Day 33 St. John's

Oh my goodness what a day! With reunion festivities not planned until evening we had the day free and thought we would go out to Cape Spear and follow the East Coast Trail from there for a bit of a coastal stroll. Cape Spear is the most easterly point in North America and a beautiful spot with a scenic little lighthouse and a chance to let Mary-Kate have her picture taken with the sign since she has now been to the south, west and (mostly) north. I say thought since the day did not unfold as planned.

We parked at Cape Spear and wandered down to the trail along the water to hike up to the lighthouse. Watching the ocean as we walked we quickly spotted several whale spumes in the water surrounding the cape. We sat for a minute to investigate and never made it any further. For close to three hours we watched countless humpbacks frolic and fish so close to the shore where we sat that we could hear the air when they blew. I have whale watched before but I have never seen anything like this! Even the young girl who worked for Parks Canada at the site and lives in Conception Bay said she had never seen anything like the show we got today! It was absolutely magnificent to watch the beautiful giants rise out of the water in an enormous arc and land with a splash. While the Park employee was there she overheard Mary-Kate say that the only things she wanted to do in Newfoundland was visit family and see whales and puffins and she had now already done two out of three. The young girl pointed out that there were puffins right in front of us! In our excitement in watching the whales we hadn’t even noticed the cute little puffins that were along the shore! They don’t nest in the area so I never even thought to look but apparently today there was enough fish for everyone! By this time Mary-Katherine declared it was time to go home to bed. She was confident this day couldn’t possible get any better and figured she may as well quit while she was ahead!

While we were there, David received an email and had to go back to the trailer to work. We went back with him for lunch and then I went out to Signal Hill with the kids to hike the trails there since it was something David wasn’t sorry to miss. This time we discovered a trail that went east from Cabot Tower and our point at the top of the cliffs, as well as providing spectacular views, gave us a great vantage to look down on nesting bald eagles! So very cool!!

A bit of a tidy and clean up and we left for my cousin Shannon’s since he and his darling wife Karen were hosting the whole Horan gang for reunion part II tonight. Another great night of love, laughter and way too much food to round out a perfect day!

Breeching humpbacks!

Whale tail!

The Cape Spear Lighthouse

A very excited girl with her whale sightings

Most easterly point in North America

Taking a picture of Mary-Kate in her SA t-shirt and a whale popped up behind her

Views from our Signal Hill hike

Bald Eagle in the nest!

Mary-Kate on Signal Hill talking to Mike who is still on the cruise ship. Technology!! But then again, that's long been the spot for wireless messages!

Cabot Tower in the background