Day 10 (July 18, 2021): From Placentia Bay to Conception Bay

It is difficult to imagine this was our tenth day of touring Newfoundland.  Over 1800KM have been covered - the portions of the west, the south and the east coasts of Newfoundland that we have seen represent a lot of terrain, but still represent a drop in the bucket of this vast province, which is dear to us.

We left our AirBnB at 9:45AM and took in a few last sights of Placentia, including its incredible boardwalk.  From there, we took a spin to see what remains of Argentia, where two ferry runs per week connect Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and where the Americans built an air force base in 1941 that continued until 1960.  (In nearby Ship Harbour, the Atlantic Charter was signed on August 14, 1941 by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill, setting out American and British goals for the world after the end of World War II.)

We then drove 134KM back to St. John's to return Pam's mom back home and then drove to Clarke's Beach to see David's parents.  It was fitting to end our tour with a blast-from-the-past visit to places familiar to David's upbringing, including the Port de Grave and Bay Roberts peninsulas.

The pandemic has kept us close to home for the second summer in a row.  But it has been a blessing in disguise, as we have done three in-depth trips (July 2020, October 2020, July 2021) to sink our teeth into this incredible province.  Thank you for tuning into our blog!

One of Placentia's greatest assets is a 1.4KM boardwalk that runs the length of its beach.  It was a perfect morning to walk it!

The Great Beach at Placentia.  Placentia's population of 5000 at the end of the 1990s has shrunk to just over 3000.  One has to wonder whether this downward trend will continue.  The Great Beach Boardwalk is an excellent effort to at least ensure tourists continue to visit. 

Placentia is built on a huge natural sandbar.  As a result, it is not high above sea level.  An extensive iron sea wall runs the length of the town to protect it from surges.

Built in 1906, St. Luke’s Anglican Church in Placentia is a wooden church built in the Gothic Revival style. This church was preceded by at least two other churches on the same site.

Fort Frederick (named for Prince Frederick) is the site of an 18th century English fort in Placentia, located at the harbour mouth.  The fort consisted of a semi-circular redoubt mounting twelve guns, a guard house, barracks and storehouse.  It was built in 1717 to protect English interests in the seasonal fishery.  Fort Frederick was the military headquarters in Newfoundland from 1721-1746

Unlike the abandoned American Air Force Base at Stephenville, which we saw last Sunday, the Americans demolished or imploded most of its structures at Argentia when they pulled out.  We drove around the former site, and it was eerie to see the footprint of the base with just a few re-purposed buildings remaining.  One thing that did impress us, however, was the view of the mountainous terrain of Placentia Bay, as seen from the former base site.

The jagged shoreline of Hibb's Cove (known locally as Hibb’s Hole!), Conception Bay.

What last evening of a Newfoundland vacation would be complete without... Chinese food!  It was great to see David's parents for a dinner in Spaniard's Bay.

As a fitting end to this amazing ten days, we drove to David's favourite childhood spot:  Bay Roberts East.  The eastern extremity of the Bay Roberts peninsula features the uninhabited Fergus Island (right in the photo), Juggler's Cove (left above) and Mad Rocks (below).

The Three Sisters near Mad Rocks provided the perfect foreground for the setting of the sun over the mountains of Spaniard's Bay on this, the last night of our tour.