After arriving at Port Agentia at 4:00AM yesterday morning we followed the Tracks RV caravan we crossed with to the nearby Sunset Campground. Unfortunately with the caravan there and the campground having no pull through sites it was a waste of time and money as we ended having to unhook the car and park in a site with low amperage electricity that we could not use. A better bet for anyone coming over would be to find a pull off on the highway to St John's or go to the Scobey's Food Store in nearby Plancentia for the night.We did get to bed for a few hours and then had an easy two hour drive to Pippy Park Campground in St John's which we will use as a base of operations to tour St John's and the southeastern coast of Newfoundland. After dinner Dave and Jeanette Reavis from North Carolina came by and we planned our trip together around the Avalon Peninsula on Friday.
This morning the four of us drove down through St John's to pick up the Irish Loop highway to circle the Avalon Peninsula, a 20 mile drive that was a great introduction to the beauty of the Newfoundland coast. After four days of rain we had a great day of sunshine, cool temperatures and light winds for the tour.
The first stop was just south of St John's at Cape Spear which offers a view of the entrance to St John's Harbor and the magnificent cliffs of Newfoundland's coast. The narrow entrance to the Harbor offered great protection and was easily defended making it the early center of Newfoundland commerce.
Just south of Cape Spear is Witless Bay, and our first view of feeding whale's. Jeff was not able to catch a photo of the feeding whales as they broke the surface although everyone got to watch them doing so. We had a long drive and there will be other opportunities to photograph whales.
As we continued down the peninsula our next stop was the Colony of Avalon near Ferryville, an active archaeological site of the colony founded in 1620 by Sir George Calvert. The Colony was abandoned a few years later because of the harsh winters French raids on nearby fisheries.We also had an early lunch at the Colony Cafe near the digs.
More history awaited us at Renews, one of the early English settlements used by early 16th Century ships to "refresh" with fresh water and supplies. In 1620 the Mayflower stopped at Renews on its way to settle the Colony of Massachusetts.
Continuing south to St Shott's we saw our first Caribou, part of the 30,000 large Southern Newfoundland Caribou Herd just before reaching the turn off for Cape Race at the southern tip of the peninsula.
Cape Race has a long history in communications across the Atlantic. In the late 1800's a mail boat would be dispatched from Cape Race to retrieve canisters thrown over the side of passing liners headed to New York from London. This news would be telegraphed ahead to New york beating the arriving ships by three days.
As wireless was developed Cape Race became a leading North Atlantic station including the point that communicated with the Titanic when the ship sunk after hitting an iceberg just off Cape Race.
We continued our drive around the south end of Cape Race and returned to St John's in time for dinner at Velma's on Water Street downtown. The annual St Regatta was run today but we drove by as they were leaving after dinner, maybe next time!We said our goodbyes to the Reavises who are returning to Jeanette's mother's in Placentia for a few days before heading back to the States. We will see them at the Fall RV Forum SE Rally in Georgia.
