Newfoundland - Whales & IcebergsDays: 8 Price from: £1,599
ItineraryDay 1Leave London Heathrow Airport around midday by Air Canada non-stop flight to St. John’s. On arrival in the late afternoon the Bales Tour Manager will meet you and take you to the Quality Inn Harbourfront Hotel. Meals: NONE Day 2Today begins with a boat voyage around the islands of the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve. This area is home to more than two million birds, including North America's largest Atlantic puffin and black-legged kittiwake colonies. Other birds to watch for are Leach's storm petrels, common guillemots, herring gulls, Atlantic razorbills, and black guillemots. It is also an ideal spot for watching whales, particularly humpbacks. This is the world's second largest storm petrel colony and the continent's second largest guillemot colony. We will see tens of thousands of seabirds but since the petrels are nocturnal they may elude us. Numerous pelagic seabirds such as shearwaters and skuas also frequent the area. Following lunch, we will return to St. John's via the continent's most easterly point at Cape Spear National Historic Park, whose lighthouse, built in 1836, is the oldest and most photogenic in Newfoundland. We will spend the rest of the afternoon exploring the historic port city of St. John's. Meals: B L Day 3
Meals: B L Day 4After breakfast we visit the Cape St. Mary's Seabird Reserve on the southern tip of Cape Shore. This site is the breeding ground for thousands of seabirds, including the continent's third-largest gannet colony and the world's most southerly breeding Brunnich's guillemots. We get great views of gannets, kittiwakes, and common guillemots. The high sea cliffs serve as a perfect viewpoint to watch the whales cavort around their northern coastal feeding grounds. We stay overnight at the Clode Sound Motel in Charlottetown. Meals: B L Day 5Today we explore the marine wonders of the Terra Nova Fjords from plankton to bald eagles as we visit the Marine Interpretation Centre and enjoy a boat trip out on the scenic fjords. Minke whales and dolphins should also be seen. Continue to Twillingate, on South Twillingate Island, overlooking Notre Dame Bay, for our stay at the Anchor Inn. Meals: B L Day 6Icebergs, whales, and eagles are on the agenda today as we visit Twillingate or some other nearby part of the famous ‘Iceberg Alley’. Our specific itinerary today will depend upon the distribution of the icebergs, whales and wildlife. We also enjoy a boat trip into ‘Iceberg Alley’ itself for a close look at these 15,000 year-old glacial fragments. Meals: B L Day 7
Meals: B D Day 8Arrive London Heathrow in the morning. Meals: NONE
Your Price Includes:
We act as agents
for Bales Worldwide ATOL 2882 for the holiday tour Return to Shenfield Travel's main Wildlife page
|
Enjoy the world's largest gathering
of humpback whales together with gigantic Greenland icebergs and some of the
planet's most spectacular seabird reserves. Newfoundland is nearer than you
think – just 5 hours away by direct flight from Heathrow.
Whales, members of the world's most
southerly caribou herd, a small puffin colony, a tern colony, and seals are
usually seen as we circle the extensive Avalon Wilderness Area. Sometimes
the whales are lunge-feeding on a local beach - a marvelous spectacle to
behold. We often get to enjoy lots of other wildlife including pelagic
seabirds visiting from south of the equator. We have even found the
occasional Antarctic seabird feeding along the coast. Your Tour Leader will
show you all the best highlights. Overnight in St. Bride’s at the Bird
Island Resort.
Our return to St. John's takes us via
the Salmonier Nature Park, where we should see eagles, icebergs, moose, some
great warblers, and more. The Nature Park is the site of raptor
rehabilitation and works to educate about local endangered species. In the
evening we depart by Air Canada to London.
