St. John's & Avalon: tour boats and other tours

There are lots of scenic cruise or whale watching cruise operators, including Harbour Charters, J&B Tours, The Scademia schooner, O'Brien's tours and Bird Island Charters. Some have food, music (occasionally live, if you want a session), and at least one boat has a huge Newfoundland dog tending bar. (k)

Olaf: "If you're in the area before the end of July, try a whale-watching tour out of Bay Bulls. Bird Island Charters in St. John's is one of the best; I believe they have a mini-bus and pick clients up in town, but we always drove down to Bay Bulls (about half an hour's drive south, on the Southern Shore highway). The boat tour takes you past the bird sanctuary in Witless Bay (puffins, kittywakes, murres, and others) and whales are usually spotted every day as they come inshore to feed on capelin and other fish. Once the capelin move off, the whales disappear; that's in early August, so you're almost certainly out of luck if you don't catch the tour before then. The tour takes a couple of hours and is well worth it. But dress warmly (sweaters & shells, even if it's warm on the shore)."

Wildland Tours offer Newfoundland tours for nature lovers. They are at 124 Water Street, Box 383, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, A1C 5J9, Phone (709) 722-3123 * Fax (709) 722-3335.

Boyle Tours also offer tours.