Friday, July 19, 2024

Let's Just Call It Atmospheric Mist?


 St. Mary's First Falls Park - July 13 to 19, 2024

The foggiest place in Canada is Argentia. For the last week, well 6 days really, we have been located 32 miles from there as the crow flies. Why are we here? The reason is, so far this year, St. Vincent's Beach which is about 20 minutes from our camp site, has been the hot spot for whale watching. To give you a feel for our current location, below is a map of Newfoundland where the red icon (mark) shows our location.


This next picture is an enlargement of the Avalon Peninsula, which is the focus of this weeks exploration.


The first day we arrived we saw a little fog in the distance, behind Miss Mosey. It's nothing to worry about, right? Without the fog you can see houses on the other side of the inlet. That didn't happen very often.


So the next day, we pack our picnic lunch, wine, and beach chairs and head St. Vincent's Beach to go whale hunting. The day was overcast, but otherwise quite pleasant. What makes this location so special is that the water gets real deep just off shore, allowing the whales to get very close to you.


The whales were having a great time feeding on Capelin. Think of Capelin as sardines on steroids. The whales love them. And if the Capelin get close to shore the Newfoundlanders scoop them up by the bucketful as they consider them to be a great delicacy. 





We are so glad we got to see the whales playing that day because the weather gods had other plans. Over the next few days this is what we got to see.



And yeah, that's a big Class "C" we're following. You can almost see it!


In spite of the fog we continued to whale hunt. Ever hopeful the sun would conquer the fog, we would visit the beach. You could hear the eerie sounds of the the whales blowing as they surfaced, their nebulous forms like apparitions in the mist. No good for pictures but fun none the less. Using my 3 or 4 generations old Samsung phone I attempted to video Ganets (kinda like seagulls only bigger) diving headfirst into the water to catch those delicious Capelins. 


Obligatory cat picture follows....

Headed off to bed with her blanket.



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