Car Rental St John’s - Exploring St John’s
Cape Spear is only a 15-minute drive southeast of the city and well worth the trip. This is in fact the most eastern point on the North American continent. The view here is terrific and many visitors spot icebergs and whales. The Cape Spear Lighthouse, built in 1835 and one of the oldest in Newfoundland, has been restored to make it possible to tour the inside.
A short drive north on Route 30 will bring you to Logy Bay, today the location of the Ocean Sciences Centre, where a program of continuing oceanographic research is being carried out in an effort to learn more about the ocean habitat that surrounds the province. The laboratory is part of Memorial University of Newfoundland, and guided tours of this fascinating facility are regularly conducted, with the seals as the most popular attraction.
From Route 30, it is possible to turn off on to Marine Drive, a scenic route that winds in and out of the small communities along the Tor Bay coastline. This is one of the best points on the eastern coast of the island for photographing or viewing the Atlantic seascape.
Marine Drive also passes through the communities of Middle Cove and Outer Cove, named for their positions along the coast. The elevated cliffs, exposed beaches and wild seas that this coast is famous for are visible from a number of excellent highway vantage points and seaside parking facilities.
This area easily rivals any highway tour in eastern North America for scenery. During late spring and early summer, it's a good area to see icebergs, and during the winters when Arctic ice drifts south to these waters, the ice stretches to the horizon.
The Witless Bay Seabird Sanctuary is approximately 5kms off the coast from Witless Bay, and 32kms south of St John's on Route 10. A boat trip to the islands can be arranged, and you may see puffins, Atlantic razorbills, southern black guillemots, black-legged kittiwakes, great black-back gulls and herring gulls. Additionally, the islands are home to possibly the largest known nesting colony of Leach's storm-petrels in the world.
