A WHALE OF A DAY

Bonne Bay set on Woody Point at the southern end of Newfoundland’s Gros Morne National Park, is a scenic community set within a wilderness area with unique geology known as the Tablelands. 

The Tablelands rise in contrast to the surrounding green landscape.  Brown in colour, the unusual rock formation is thought to have originated in the earth’s mantle, when it was forced up during a plate collision millions of years ago.  The rock cannot sustain plant life because it lacks the necessary nutrients and its high iron content gives the rock its appearance. 

In the early morning light the two-tone mountain vistas created striking reflections on the fjord’s glassy waters while gulls swooped down, attracted by fish skimming on the water’s surface.

The community’s colourful buildings provided a pleasing contrast to the dramatic landscape.  Red and green rooftops, yellow and blue clapboard siding made attractive mirror images of themselves in the fjord along with fishing boats and the perfunctory lighthouse. Even the dilapidated boat houses along the waterfront, colours faded, had their charm.

The sun was doing its best to pry open a larger space in the high cloud as we set off on our zodiac ride.  It succeeded magnificently just as a Minke whale thrilled us all by threading a path across the bay.  

Minkes tend to change their underwater course erratically making their path difficult to track.  There was no way of knowing where, or if it would surface again. But it did, again and again!

As we got back into shipboard life that evening the dining room was plunged into uproar when two blue whales were spotted portside.  Half eaten dinners were abandoned as everyone gaped in amazement.  

Two of the largest creatures ever to have lived, a hundred feet long, with tongues that can weigh as much as an elephant and hearts as big as a car, temporarily blessed us with their presence.  It really was an amazing experience.

It had been a whale of a day all round.