Sea monster sighted off Bonavista April 6, 2000 BY GLEN WHIFFEN The Telegram, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada The ocean pressing against the ancient shores of Cape Bonavista carries its share of stories and mysteries. From shipwrecks and acts of courage to unexplained voices and lights, Cape Bonavista has been the stuff of Newfoundland folklore. Bonavista resident Bob Crewe says sea monsters can be added to the legend. While driving along the cape one morning last week, Crewe came upon a creature like nothing he's ever seen before. "I saw its body in the water measuring about 30 feet across, just lying there and moving slightly," said Crewe, who had stopped his truck on a cliff overlooking the ocean, in an area not far from an attraction known as The Dungeon and an old rock formation known locally as the Viking. "It looked something like a rock in the water, but I knew there was no rock there. I blew the horn and it stuck its head out of the water. It had a long neck about four or five feet." Crewe said from what he could see of the creature amid ripples in the water, it looked something like a huge snake which had some kind of "snout" on its head. "I wish I had a camera aboard," said Crewe. "It took off towards the lighthouse (at the tip of the cape) with its head still out of the water, tilted slightly forward. It seemed like it was using its body to push itself along and it was going very fast." In May 1997 in Little Bay East, Fortune Bay, fisherman Charles Bungay described seeing a creature with a long neck and gray, scaly skin. Bungay and a fishing partner spotted what they thought were floating garbage bags and decided to haul them aboard their boat. When they got close, however, the creature reared up its head. He described it has having a neck about six feet long, a head like a horse, horns, and dark eyes. He estimated an overall length of about 30 to 40 feet. The creature slipped under the water and disappeared. A Bay L'Argent fishermen saw a similar creature four or five years prior to that sighting. He described it as being like a dinosaur. At the time, some people suggested the Fortune Bay fishermen actually saw a giant squid. Crewe, however, says what he saw was nothing as simple as that. "It wasn't a giant squid. I know that for sure," he said. "I wasn't close enough to see scaly skin or eyes or any detail like that. All I know is that was a strange creature, and it's a big ocean that could contain a lot of strange things we've never seen."