales spouting and feeding

The geology in the area of the Puffin Site was awesome. Seems like the coastline of Newfoundland continues to offer spectacular but different kinds of rock and formations. 

Rocky island near Puffin Site 

Hole in the rock island

(same rock as the one behind the puffin chair above)

We are fortunate to be in the middle of the wildflower season.

Wild iris

Wild flowers

There are 130 documented root cellars in and around the Village of Elliston, including the lands near the Maberly Puffin Site. Many of these historical root cellars have been fancied up for the benefit of tourists, and at least one of them is still in use. The cellars were used by the early cod fishing settlers to store carrots, turnips, parsnips, and other root crops. they were cool enough to be used in short-term for meat, fish and dairy products.

The Village of Elliston is known as "The Root Cellar Capital of the World." and uses areas near the puffin site to create tourist interest in the root cellars. A viewpoint that includes a sitting area, panels explaining the history, construction and use of these cellars. One root cellar is open to look in--quite large, and cool, with representative bins to show how the food was once stored.

Root cellar viewpoint

Our next stop was was the Cape Bonavista Lighthouse. The lighthouse was put into operation on September 11, 1843. The lantern was supported by a two story stone tower inside a wood frame. The original lantern came from Inchcape Rock lighthouse in Scotland and it was replaced by another Scottish lantern in 1895. 

Cape Bonavista Lighthouse

In 1962 the lighthouse was converted to electricity and the light was placed outside. The original inner workings of the 1895 lighthouse were then returned to the interior and can now be viewed by the public. A weight attached to a rope that was wound around a drum in a box of gears at the upper story of the lighthouse. The weight was cranked up to the upper story and allowed to fall to the basement thereby driving the gears that turned the set of six reflectors. It took two hours for the weight to fall,  and the lighthouse keeper then cranked the weight up to the top. The reflected light was produced by kerosene lamps and passed through colored glass as the reflectors were rotated. The various colors as seen by the ships send the signals used by them for safe navigation.

Cape Bonavista Lighthouse reflectors 

Gear box and rope drum

We ended our day in Bonavista by visiting the reconstructed ship Matthew reputed to have brought John Cabot, of Italy, to Cape Bonavista in May of 1497. Cabot had sailed from Bristol, England and therefore declared all of Newfoundland for them. We also visited Cabot's statue in Bonavista. 

On the way home, Patrice and I visited the villages of King's Cove, Duntara, and Keels after dinner at Susie's Cafe in Birchy Cove. Patrice had lobster and I had crab cakes--both were excellent. Keels is a very interesting little village with houses built in and around rocks. While there we spotted some more red rocks (like Tickle Cove) with white rock intrusions.

Rocks at Keels 

Another great day in paradise! Tomorrow we plan to explore some of the lower peninsula, and in the evening attend a dinner theater production at Trinity's Rising Tide Theater. Sunday we're leaving for St. John's, the largest city and capital of the province of Newfoundland-Labrador.