On the Ferry Joseph and Clara Smallwood to Argentia , NL

We woke up to the sound of slamming doors. Our cabin is right up front, near the door to the bow. Folks were going outside, for some reason, early in the morning. The crossing was not bad. We had no motion sickness and the dramine put Mike to sleep. I took benadryl and zonked out. My eyes are still swollen, but nothing else bothers me.

We had a big breakfast, like a full Irish. Outside, as we sailed into Placentia Bay, there were dolphins following the ferry and whales as well.

It took no time at all to get off the ferry and we drove to the welcome center where we expected to meet Des, our host at the B & B. The lady there said he usually would be there, but called and spoke to his wife, who said he had to go to St. Johns for the day. She gave us directions and off we went. Found the Alexandra Inn. We unhitched the trailer in the front yard and took off for Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve.

The drive of 66 km down the coast was reminiscent of the west coast of Ireland(Dingle) and also the coast of Oregon. Up and down the hills with a flat, barren table land with little vegetation. We came upon the interpretive center and went in. We are now at the coast. You looked out a wide window to the bird rock. Thousands of birds covering the rock-just amazing.

There is a 1.5 or so km walk out to the bird rock. We passed wild flowers, groups of flag iris in bloom, and got to the edge of the cliffs. What an amazing sight! Thousands of gannets and black legged kittiwakes nesting in the rock. On the ocean below us were thousands of murres floating. Now I must say, you can really smell the birds when you get that close! But it is worth it to spend some time just watching their behavior. The gannets are beautiful birds, who look ungainly on land, but graceful in the air.

We drove back to Placentia and had dinner, then returned to our B & B where we met Des Linehan, our host. We had a delightful conversation with him that lasted several hours. He is a retired special education teacher and has quite a few other interests, including the B & B. He and his wife Mary have traveled the world. They have kept in touch with many of their exchange students and visited them in their home countries. In addition, Des has kept in contact with his own special ed students and even stood up in a wedding for one of the students. He was excited that we were visiting Newfounland (Newfunland) and assured us that the people were friendly and should we have any problems, we should just knock on the nearest door and ask for help. He gave us his card and said to call if we needed him!

What a grand start to our visit. Did I mention that the skies cleared up and our afternoon was beautifully clear.