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Bonne Bay

Posted on: 2013-05-01

(This is part of a travelogue from my 2012 trip to Gros Morne Newfoundland. Click on any picture to see bigger versions on Flickr.)

After a strenuous day climbing Gros Morne yesterday, we decided to let someone else do the moving today and took a boat tour of Bonne Bay.

Funnily enough, the tour started from right next to the beautiful patio we had sat on last night.

Patio Dock on Bonne Bay

The local ferry and the boat tour seem to be run by the same family. They also seem to be the house band at the pier-side pub in Norris Point. Perhaps they're not family, but they seem to be close. Everyone in Gros Morne seems to know each other, and they all seem friendly and funny.

Bonne Bay is a fjord, a natural bay cut much deeper by glaciers. It's pronounced "Bon Bay" and at first I thought everyone was talking about the big city in India. The tour guides have a set of scripted bits that they do, although today they seems a bit less rehearsed and a bit more ad-libbed than usual.

The weather was sunny and bright again today, but fog had gathered out in the open ocean.

Bonne Bay

Fog On the Ocean

The boat tour usually goes quite a ways around the headlands and into the ocean, but the fog was making it hard to navigate between the rocky parts, so we we turned around and went back into the main bay.

Misty Coastline

Misty Trees and Shoreline on Bonne Bay

We skirted close to shore - close enough to read the signs and wave hi to the locals:

Picnic, Lighthouse.

Saying Hi to the Locals

Downtown Woody Point.

(For the record, this is a case of a small town shop sign actually using "quotation marks" properly: "downtown" Woody Point is a block and a half, and they're fully aware here of the irony of calling it "downtown" as if it was Manhattan. Good restaurant too - we ate there a lot.)

We saw a bald eagle:

Bald Eagle on Bonne Bay

We also saw a small whale:

Whale on Bonne Bay

The guides told us that some fish and bird populations in the area were disappearing while others were becoming much more common to fill the gap. They also mentioned the moose problem: Moose aren't native to Newfoundland, and the wolves who would otherwise keep their population under control have mostly been wiped out, so they're everywhere on the Rock, destroying forests and destabilizing the ecosystem. Like everywhere else, Gros Morne is going through big changes in its natural world.

We sailed close to some dramatic rocks that we had admired from the patio the night before:

Dramatic Rocks on Bonne Bay

Geology at 90 Degrees

As we returned to the pier, the staff brought out some instruments and played us a few Newfoundland songs.

Playing Us Home

(For some reason, I always imagine this picture with a dubstep soundtrack.)

Click below for a slideshow of pictures from my entire Gros Morne trip. Note that you'll need Flash to see the slideshow properly.

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