Cape Spear, St, John’s NL-Day 31, July 21

Who has been to the southernmost point on North America? Zoom Zoom and I have. Who has been to the easternmost point on North America? Zoom Zoom I have. I just have two more to go!

Cape Spear is the easternmost point on North America. This means the sun rises here first and the sun sets here last at the end of the day. Cape Spear is a beautiful place just outside of the town of St. John’s. It actually has two has a lighthouses located here. The original one was built in 1836 and was decommissioned in 1955 and the “new” one was built in 1955 and is still used today. The original one was built with a square structure – the house for the lightkeeper and his family and the lighthouse pushed up through the middle of the house. The “new” one uses the lens from the decommissioned one. The original one has been refurbished back to the 1939 era so we can go in and see how the light keeper and his family lived. Also, the original lighthouse was cared for by 150 years of Cantwells.

During WWII, because it was close to convoy routes, a Canadian-manned gun battery was installed at Cape Spear to defend the entrance to St. John’s harbor. For the troops that lived there, barracks and bunkers were built. The gun barrels are still there.

“New” lighthouse
Original Lighthouse.
Having a wedding rehearsal.
“New” lighthouse
Bunker
Gun barrel

While at Cape Spear, we watch these amazing birds feed on fish. These Gannets can spot a fish underwater and dive so quickly. Once they hit the water they can go down as much as 10 meters for a fish. Simply amazing!

See all the splashes – those are birds in the water after food.
The splashes are where ones just dove in.
Center – one is hungry! He smells sushi!
Left side one is diving.
On the left side one is going in. At the top one is diving.
Getting ready to dive in.
See?
Plop!
Splash!

Now for the best part – humpback whales! We could actually hear them blow out their air before going under. They feed on the capelin along the shore. Zooming in with our cameras we could millions of the capelin – no wonder the birds and the whales liked it here.

Yes, that’s a humpback whale!
Blowing out to take another breath.
Tail
Tail fluke

More fun…

And more fun…

The bird to the left was tangled in some construction netting. Parks Canada called Wildlife Canada to see if they could come help it.
The bird was so tired. It couldn’t use it’s feet.
We kept thinking the whale would hurt the poor bird.
I never found out what happened to the bird.