After leaving Cape Spear, I headed south on Highway 11 and passed the lovely little town of Maddox Cove/Petty Harbour.

Then on to Witless Bay where I had a brief lunch stop.

There are bunches of lupins all over on the roadsides and in fields.  Here is a nice grouping with buttercups in a field beside the beach at Witless Bay.

Next time I come to Newfoundland I’ll drive the full Irish Loop, but in the interests of time I had to shortcut on Highway 13, the “Witless Bay Line”.  The sign that greeted me at the beginning of this road read “Rough Road for 20 km”.  And so began my introduction to Newfoundland’s potholes!  The road wasn’t too bad after all, just enough potholes to keep me energized.  The road was beautifully lonely and scenic, first lined with shrubby forest and then it rose higher to more open spaces dotted with ponds and small lakes.  Here’s my little red car beside the Witless Bay Line.

And looking ahead.

And looking out over the tundra-like landscape.  There are caribou in this part of Newfoundland but I wasn’t lucky enough to see any.

Then, after transferring to Route 90, after a brief zoom along the Trans Canada westwards, I stopped for a welcome walk in the Salmonier Nature Reserve.  This 3 km walk on raised boardwalks wove through scrub forest and beautiful wetland meadows.

And as I walked along…the sun came out!

The sky continued to clear as I continued south on 90, then west on 91, then south again on 92.  There were more high open vistas, with glimpses of the sea to the east, and some very beautiful rivers like the Salmonier River and the Red Head River.  Finally, I arrived at Branch.  What a wonderful little town!  I stopped for a few photos of the long gravel beach and small harbour, wishing I could spend more time there.  It had a very peaceful feeling.

 

But, the gannets of St. Mary’s were calling me and I was anxious to get there while the weather was fine and clear.  Cape St. Mary’s is often shrouded in fog, with an average of only 10 clear days between June and September!

The road between Branch and the turnoff for the cape was beautiful and awful!  The worst potholes yet!  I crawled along at about 20-30 km/hr, wishing I could enjoy glimpses of the gorgeous wide open scenery, but too anxious to take my eyes off the road for more than a fraction of a second in case I fell hard into a deep pothole.  Then I really would be delayed in seeing the gannets!

Finally the turnoff came and it was a very narrow road, but newly paved and headed straight for the cape.  Hourray!

This is the first view of Bird Rock after leaving the parking area and the excellent interpretive centre.  Up to 24,000 gannets nest here, with murres and gulls nesting lower down on the cliffs.  The rock is white with gannets.

In the foreground is “Bird Rock” which is a sea stack a short distance away from the cliff-top viewing area.  I love the golden colour of the gannets’ necks and their distinctive blue-gray bills lined with black.  A wonderful film that introduced me to the beauty of gannets is “Winged Migration.”

Gannets have a wing span of up to six feet and are powerful fliers.  They dive down like torpedos into the sea at up to 100 km per hour, folding their wings back at the last moment and pursuing their prey underwater.

Glad I brought my zoom lens!

Here’s a view from Bird Rock looking back towards the interpretive centre and lighthouse.  It was so wonderful to sit and watch the gannets for about two hours in the warm sun.  Such a contrast from my morning at Cape Spear!  I learned later that this was the first clear day in 30 days!

My last photograph of the day.  These beautiful irises grow wild all over the Avalon peninsula, and perhaps all of Newfoundland.  I’ll have to come back again and touch every corner of the island to find out!  They grow on roadsides, fields, yards, and boggy areas.  It was a pleasure to see them each day.