Snowy Range Pass

Snowy Range Pass

Sunday, October 04, 2015

Witless Bay Ecological Reserve

About thirty minutes south of St John's Newfoundland is the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve.  This area consists of four islands and the surrounding waters.  North America's largest population of the provinces official bird, the Atlantic Puffin can be seen here.  There are over a quarter of a million of then nesting here.  Luckily for us, our visit occurs during the nesting season.  There is large populations of other birds here as well including the  black-legged kittiwakes and common murres . We enjoyed viewing them from our tour boat along with sightings of whales and dolphins. 


















Our trip was a bit cold and windy, but the crew provided what could be considered the official drink of Newfoundland-Screech.  This is a Caribbean rum. We were provided with several different version of how it became to be called Screech, but it certainly is big here and can be found in every authorized outlet in the province.  It is a great way to stay warm on the water.



On our return journey, we stopped at the small fishing village of Petty Harbour. An active fishing village with just a small nod to tourism. 












6 comments:

Linda said...

Lovely photos and so nice to see the Puffins! :)

Paul and Marsha Weaver OCT. 17, 2009 said...

Oh how cool to see the whales and dolphins. Are those puffins? They are adorable!

Screech...now that is quite a name for a rum.

Petty Harbour looks so pretty. The photo with y'all sitting in the decorative chairs is a hoot.

Jim and Sandie said...

Love the chairs. Someday I really do hope to be able to see whales. Someday. In the meantime I get to enjoy your pictures. How fun.

Travels with Emma said...

I especially enjoyed the photo of the jam packed nesting murres.

Paul and Marti Dahl said...

Caribbean Rum as the Newfoundland drink? That sounds wrong in so many ways... :cD

Nickie and Jim said...

We really loved being at Witless Bay in 2010 ... we spent three days camped at Celtic Rendezvous RV Park, and enjoyed our bird-watching. So much fun being there (even if it's a bit chilly, right?). We spotted spouting whales, too. Sounds like you guys are having a great time.