Our last day in
St John’s had great weather and we headed out for a sightseeing trip around
Conception Bay. We headed north to
Torbay and then west to pick up the east coastline of Conception Bay at Portugal Cove that offers beautiful views of Bell Island, site of Canada’s longest operating iron ore mine.
Unfortunately a tour of the mine and island would have consumed most of our day so we continued south through Conception Bay South and Seal Cove to Holyrood, stopping only for photos and a fill up at Tim Horton’s since Jeff has become addicted t their coffee since we started this trip. Holyrood is the southern end of
Conception Bay and offers beautiful scenery looking northward.
We worked our way around to the west side of the Bay and noticed a lot of evidence of the closing of the cod fishery 16 years ago with rusting deep sea fishing boats tied up or grounded on the beaches of the harbors around the bay. Today snow crab is the large seafood crop from Newfoundland and there were many piles of crab baskets and crab equipped fishing boats in the harbor.
We wound our way down to several of the small towns on the waters edge and enjoyed the beauty of Newfoundland’s rocky shores. One of those small towns was Brigus and we stopped there to look at its beautiful rocky harbor. 
One of the little trivia things we learned is that Captain Robert Bartlett grew up in Brigus and is buried there. Bartlett was captain of the Roosevelt, Admiral Byrd’s ship for his North Pole Expedition in 1902.
One particularly picturesque peninsula juts out from the western shore of the bay near Bay Roberts to Port de Grave with its large fishing fleet and Hibb’s Cove at the end of the Peninsula marked by its rocky shores. 
Port de Grave has a thriving Snow Crab industry and its harbor is full of fishing boats.
Next stop was lunch at Spainards Bay and then a chance to visit the memorial to aviators who departed Harbour Grace Airfield for Transatlantic flights including Amelia Earhart on her flight as the first women to make a solo flight across the Atlantic. The mounted DC-3 is one that flew for Air Labrador and is named Harbour Grace. 
Just off shore is the SS Kyle, one of the first ships built for the Newfoundland Coastal Fleet that saw service as the ferry to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland as well as serving local coastal communities and as part of the sealing fleet. After suffering damage from an iceberg the Kyle was moored at Harbour Grace for repairs but broke free during a storm and ended up beached where it is now located. It has been designated a provincial landmark and was repainted in its original coastal fleet colors.
By the time we reached Carbonear it was 3:00PM and we headed back to St John’s for dinner and relaxation.
Fortunately the new highway down the bay to the TransCanada Highway is much shorter and faster than our winding route out through the many harbors today.
Our last day in 
Unfortunately a tour of the mine and island would have consumed most of our day so we continued south through Conception Bay South and Seal Cove to Holyrood, stopping only for photos and a fill up at Tim Horton’s since Jeff has become addicted t their coffee since we started this trip. Holyrood is the southern end of 
One of the little trivia things we learned is that Captain Robert Bartlett grew up in Brigus and is buried there. 
Port de Grave has a thriving Snow Crab industry and its harbor is full of fishing boats.
Just off shore is the SS Kyle, one of the first ships built for the Newfoundland Coastal Fleet that saw service as the ferry to 
Fortunately the new highway down the bay to the 
