The rain ended overnight. The winds had eased somewhat to 35 km/h but it was clear. It was all I had hoped and envisioned it could have been. It was perfect. To quote Kathy: “Couldn’t have been any better.” Maybe a few more puffins. I held Jean and Hunter close to my heart one last time. I heard Jean in my head saying one last time: "Don't get so close to the edge. You'll fall!!" The wind was blowing in the right direction to send Jean and Hunter airborne off the cliff and down to the sea. Farewell dear friend. Kathy did a great job recording on my video camera.
We walked farther out in search of the puffins. We were told there was only about 5% of the colony still here at this time of year and those still here were being terrorized by very aggressive sea gulls. There were more puffins in flight than on the ground. As soon as one landed, it would duck into its burrow to escape a seagull.
Elliston is known as the" Root Cellar
Capital of the World." There are 135 in existence in the community, many still in use. We returned to the parking lot, ate our breakfast with the help of the generator and drove back to Bonavista to visit the
Ryan Premises National Historic Site. The site is a collection of 19th and early 20th century heritage buildings in clapboard. The museum, housed in three buildings depicts the history of the cod fishery and story of the Ryan family and their large scale merchant operation. The staff gave a brief introduction .The exhibits were excellent. We learned so much ... information overload after two hours taking it all in. Bonavista was historically a prolific fishing community.
Kathy did some souvenir shopping in the Heritage Shop there.
We left Bonavista by Route 230 down the other side of the peninsula as far as Port Rexton, a small town where the popular
Skerwink Trail is located. It is rated "One of the top 35 walks in North America" by the publication
Travel & Leisure. Parking was at a premium along the roads when we arrived shortly before 2:00.The 5.3 km trail is mostly coastal, moderate to difficult and features sea stacks. It was indeed very challenging and took us over two hours to do with lots of photo ops. The coastline was stunning.
It was almost 5:00 when we continued our drive off the peninsula and in search of a campground. We found one, Princehaven Campground, in the small community of Princeton. We got their last available site. The campground is on a body of water. When I asked what the name of it was, I was told it was "a pond", nameless. Well, their pond is bigger than Forest Lake. We were exhausted after a very early start and full day. We managed 90 km.
The rain ended overnight. The winds had eased somewhat to 35 km/h but it was clear. 
