Cape St. Mary’s Ecological Reserve is one of the most incredible places we’ve visited. The reserve sits on the south-west corner of the Avalon Peninsula. It’s about one hour south of the Argentia ferry terminal in Placentia. Take Route 100 south from Placentia, drive through St. Bride’s and watch for the signs. You will turn south on a narrow paved road that will take you to the parking area and interpretation centre. It’s about a 15 minute drive down the narrow road. If you take the road to the very end, you’ll come to the Cape St. Mary’s Lighthouse.
Cape St. Mary’s gives you a front row seat to one of the largest sea bird colonies in North America. The easiest birds to spot are Northern Gannets. There are also lots of Common Murres and Kittiwakes. We’d recommend taking binoculars and a camera with a good zoom.
When you arrive, go into the interpretation centre first. You can pick up a flyer that will help you identify the sea birds. The park staff are very helpful to get you oriented. The centre has displays and a gift shop.
The most amazing thing to see at Cape St. Mary’s is Bird Rock. You cannot see it from the interpretation centre, it’s about a 30 minute hike. The trail is fairly level, with some large rocks to navigate through. As you hike towards Bird Rock, you’ll smell it before you see it. You can get very close to the rock and it is covered with nesting Northern Gannets.
Cape St. Mary’s has fog 200 days of every year. We tried to pick a nice day to go, but it ended up being very foggy that morning. When we arrived at Cape St. Mary’s, you could not see much. As you can see from the photos, we had luck on our side. After we arrived at Bird Rock, the fog lifted and it was an incredible afternoon.
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