It was a Whale of a Day ... or was it?

One day in early July, we left Paradise with the sun shining down upon us. We traveled south on the west side of the Avalon peninsula towards St. Vincent's. Along the coastal road, we looked out into the water hoping to catch a glimpse of whales. St. Vincent's claim to fame is that sometime during late June to early July, small fish called capelin come ashore in order to spawn on the beaches. Apparently there are so many fish on the beach that you can just scoop them up in handfuls. We are told that they are good to eat. Whales are attracted to the area (along with many sea birds) where they can feed on these fish. So St. Vincent's is one area where you can sit at the beach and watch the whales as they come close to shore. I did say whales with an "s". However, during the 1.5 hour drive, it had been raining off and on. Yes, rain and cold! At the beach we got out of the van while the rain had let up and walked down to the shoreline. There were a few people there waiting to spot whales. We did see a Minke whale that came up a few times for a brief moment but all we saw was its back. Obviously, we were not there at the peak time, but one of the locals told us that the whales are there because the capelin are there and the "capelin scull" (when they come ashore) should occur any day soon.

Bev looking at the colourful stones

Hoping to see a whale

Walking along the St. Vincent's Beach on a cold and rainy day

I enjoyed walking along the beach looking at the very colourful stones that made up the beach. There were not the typical grey stones but green, red, yellow and speckled ones.

Colourful stones from St. Vincent's Beach

After seeing all that we could see we went to a local fishermens' museum and learned about the olden days when large schooners went out fishing. Did you know that one way of catching cod was to use a cod trap? I had heard of this before from a person in Paradise but really could not appreciate how it would ever work. It is very interesting how it works. The fish actually swim right along a netted wall into the trap
.

So, although we didn't get to see as many whales as we had hoped for, it was still an educational experience.