Return to St. Johns, September 6 - 10th

What a blustery rainy night in Bonavista! We decided to get going early to St. John's as the roads and weather are terrible and it would take longer to drive.

We were lucky as this huge storm really did a number in Cape Breton, with washed out roads, one person dead and lots of power outages.

Winds were about 50 km to 70 km with the rain going sideways. The first 100 km of the trip before getting to Trans Canada Highway 1, was like playing "Mario cart", dodging all the potholes filled with water. I could only do 60km instead of 80.

We stopped for breakfast at Clarenville where we reached TCH 1.  A short stop for food and a stretch and then back on the road. 

Once we hit the TCH it was somewhat better with only a few potholes, but the bigger problem is pooling water. I drove at 90 km instead of 100 plus for most of it. We did get a break in the weather just before Dildo, where we drove inland up a penninsula towards the iconic Dildo Brewing Company. It sure is a busy place.

Dildo is a scenic, historic fishing community in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, located on Trinity Bay about 60 kilometers west of St. John's. It gained international fame and a quirky modern title thanks to a late-night television campaign, with Jimmy Kimmel.

It's windy, my hair is a mess!

Lots of different beer. I bought one to try as I have a bunch of beer to finish before we fly to Halifax.

Back in the car for the last leg of our journey to St. John's. This time we're staying in the historic Murray Premises Hotel on the waterfront.

Built in 1846, the Murray Premises, a National Historic Site, is the oldest collection of mercantile buildings related to the fishing industry in Newfoundland and Labrador. The Murray Premises, which survived the Great Fires, was named after Andrew H. Murray, a 19th century merchant of salt, coal, and general supplies. These buildings have been used as warehouses, offices, and machine shops and for more than one hundred years, the Murray Premises has been a major highlight of the St. John’s waterfront.

The buildings were originally built on pilings sunk into the harbour floor. Most were constructed with masonry walls, wood floors, and wood interior supports. Some feature brick infill interior walls of timber frame not unlike the half-timber construction of the European middle ages.

In the 1970s the Newfoundland Historic Trust and the St. John’s Heritage Foundation saved the Premises from destruction and helped begin the preservation of the structures. The restoration plan allowed for as much of the original character of the buildings to be maintained while converting the buildings into a modern commercial complex. Within approximately eight months after the restoration began, 70 percent of the commercial space was leased. The official Grand Re-opening of the Premises was held on November 30, 1979.

During the 1980s and 1990s, ownership of the Murray Premises changed several times. In 1996, a local businessman, William Mahoney, purchased the property and is still the owner. The story of Murray Premises Hotel began in early 2000 when the third and fourth floors were renovated and developed into hotel guest rooms. Guests began staying at St. John’s first boutique hotel in May 2001, at which time the hotel had 28 rooms.

The success of Murray Premises Hotel was instant and the realization for additional guest rooms was imminent. In July of 2006, the property continued its growth with the addition of the second floor Executive Suites, bringing the total number of rooms to 47. The last major expansion was completed in early 2010, with 20 new rooms in the east wing bringing the total to 67 guestrooms.

Last but not least, addition meeting space was added along with two business suites off the main lobby, completed in August 2013. Today, Murray Premises Hotel, with 69 guestrooms, continues to welcome visitors to this beautiful historic building to experience old world charm with new world comfort.

It definitely has old world charm. Our room is a Deluxe King Suite. The old timbers and old original brick lovely.

We basically dumped all our stuff into the room and headed out to find our favourite Chinese Food Restaurant for lunch at 2:15 pm.

Back at the hotel we had a relaxing rest of the day. Ray had a nap as he has not been sleeping very well lately. I couldn't figure out where all the noise was coming from until I looked out our window into the courtyard. A Wedding! Too bad the weather was so iffy and cool.

Monday, after we had some of their continental breakfast the hotel offer here, we decided to drive up to Cape Spear and see how foggy it really is outside. Still pretty stormy on the Coastline.

You can barely see the top of the lighthouse, but you can hear the foghorn.

Even with the fog and drizzle there are 3 huge tour buses in the parking lot. Once we headed back towards town, the drizzle quit.

Back in town we stopped at the Railway Coastal Museum. This certainly isn't as good as the one in Cornerbrook. It seemed to be more about the shipping than the rail.

Train Galley

SS Kyle

Now what. The sun is peaking out and the rain quit. We decided to check out the Memorial University Botanical Gardens.

The only moose we've seen so far lol.

Vegetable Garden

After an hour of wandering around it's time to head back into town and find somewhere for lunch. We decided to go to Jack Astor's, across from our hotel. After a bit of a rest in our room, the sun came out and it's pretty warm outside. We decided to walk up to Water Street and George Street, known for all it's bars. With the cruise ship in the harbour, there were lots of people walking around. A bunch of the bars are closed today, I guess because it's the holiday Monday.

We carried on down to the waterfront.

We had a lovely day and the weather is much better than predicted.

Tuesday, we decided to take a drive to Brigus and Cupids. Although the weather is not the greatest, we're going anyways.

It poured for 1/2 the trip but as soon as we got off the TCH is lightened up. We chose the backroad along the coastline with many little "hamlets", curvy roads but nothing really picture worthy. Finally we arrived at Brigus. What a cute little town.

Down into the Historical part of town.

We drove straight to the tunnel before touring the rest of the streets.

Brigus Tunnel:

The Brigus Tunnel in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, is an 80-foot (30-meter) man-made passageway blasted through solid bedrock in 1860.

Construction

Builder: Built by John Hoskins, a Cornish miner.
Client: Commissioned by local fishing master Captain Abram Bartlett.
Timeline: Took about four months of hard labor during the summer of 1860.
Method: Workers hand-drilled holes into the stone and used gunpowder to blast through the rock ridge, years before dynamite was invented.
Dimensions: Measures roughly 8.5 feet high and 8 feet wide, making it large enough for wheelbarrows, wagons, and horses.

Purpose and Use

The Problem: The local harbor in Brigus was crowded during the busy Labrador fishery season, and a 7-meter rocky ridge blocked direct access to deep water where Captain Bartlett's ship could dock and unload cargo.

The Solution: The tunnel created a flat, direct shortcut from the town side straight to the deep-water wharf, eliminating the need to haul heavy loads of fish over the ridge.

Active Period: Used actively to move fish and supplies until around 1910, when changes in the local fishing industry made it obsolete.

Driving up and down the very tight streets.

We did manage to find the old Spracklin residence, that is Randy Spracklin's grandparents house right on the waterfront. Randy is the host of Rock Solid Builds on HGTV. I think this house needs a little TLC.

After Brigus we'd been told to drive to Cupids. 

Cupids is the oldest continuously settled official British colony in Canada, located in Newfoundland and Labrador about 80 kilometres from St. John's.

History

Founded in 1610 by John Guy, a merchant from Bristol, along with 39 other colonists.
Originally named Cuper’s Cove, it was the site of the first official English attempt at colonization in Canada.
It is the birthplace of the first recorded child born of English parents in Canada in 1613. 
Top Attractions listed:

Cupids Legacy Centre: A museum and archaeology lab built in 2010 to mark the 400th anniversary of the colony, housing thousands of recovered artifacts. 







Cupids Cove Plantation Provincial Historic Site: An active archaeological dig where visitors can see historians uncovering the original 1610.

Here is a more interesting picture taken by a drone (from google) Today was a very gray day so 

Nothing special as far as we could see and we were not interested enough to pay money to see this particular museum.

Onwards to the Bay Roberts. This was obviously the "big" town where supplies are purchased unless you came all the way into St. John's.

This is a great video of The Bay Roberts. Today wasn't that nice nor did we have a drone. This also being the first week of September a lot of things are winding down for the winter.

             https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1Ee1dJnhKZ/

Lunch at Mary Brown's Chicken and then back home on the TCH, which took about an hour back. Again showers between Bay of Roberts and St. John's where it finally cleared enough for some sunshine. Very changeable weather here. Back to the hotel for the afternoon. As our room is being cleaned when we returned, Ray went out for a short walk in the neighbourhood.

Ray's walkabout:

The Holland America Ship left last night and this one appeared this morning.

Looking across to Signal Hill and the Battery neighbourhood.

Dinner tonight is at The Keg, across the street. Ray's been missing beef. lol I ordered the scallops wrapped in bacon and the French Onion Soup. Prime Rib for Ray. A little more rare than he expected, but still tender and tasty.

Wednesday morning, after a bit of breakfast, we headed out to the Johnson Geo Centre up Signal Hill. Another cloudy, gray day. So an inside activity. We were the first ones there and with no cruise ship or tour bus waiting for entry. ( I planned it that way lol) Nice to walk through without tons of other people. Only 15% of this building is above ground. The rest is built into the rock.

Memorial University's Johnson Geo Centre is one of Canada’s most unique science centres and the premier science centre in the province. Located on and under historic Signal Hill, the centre was constructed in a natural rock basin, originally filled with peat covering glacial till and boulders. The basin was excavated and the centre built to fit within over 500 linear feet of exposed rock walls. Don't miss this chance to venture underground and explore our province's geological history!

• Teeth, Tentacles, and Tales
• Gardens of the Deep
• The Solar System
• Amazing Earth Theatre
• Our Planet
• Our Province
• Our Future and Space
• The Great Rock Wall
• Oil and Gas Gallery

They were right. It did take us 90 minutes to go through and read everything. Very interesting.

As soon as you walk in they have this living wall of plants.

Here are just a few of the exhibits, after you take the elevator down

An example of fossils in the rock.

A piece of the rock from Tablelands at Gros Morne.

The oil and gas industry, a big deal in Newfoundland.

Newfoundland and Labrador's offshore oil production reached 8.1 million barrels in July 2026, marking a 15.7% increase compared to July 2025 according to the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Energy Regulator.

Current Production Fields

Hibernia: The province's first and largest producing project, using a fixed Gravity Based Structure (GBS) in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin.
Hebron: Operates via a GBS platform in deeper water, producing heavy oil.
Terra Nova: Utilizes a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel, which restarted in late 2023 following an asset life extension project.
White Rose: Uses the SeaRose FPSO vessel, which underwent refurbishments as part of its asset life extension.

Future Outlook & Resources

Reserves: Existing fields hold roughly 1.7 billion barrels of oil reserves, with an additional 1.7 billion barrels in contingent resources. 
Bay du Nord: Projected to be the province's first deepwater project, with potential production targeted around 2031 pending final investment decisions. 
Natural Gas: The provincial government is actively consulting on a new offshore natural gas royalty framework and conducting feasibility studies to evaluate global market opportunities. 

After that we drove up and down a few streets of the "Battery Neighbourhood" to see if Ray could get some more shots. We saw this mural.

Ray managed to get an awesome picture of the Jelly Bean houses in the downtown area.

Time to go for lunch at Sun Sushi, I'd read that it had great reviews and had an all you can eat part as well. The reviews were correct although we opted for their lunch special, 3 appetizers of 2 pieces and 3 rolls each. Wow delicious. Enough for Ray for dinner. $19.99 each.

There may or may not have been a bakery where we had parked and Ray may or may not bought treats for tomorrows breakfast. lol

Back to the hotel for a couple of hours before Happy Hours start on George and Water Street.

At 3 pm, we decided to "have ourselves a time", Newfoundland talk for having a good time. We chose the Yellow Belly Brewing Company. I ordered a Cream Ale beer and Ray a N/A Beer. A very old building that survived the big fire in 1892. This building as well as the Murray Premises that we are staying in, were built in 1846 and they still stood because they were made of brick. They changed the bylaw after the fire so that all buildings on the waterfront were made of brick.

We walked up and down the streets a bit before returning at 5 pm. In for the rest of the evening. Another great day. This store has 2 floors tourist stuff, T-shirts, Sweatshirts and all sorts of doodads.

Thursday, our last day in St. John's before visiting Ferryland. Today we took the 20 minutes ferry ride to Bell Island.

Here comes the other ferry as we pull out.

The Bell of "Bell Island".

Coming into Bell Island.

Bell Island in Conception Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, is a historic island best known for its rich submarine iron-ore mines and its rare distinction of being one of the few North American locations directly attacked by German forces in World War.

Early Settlement and Name

Naming: Originally called Great Bell Isle, the island was named after The Bell, a cone-shaped sea stack near its western cape that resembles an upside-down bell. 
Fishing and Farming: First permanently settled in 1739–1740 by pioneers like Gregory Normore from Jersey, the early population survived primarily on rich topsoil farming and inshore fishing.
The Iron Ore Boom
Mining Era (1895–1966): The discovery of massive red hematite iron ore deposits transformed the rural farming community into a booming industrial hub. 
Submarine Mines: Operations like the historic No. 2 Mine extended nearly 5 kilometers beneath the floor of Conception Bay, making it the largest submarine iron-ore mine in the world for decades. At its peak, the town of Wabana featured urban amenities, modern shops, and theaters. 
World War II U-Boat Attacks
Strategic Target: Bell Island supplied vital high-grade iron ore to the Allied war effort.
The Sinkings (1942): German U-boats targeted the area, torpedoing and sinking four armed iron-ore carriers right in Conception Bay (including the SS Saganaga and SS Lord Strathcona) over separate attacks in September 1942, resulting in significant loss of life. 

Decline and Modern Era
• Mine Closure: Increased competition and high costs led to the final shutdown of the mines in 1966, causing an economic downturn and population decline.
• 
  
• Today: The island relies on fishing, local commuting, and tourism—highlighted by the Bell Island No. 2 Mine Tour and Museum, where visitors can descend underground to experience the historic workings. 
The World War II U-Boat Attacks (1942)
Bell Island is one of the very few places in North America to suffer direct enemy action and casualties during World War II. Because its mines supplied iron ore to the crucial steel mills in Sydney, Nova Scotia, it became a prime target for the German Kriegsmarine.
• The First Attack (September 5, 1942): U-513 slipped past the defensive anti-submarine nets of Conception Bay. It torpedoed and sank two loaded ore carriers at anchor: the SS Saganaga and the SS Lord Strathcona. Twenty-nine men lost their lives.
• The Second Attack (November 2, 1942): U-518 struck next, sinking the SS Rose Castle and the Free French vessel PLM 27, killing another 40 mariners.
• The Shoreline Strike: During the second attack, a torpedo missed its target and struck the Scotia Pier on Bell Island itself. The explosion shook the entire island, making it a rare instance of a German weapon detonating on North American soil.
• The Shipwrecks Today: The four sunken ships remain remarkably well-preserved at the bottom of Conception Bay. They are now world-renowned technical scuba diving sites, drawing divers globally to explore the pristine wartime wrecks.
---

This was a great tour. Took about an hour underground after about 20 minutes showing us the museum portion. Beautiful stained glass work.

Down the stairs to the No. 2 mine with Fox. His father and grandfather worked these mines. He did not as he was too young when they closed the operation. 

This is a 10% grade

First type of oil lamp that the had attached to their soft hats.

Second kind of lamp. A carbide miner's lamp produces a bright white flame by mixing water with calcium carbide crystals to create flammable acetylene gas, also pretty dangerous.

The iron ore ran vertically in the upper and lower portions in the pic below.  The layer between would be mixed in with the ore after blasting. The miners needed to seperate out this layer with picks and shovels.

There were a ton of rats down in the mine so the horses feed had to be locked up. They allowed the rats to stay as if there was going to be a cave in, the rats would gather together in a bunch and then run out of there.The miners then knew to run as well before the cavein.

The horse stables. The horses stayed down for 30 days and then brought to the surface with scarves over their eyes and every day they would take off a scarf so they could adjust to daylight again. 30 days later they were brought back down. The horses dragged out cars of ore from side channels and then they had train cars take ore to the surface.

At this mine they only used candle light, electricity. All crews were of 10 to 12 men and this is how much light they had.

At level 22 the fresh water and snow melt has filled up the mine as there are no longer any pumps taking out the water. This mine probably goes down 45 to 47 levels so you can see more than half is now under water. Definitely damp down there. I saw a monitor which showed 99% humidity.

The rippling in the roof is caused by wave action,,, at the bottom of the ocean

These are the old air pipes for the drills.

One of the most dangerous jobs is the scaler pictured below. If he poked the wrong thing the wall could cave. If one of the sticks of dynamite did not fire and the scaler struck the blasting cap he probably joined the list of 106 who died during the mine's operation.

Our guide "Fox".

Now for the long uphill hike back up to the surface.

After the mine tour we went to a few other spots on the island for some photos. What a great day and the weather co-operated.

Bell Island Lighthouse.

Looking at the cliffs by the lighthouse.

The "Bell" of Bell Island

There's Deb!

There's an arch!

Next up is Grebe's Nest. A really steep trail down, so I declined but of course Ray went. They have a beautiful meadow.

This really doesn't show the 40% incline. lol

Ray came back with these pictures. There is actually a tunnel made through the rock to tie the two beaches together. 

The tunnel at Grebe's Nest on Bell Island was built in the 1960s by local miners-turned-fishermen (such as the Reid brothers) to create a safe and easy path to a smooth, sandy beach for launching their fishing boats. The original beach was rocky and dangerous, but the tunnel connected to a second beach that was sandy and free of large boulders. 

Pretty cool.

Time to get into the lineup for the return ferry. We opted to get Fish and Chip takeout as we didn't know exactly when the ferry would leave and some people had already lined up.

Back on the 2:15 ferry to St. John's. A great end to a wonderful few days here.