Bonavista: Puffins and History

Hi Blog!

A favorite expression of ours is "you don't know what you don't know." That is so true when it comes to Newfoundland. We tried to give ourselves enough time at each stop to see what there is to see, but there is always more to see than we have time to see. So, we make a list, pick what we can get to and save the rest for next time. There will definitely be a next time.

On Monday, July 2, 2018, we left Deer Lake and drove east across the island to Charleston on the Bonavista Peninsula. This put us at the base of the Discovery Trail, which is a loop road around the peninsula. When we first planned the trip, we thought we could do the drive in a day. However, we are learning that just because Google Maps says you can, doesn't make it so. Since we only have one day to tour, we decided to focus on the sites along the east side of the loop.

The next day, we rose bright an early and hit the road at 7:45 a.m. Our first stop was the small town of Elliston. Once known as Bird Island Cove, Elliston is home to the Atlantic Puffin. It has one of the closest land views of puffins in North America. The town is very proud of their puffin colony, and they go out of their way to make tourist feel welcome. No sooner did we arrive at the viewing site, than Kathy added another chair to her collection. She's positively a glow!

Elliston considers itself the root cellar capital of the world! These traditional food storage systems – used mainly for root vegetables like turnips, potatoes and carrots – are built right into the ground, mainly into small hills and banks. The natural humidity and moisture keeps things cool in the summer and prevents freezing in the winter. Elliston has more than 130 documented root cellars in the small town and surrounding area. Of those, half are still in working condition and used today. As we walked into these cellars you cold still smell the turnips!

We didn't linger long in the root cellars. It was the puffins we were after. After a short hike out Elliston Point, we got our first glimpse of the puffin colony. Not that we could actually see the puffins from this distance, but we could see all the photographers!

Puffins establish burrows on grassy cliffs. Male puffins perform most of the work of clearing out the nest area, which is sometimes lined with grass, feathers or seaweed. The only time spent on land is to nest which is about five months per year. Mates are found prior to arriving at the colonies, and mating takes place at sea. Puffins are monogamous and have bi-parental care. A single-egg clutch is produced each year, and incubation responsibilities are shared between both parents. At fledging, the chick leaves the burrow alone, and flies/swims out to sea, usually during the evening. The average bird lives about 20 years.

As we approached, we noticed several puffins flew over from Bird Island to the end of the point. The puffins were so close, some of the photographers had to back up in order to get photos with their super, duper long lenses!

Dave, on the other hand, worked his way around the pack and sat quietly as a few curious fellows approached. This isn't the first time Dave has tried to photograph puffins. In Alaska, we visited the Seward Aquarium. There, a local puffin followed Dave around and splashed him every time he tried to take a photo. Lucky for Dave, these puffins were on dry land!

The puffin was named the official bird of Newfoundland and Labrador in 1992. The Atlantic Puffin is one of four puffin species and the only one that lives on the North Atlantic Ocean. Their Latin name, Fratercula arctica, can be translated as "little brother of the north." The puffin is also known as the "sea parrot" due in part to its interesting coloring. An adult has a bright orange, yellow and bluish bill with matching orange feet. A puffin’s face is primarily white with some additional colouring at the base of the bill around their eyes. Their heads, back, and wings are black while the underbelly is white. Both sexes have similar appearances, although males tend to be slightly larger than the females. As other photographers approached, this little guy scampered back to his mates.

We were not sure who was more enamored with whom. Was it the puffins enamored with the clicks and whirs of the cameras, or the photographers enamored with their little prancing subjects. All in all, it was quite a show. We only stayed for a short while, since there were more stops on our list. 

We made a quick stop at the Elliston Visitor's Center to pick up some local maps. We also learned a little of this history of sealing in Newfoundland. Although potentially lucrative, the Newfoundland spring sealing industry was more hazardous than any other local fishery at the turn of the 20th century. To find their catch, sealing ships had to steam out each year into the dangerous ice floes off Newfoundland’s north coast, where large frozen masses of floating seawater and sudden blizzards could jam ships in the ice and crush their hulls. Five steamers were lost between 1906 and 1914, reducing the country’s sealing fleet to 20 vessels. In no other fishery did ships enter the floes. A memorial to the lost sealers stands next to the Elliston harbor.

Our next stop was Bonavista. The Town of Bonavista is located near Cape Bonavista on Newfoundland's northeast coast. Cape Bonavista separates Trinity Bay and Bonavista Bay on the eastern coast of Newfoundland. In 1842 it was decided to build a lighthouse there as an aid to navigating the dangerous seas off the cape. The lighthouse operated for well over a century before it finally closed in 1962. As we drove down from Elliston, we got our first glimpse of the lighthouse out on the point.

We drove out a long gravel road to reach the end of the cape. On the way, we passed the entrance to Dungeon Provincial Park. We decided we would stop and check it out on the way back. We parked below the lighthouse and walked a trail to reach the museum.

The keepers house is actually built around the lighthouse tower. We had a chance to tour the building. It has been restored and decorated to represent the late 1800's. Students work as docents explaining the various parts of the lighthouse.

The best part of the tour was getting to climb up into the tower and check out the lights. This is one of the few lighthouses in the world that still has their original oil lamps.

After finishing out tour, we paid a visit to the John Cabot Memorial. John Cabot (a/k/a Giovanni Caboto) was a Venetian navigator and explorer whose 1497 discovery of the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England was the first European exploration of coastal North America since the Norse visits to Vinland in the eleventh century. To mark the celebration of the 500th anniversary of Cabot's expedition, both the Canadian and British governments elected Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland, as representing Cabot's first landing site. However, alternative locations have also been proposed. The name Bonavista may have come from the Italian "O Buon Vista" ("Oh happy sight"), attributed to John Cabot. This statue of Cabot commemorates his voyage.

 

One our way back into town, we did stop of Dungeon Provincial Park. This area has been designated a natural scenic attraction. The park protects an area around a collapsed sea cave. The "Dungeon" was formed when the waves began carving two caves into sedimentary rock. As the caves got deeper, the roof eventually collapsed creating a sink hole. The light shining in the former cave entrances makes for an eerie appearance.

Bonavista is home to the Ryan Premises, a National Historic Site of Canada, which preserves an example of a large-scale merchant operation in a Newfoundland outport. The site consists of the proprietor's house, a carriage shed, a retail shop, a retail store, a fish store and a salt store. The buildings have been converted into a museum on the fishing industries in Newfoundland. We found the video documentary on the decline of the cod fishing industry really helped us understand exactly what the Newfies went through when the government to a stop to cod fishing.

With the decline of the cod, many fisherman have switched to lobsters, snow crabs and other types of fish. The harbor still has a number of commercial fishing boats.

After finishing our tour of the Ryan Premises, it was time to relax in some Parks Canada Red Chairs!

Our adventure was only half done. For more of this day's activity, you need to go to the next blog!