Location: St John's, NLWe arrived in St John's pretty early today so we were able to spend the whole day here. I really wanted to see the "typical Newfy homes" and this was the spot to see 'em. Here are some pics of the houses downtown.
We headed to
Signal Hill but it was pretty foggy so I wasn't able to see much. I got a few neat pics of Cabot Tower thru the fog tho.
We stopped in the Visitor's Centre to watch a movie about the history of Signal Hill, and when we came out the band was practicing ...
So we headed off the Hill and to the harbour. We'd heard from someone @ the hotel last night that the
HMCS St John's was docked in the Harbour so we stopped by to take a peek. We were able to board the ship and take some neato pics ... and stare at the cute boys in uniform ;) They were EVERYWHERE!! No pics ... just the naughty ones in my head :) Lol!!!
The fogged had cleared by the time we were done lunch so we headed back up to Signal Hill.
Iceberg Quest Boat Tour
I know, you've seen a lot of berg pics, but we were hoping to see whales on this tour. Unfortunately we didn't see any :( Guess I'll have to see 'em in the Bay of Fundy next week. If you're in St John's I recommend
Iceberg Ocean Tours. The guys on the boat are informative and entertaining. AND they have a bar on the boat ;) Bring your mitts. It's dang cold out there!!! And if you're sensitive to motion sickness you might want some Gravol. I was suprisingly OK even tho the swells were rocking the boat fairly frequently. Prolly cuz I was excited!!
The iceberg pics that you see below were taken from pretty close: maybe 20'.
Pics taken from the boat in the harbour
Out on the ocean!!
This is actually called a "bergy bit:" large chunk of glacier ice (a very small iceberg) floating in the sea; bergy bits are usually less than 5 meters (15 feet) in size and are generally spawned from disintegrating icebergs.
There are also pieces called growlers, which are significantly smaller that a bergy bit. They are the floaty pieces you see surrounding bergs.
This is
Cape Spear, the eastern most point in North America. The caves that you see below are host to many types of birds. We were pretty close to the cliff, but I was unable to take any close up shots of the birds. No puffins tho :( I need to see one before I leave!
Berg # 2. This isn't very big either. Bigger than the first one we saw today. It was neat to see the pool in the middle of the 2 pieces. And yes, the pieces are connected.
I ate some of this iceberg, too! Straight from the ocean! Neato!!!! While I was out on the deck of the boat you could hear popping sounds like Pop Rocks. It was the iceberg crackin'. One of the locals told us that if you go to a bar they'll add iceberg ice to your drink and it'll pop while you're drinkin'.
And back @ the harbour ...
After the boat tour we had some dinner at
Hungry Fishermen. I had the BEST halibut dish ever: Halibut and Goat’s Cheese in Phyllo. Goat cheese in Phyllo on it's own is good, but add sauteed leeks, fresh pepper and some fresh Halibut ... Decadent. Served with fresh veggies and herbed pan-fried red skinned potatoes. THAT was worth the trip to St John's ... and the $30 for the meal :)
Tomorrow: Makin' our way back to Port aux Basques to catch the ferry back to the mainland. May be there tomorrow night, or somewhere between St John's and Port aux Basques.
