With our bags all prepacked and ready, we scheduled an Uber for Tuesday 5/13 at 3:45 am to make a 5:30 am flight to Atlanta, on to Toronto and then on to St. John’s.  The plan was to arrive at about 4:00 pm but WestJet had rescheduled our flight to 6:30 with the arrival at 11:00 pm.  So, it was a very long day.  The joys of traveling. 

The whole trip actually went very well.  No rush with any connections, no customs required in Toronto and our bags made it on to St. John’s! 

We decided to stay at a hotel near the airport to rest up.  With an Uber set to pick us up the next morning after our free breakfast, we were at the RV by 10:30AM.   On arrival we saw that “The Boat” and “Moonshadow” were in place and ready as planned. 

Not to go into too much detail, we met our RV Tech to follow up on his prep, repair and warranty work.  He was great and even after a bit of angst about the awning repair, everything worked in the end!

Then on to the grocery store.  We had given away anything that would have spoiled and/or frozen over the winter, so we had a full list of things to get.  It wasn’t that bad, and Gail did wonders using her spatial orientation (putting stuff away in impossibly small space!) skills, we got it all onboard. 

Thursday was kind of an open day, so we went downtown St. John’s to do some sightseeing and let Gail browse the shops.  We had been into the harbor area last year but were burned out by then and really didn’t see the town area.  It is very historic and colorful.  And it was not crowded as this is still not quite tourist season. 

One stop was to the Quidi Vidi (pronounced “kitty vidi”) Artisan Studios.  Lots of crafts like carvings, felting, pottery, etc.  And next door was the Quidi Vidi brewery that developed an Iceberg Beer made with melted iceberg water.  We didn’t go in, but it sounded interesting.

However, we decided to have lunch down on the water in the port and they had the Iceberg Beer on tap.  So, we had a glass, and we voted it very nice, smooth, and cold!  (PS- we also stopped at the liquor store and purchased some Iceberg Rum for me and some Iceberg Vodka for Gail.  Will report later as we open them up!)

Friday was Mercedes day.  We were up early and took the RV in at 7:30 am for a service and warranty check.  Very nice service department.  They spent 4 hours on the rig, and I feel ready to go another 9000 miles.  Afterward, we took advantage of being out and went to get the propane and diesel topped off.  So now we are ready to start the trip west!

Finally, on our last day in St. John’s, we went a few miles south on the Irish Loop/Hwy 10 to the village of Bay Bulls for the Gatherall’s Puffin and Whale boat tour.  This is a popular tour and highly recommended.  Again, our goal is to see the whales, puffins and icebergs that we missed last year.

Surprisingly, there were about 80 other people aboard even being early in the tourist season and with the cool temperature.  This was the first day of the Canadian Victoria Day weekend and many people were taking advantage of the long holiday.

The tour was on a very nice multi-deck power catamaran, and we got a seat just forward of the bridge. It was in the wind but had a good view and we were as bundled up much as possible (especially compared to some of the other people!).  The main destination was to Gull Island that is part of the Witless Bay Bird Sanctuary and famous for it’s Puffin population.  And the Puffins were said to be in early from their winter sitting out on the ocean!

We could give you the whole story but let’s just say they were everywhere!  They come back to the same nest every year and burrow into the hillsides to lay one egg.  The pair both tend the hatchling.  Along with the other birds (Common Murre’s, Kittiwakes, Gulls, and others).  One of the largest bird breeding areas in the world because of the schools of Capelin (like sardines or anchovies) in the area.  We didn’t see the Puffins up close but got a good idea of size and flight characteristics.  No icebergs or whales (yet). Finished the outing with a great bowl of seafood chowder at the Jigger.

Back at the RV park, we got her prepped and ready to leave on the full trip the next morning!  Can’t think of anything that we have forgotten. Flame and his new friend Puff are ready to go as well.

Tomorrow, we head down the Irish Loop again and then back up to Sunnyside.  Come along on the next leg.