Day 3 (October 11, 2020): The Bay de Verde Peninsula

The plan for the third and final day of our Eastern Newfoundland adventure was a simple one: 

(1) explore the loop of the Bay de Verde Peninsula by heading north on the Trinity Bay side from Dildo as far as Old Perlican (95km), then heading south to Carbonear on the Conception Bay side (55km);

(2) meet Dave’s parents for Thanksgiving lunch in Carbonear; and

(3) head to St. John’s for a late afternoon flight home. 

We left Dildo right on schedule at 9:30AM and arrived in Carbonear right on schedule at 12:15PM, passing though 34 coves, villages and towns enroute. 

After a nice lunch in Carbonear, we headed to St. John's and got our flight home at 5:15PM, taking Pam's mom with us for a two-week stay in Nova Scotia.

We drove 835 kilometres in just over two days, and got to see most of the Bonavista and Bay de Verde peninsulas.  Despite the winds, the weather was sunny, for the most part.  We had a great time!  If it wasn't for the pandemic, we likely would not have done this trip.  2020 has enabled us to sink our teeth deeply into Newfoundland, and it has led us to more strongly appreciate one of the world's great islands.

Breakfast at The George’s Lookout. 

Our comfy accommodations in Dildo. 

Shag Rocks, also known as Red Rocks, just off the coast in Whiteway-Eastern Corner. 


Beach shacks in Cavendish. That is, the Newfie Cavendish, not the PEI version!

Amen to that!

This could be the planet’s smallest church. Or at least Newfoundland’s smallest!  (Located in Cavendish.)

That’s a LOT of ❤️! Three towns in a row on Trinity Bay. 


Heart’s Desire. 

Heart’s Content. 


The historic Cable Station in Heart’s Content, where the first trans-Atlantic cable was received in 1858. 

The first cable was exchanged between Queen Victoria and US President Buchanan in 1858.  The first cable failed, so a second one was installed in 1866.


Heart’s Content has a couple of these. A great idea!

Outport Newfoundland is dotted with tiny bus shelters, such as this one in Heart’s Content, which private citizens or communities build for their kids.  With Newfoundland wind and precipitation being what they are, one can appreciate the investment. 

Heart’s Content. 

The Bacon Cove Head Lighthouse at Heart’s Content. 

Perlican Island in Old Perlican’s bay may be just a simple bald bump, but it is actually quite perfect!


The fishing fleet of Old Perlican.

The sheer cliffs at Caplin Cove, one of the first coves heading south on the Conception Bay side of the Bay de Verde Peninsula. 


It’s a little hazy, but that’s Bay de Verde (at the end of the aptly-named Bay de Verde Peninsula) in the distance. We didn’t have time to do the last section of the drive, from Old Perlican to Grates Cove, so we had to be content with a distant view. 

Job's Cove could easily be a scene from the Irish coast. 

The beautiful beach at Northern Bay Sands. When I was 16, I rode my motorcycle to this park and camped alone. I vividly remember reading an interpretive panel on the beach that evening, explaining how, in the Independence Hurricane of 1775, countless people died in West Country fishing vessel shipwrecks in the area and the beach was littered with corpses, which the locals buried in a mass grave, basically where the park is now.  Not to mention the Rothesay wreck on the beach in 1863.  And how the ghosts of these hundreds of victims have long been known to walk the beach at night. Let’s just say, it was a sleepless night for a 16 year-old kid camping alone, and one that is still impressed on my memory.  I hadn't returned to Northern Bay Sands in 37 years -- until today.

Burnt Point. 

The Harbour entrance to Carbonear, one of the largest communities on the Bay de Verde Peninsula and certainly a health care and commercial hub for Conception Bay. 

The plan was to rendez-vous with Dave's parents for Thanksgiving lunch at The Stone Jug in Carbonear. Happy to report the rendez-vous happened on queue at 12:15!

The Stone Jug is a large Georgian-style stone building on Water Street in Carbonear. It has three storeys made entirely of stone cut from nearby Kelly's Island. In three storeys, the first served as the Rorke retail store;  the family lived on the second floor and the maids lived on the third.  A major renovation took place within the last decade and has turned the building into one of the most spectacular buildings in Newfoundland & Labrador. It was put up for sale a few years ago at $6 million, but did not sell.

The second floor of The Stone Jug.

The third floor of The Stone Jug now serves as a performance venue.

The wreck of the S.S. Kyle, the well-known Newfoundland coastal ship built in 1913, which ran aground in Harbour Grace during a February 1967 storm, just a couple of months before we were born!

It was a smooth Air Canada Dash-8 flight home.