Local residents welcome us to St John’s

We glided through The Narrows, which as the name implies, is the narrow channel leading to St John’s Harbor.  I was surprised to see how close we were to the streets which were at the same elevation as the ship.  People on shore were close enough that you could hear them shout out greetings as we sailed by.

The ship closing in on our mooring spot

The ship moored at 8 am at Pier 11 and Pier 12 along Harbour Drive very close to the center of town, across from the Alt Hotel.  There is a lot to do within easy walking distance of the ship and you could spend your day in St John’s enjoying the restaurants, shops, and nearby attractions.

The Basilica Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

We had booked the Gatherall’s Puffin and Whale watching tour.  There was an extra cost to get picked up in St John’s.  The pick-up spot was at the Alt Hotel, very close to the ship.  It is about a 35-minute drive to Bay Bulls, a small town about 20 miles south of St John’s.

There were about 20 guests waiting at the Alt Hotel for the tour and they all boarded a yellow school bus which arrived at 9:30.  We spotted a smaller van with the Gatherall Logo and inquired if this was the bus.  The driver, Scott, said that the school bus was the primary bus, but he would take us since we were already here.

This was the smaller bus that took 4 of us to the port

We arrived at Gatherall’s in Bay Bulls in 30 minutes.  Inside their building we checked in got our boarding passes.  The building has a large gift shop selling a variety of touristy items.

This is where you check in for your tour.  There is also a gift shop

A giant stuffed Puffin is available for pictures inside

Restrooms are available on the dock.

People started lining up early, I think in anticipation of getting a better seat on the boat.  These pictures show you the seating.  However, there is no advantage to trying to get a “better” seat as once the boat starts moving, everyone goes to the railing and the view from any seat would be blocked.  Bottom line – don’t rush to get aboard and take a seat inside – you will have plenty of opportunities to move around.

We left at 10:35 am and headed out to sea toward Gull Island.

This is the route we took today.  We circled Gull and Green Islands

Along the way, we went close to shore where we saw a baby Bald Eagle.

“Baby” Bald Eagle – hard to see without binoculars or a telephoto lens

Once we closed in on Gull Island, we saw thousands of Puffins and Seagulls, but most were too far away to see without binoculars or using a telephoto lens.  From time to time we would see one fly by or get closer to one that was floating on the water.

Puffin in flight close to the water.  These were photographed with a telephoto lens at 10 FPS

Puffins near the boat

Puffins near their burrows – photographed with telephoto lens – you need binoculars

You really need binoculars to fully enjoy this experience.

Eagle soaring over Green Island

The crew kept a lookout for whales and they spotted one or two, but the whales barely broke the surface of the water and quickly disappeared.  Unless we happened to be on the correct side of the boat we missed seeing the whale it.  Judy was on the port side and did see a whale barely break surface and most of the tail.

The seas were calm and a light windbreaker was enough to keep us comfortable.  I wore a knit cap but that wasn’t really necessary.

A light jacket was enough

After 90 minutes we headed back to shore and arrived back at Gatherall’s around 12:30 pm.  There was time to shop in the gift shop after we returned.

Captain Mike

We left Gatherall’s at 12:40 pm and were back in St John’s at 1:10.

We asked our driver, Scott, for a recommendation for lunch. He dropped us off at the Duke of Duckworth where we met Cindy and Brad for some Fish and Chips.

Judy, Cindy, Brad and Pete outside The Duke of Duckworth

The Duke of Duckworth is a casual restaurant with good food and reasonable prices.  We met some local Newfoundlanders at the adjacent table and it was fun chatting with Fred, Mel and Dee.

Fish and chips – The chips were Poutinized

Local residents Fred, Mel and Dee

The NHL allows each member of the Stanley Cup winning team to borrow the Stanley Cup for a day.  We were lucky that Colorado Avalanche player Alex Newhook is from St John’s and today was his day to have the Stanley Cup!  There was parade that went right by our location and it was fun to join in on the celebrations.

Alex Newhook

We were back on the ship at 3:30 and the ship left at 5 pm.

Buskers entertained the passengers on the pier

Canadian comedian Andrew Grose was the featured entertainer this evening.  He is very funny and we enjoyed his show.

Andrew Grose