St. Mary's Bay

Cape Pine and Cape St. Mary's guard the entrance to St. Mary's Bay, and also overlook some of the most prolific fishing grounds and also one of the largest seabird colonies in the world.

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The turn-off to St. Shott's marks the beginning of our tour of St. Mary's Bay, leaving behind the Southern Shore and moving on to such locales as Peter's River, St. Stephen's, and St. Vincent's. The long barasway between St. Stephen's and St. Vincent's is the first good chance to see St. Mary's Bay, and the beach itself is worth the trip. By the way, a barasway is a long narrow beach separating the ocean from a river estuary, sort of a sand bar on dry land. Of course, by the look of the signs posted at both ends of the road crossing the barasway, I'm not too sure about how dry this particular piece of land may be...

Oh yeah, just a friendly warning - don't drive too far out onto the beach. The locals are more than willing to help shovel you out, but it's still pretty embarrasing.

Continuing north, the towns of Gaskier's and Point La Haye offer beautiful ocean-side vistas and warm hospitality, and eventually lead the traveller to St. Mary's itself. This community has always been one of the larger centres in the area, with a large church and in years long gone a battery to defend against raids by Americans and Pirates. The first picture below is of the beach near the site of the old battery, the second is a historical plaque detailing the history of St. Mary's Battery. Just click the thumbnail to read the plaque itself.

North of St. Mary's lie the towns of Path End, Gulch Riverhead, Mall Bay, St. Joseph's and O'Donnells. A side trip at O'donnells leads to Admiral's Beach, thrust out into the bay towards Great Colinet Island. The next two pictures are taken from the beach, the first of the Bay and Great Colinet Island, and the second of an all-too-common sight in Newfoundland - boats pulled up on the beach. The moratorium has hit every community in Newfoundland, and this is just another example of a lost livelihood.

Returning to the main highway, New Bridge, Forest Field and Salmonier await, at which point we cross the mouth of the Salmonier River to St. Catherine's and continue down the western side of St. Mary's Bay. This final picture looks across to Mount Carmel, on the west side of Salmonier Arm.

Unfortunately, our tour of St. Mary's Bay ends here for now. Should I return home in the near future, I plan to head down the west side of the bay and around the Cape Shore on the east side of Placentia Bay. I only wish I had more time to spend in my home province to continue this tour around the Island. Below is a list of the communities on the western side of St. Mary's Bay.
  • St. Catherine's
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  • Mount Carmel
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  • Mitchells Brook
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  • Harricott
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  • Colinet
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  • New Harbour
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  • Branch
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  • Point Lance
    •

    For more information on travel in this region, check out the Newfoundland & Labrador Department of Tourism HomePage.

    Avalon Region - Attractions

    The lighthouse at Cape St. Mary's and the ecological preserve mark the end of the Southern Shore tour. Click here to return to the main page, or continue on to The Cape Shore.
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