Conception Bay, Atlantic Ocean bay in southeastern Newfoundland, Canada.
Conception Bay is a large bay on the Avalon Peninsula in southeastern Newfoundland, Canada. It cuts deep into the land and is flanked by rocky shores, small fishing towns, and Bell Island, which sits near its center.
A Portuguese navigator gave the bay its name in 1500, reportedly during a religious feast day. Bell Island later became a center of iron ore mining in the late 1800s and early 1900s, which transformed the communities around the bay.
The villages around the shore have long depended on fishing, and you can still see boats and gear tied up at small wharves along the water. Bell Island, reached by ferry from Portugal Cove, has its own tight-knit community shaped by decades of mining work.
A ferry runs between Bell Island and Portugal Cove on the western shore, and the crossing is short in calm conditions. If you want to explore the towns along the bay, having your own vehicle makes it much easier since they are spread out along the coast.
The mine shafts under Bell Island extended so far that miners worked directly beneath the floor of the bay itself. During the Second World War, German submarines attacked and sank cargo ships inside the bay, making it one of the few places on the North American continent to come under direct enemy fire during that conflict.
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