Fall in Love with Newfoundland

Fall is my favourite time of year in Newfoundland. The light is exquisite. With the sun lower in the sky than at high summer, it creates long shadows and has a more golden glow. The air is clear and fresh, making the details and textures of the landscape standout as though etched.

The land beckons with rich colour and an earthy scent that is meant to be deeply inhaled. It is the best time of year for hiking, berry-picking, and sightseeing. The days can still be warm, but the cool nights seduce you into deep sleep.

Every September and October you hear the same refrain from locals, "What weather! I can't believe how nice it is!"

Fall foliage and colourful houses dot the coast along the Narrows as the Ocean Endeavour sails out of St. John's Harbour. The small community pictured here is The Battery located right beneath Signal Hill National Historic Site.

The picturesque town of Trinity sits atop land carved by glaciers and influenced by the sea. The autumn sun creates a captivating light and brings out the personality in its unique and traditional architecture.

The turf longhouses are starting to lose their green glow as they prepare for another winter in L'Anse aux Meadows. Archaeological evidence discovered here in the 1960s designates L’Anse aux Meadows as the only confirmed Norse site in North America.

The wind picks up on the shores of Trout River, a small rural fishing village located on the southern coastal edge of Gros Morne National Park. A geological characteristic of this area to note is the former seafront—marked where the orange house sits on the hillside. Due to postglacial isostatic rebound, the land rose as the weight of the glaciers disappeared, creating the new seafront that we see today.

Lily pads soak in some light as they prepare for winter in a shallow pond surrounded by colourful shrubs near the Gros Morne Discovery Centre.

Red Bay, Labrador was a major Basque whaling area in the 16th century and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its landscape is dominated by low shrubs, mosses, lichens, and small flowering herbaceous plants. The area is devoid of tall trees, as water has a difficult time draining through the rocks and shallow soil in barren lands. This stunning view overlooks the Red Bay coastal community, the harbour, Saddle Island, and the Strait of Belle Isle in the distance.

A stunning sunset as seen from the stern of the Ocean Endeavour sailing away from Red Bay. We look out at the Strait of Belle Isle, where Basque whalers historically caught right whales and bowhead whales migrating between the island of Newfoundland and the Labrador coast.

Guests enjoying the sights and sounds of a waterfall and seastack with a picturesque backdrop in Little Garia Bay. The remarkable rockscape of the bay consists mostly of sea-smoothened granite, punctuated with giant, orange-hued rock slabs and boulders.

Similar to partridgeberries and blueberries, wild and nutritious crowberries are plentiful in the fall. The fruits are utilized as fall and winter forage by over forty species of songbirds, waterfowl, and game birds—all visitors are delighted to taste their freshness straight from the land!

Guests enjoying a serene Zodiac cruise along the coast of Facheux Bay surrounded by breathtaking colours, consisting mostly of the yellows of white birch and trembling aspen, with occasional patches of the bright red berries of mountain ash.

An expedition stop to admire the colourful fall foliage of Facheux Bay reminds us to live in the moment, and take some time to digest the diversity and transformative power of nature.

A gorgeous sunny fall day lights up the fishing community of Francois, home to eighty-nine residents. No cars or roads connect this community to the mainland—it is only accessible by boat. Boardwalks allow us to navigate the town with a general store, a post office, a small museum, and plenty of friendly locals with great stories to tell!