The perfect weekend escape - the Bonavista Peninsula of Newfoundland, Canada. This beautiful small section of "The Rock", as the province of Newfoundland is so affectionately known, is like stepping out of 2016 and into a much simpler, more relaxing era. But do not mistaken this laid back feeling and majestic scenery for an easy life, here as well as most of NL (Newfoundland & Labrador), you will find the hardest working, nicest people imaginable.
The town of Bonavista is a little over a 3 hour drive from the Provincial capital of St. John's on the far east of the island. If flying to Newfoundland, St. John's is your most likely arrival point.
We stayed at a beautiful historic home which is now a bed & breakfast called Jubilee House. I highly recommend this spot. The help, Gladys, will fire up a hearty breakfast for you each day and have tea while she explains the best sites for the day - it's perfect.
Fall in NL can be very unpredictable and as is the weather everywhere in Atlantic Canada, it can change in an instant. Our first morning we'd planned to hike to Cape Bonavista lighthouse and an area in the Provincial Park called "The Dungeon"...alas the skies opened and it poured all day. We went anyway :)
The lighthouse is very unique in it's shape but as with most, it is neighboured by ferociously powerful Atlantic Ocean waves and winds. Next was on to "The Dungeon" and what turned out to be an escape from the elements.
The area is a former sea cave that has collapsed and now developed into a hole where ocean water comes in through two door shaped gaps - hence, The Dungeon!
As much rain and wind as the day could throw at us, the evening brought an equal amount of beauty with the most stunning sunset I have ever seen. The combination of storm clouds, strong winds, high waves and the open Atlantic Ocean left us breathless. We were SO glad to have ventured back out of the B&B!
Bonavista treated us to the most beautiful sunset imaginable. I think we'd earned it after battling the strong North Atlantic elements all day - a trade I would be more than happy to make over and over again.
The next day we left Jubilee House for the final time and headed South for Trinity & The Skerwink Trail. The roughly 40 minute drive took us into another beautiful small town of NL where we met Skipper Bob of Trinity Eco-Tours and rented a two person sea kayak. We spent the next 2 hours in the strong waves of Trinity Bay but found some awesome coves, ducked under an abandoned bridge and had a great time!
After a quick picnic we took off on the 5.3km Skerwink Trail of Trinity/Port Rexton. This moderate-difficult rated hike has stairs, sea stacks, great lookout points, beaches and beautiful shoreline throughout. It actually gave us a great vantage point of the area we had spent the morning sea kayaking.
Overall, this tiny portion of Newfoundland was the perfect setting for a weekend escape during the Atlantic Canadian Fall season. It just goes to show once again that there are always great places to see and adventures to be had right under our noses - we just have to get out and explore!
We will be back Bonavista, you've made sure of that!
-KC
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