Witless Bay Ecological Reserve

The plan was to paddle out of Tors Cove and try to find the humpback whales that visit the east coast of Newfoundland every summer. When we got to Tors Cove it was foggy and it was risky to paddle out of sight of land. We decided to paddle out to and around Great Island in the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve. There was a chance we might see whales but unfortunately we didn't have any luck.

We did see thousands and thousands of seabirds. When we approached where they were massed on the water they would scurry trying to get airbourne and the water looked like it was boiling. This shot captures most of the group of 11 of us as the fog hangs in the background.

There's a huge cave on Great Island that is usually difficult to get into because of the swell that often runs on the east coast of the Avalon Peninsula. Today it was possible and a bunch of us stuck our noses inside. It was still foggy!

Steve paddling out of the cave.

Paddling up the outside east coast of Great Island it looks like there's a hole in the wall of the island. The hole worn mirrors the tilted beds of the greenish grey sandstones of the Cabot Group of rocks and you can see the degree to which the beds have been uplifted from horizontal.

The marine forecast was for 1 metre of swell but out here we had close to two at times. The swell rebounding off the cliffs made for confused seas and I wished I had more weight in my boat.

We paddled down the inside west coast of Great Island with thousands of birds on the cliffs, floating on the water and soaring overhead. I had no idea I captured the bird flying over Bob, Pete and Ysabelle until I got home and downloaded the pictures.

After we returned to Tors Cove and had lunch we paddled over to Mobile Bay. We paddled close to the coast and at one point a group of hikers passing on the East Coast Trail stopped to watch our boats dancing on the waves. We waved to each other in acknowledgment of our outdoor pursuits on this day. Brian and Pete did some rock hopping. I thought better of some of the tighter spots they paddled through but I watch closely to see how they handled being pushed around by the crashing waves. Boy, these guys are good!