So far the nippers have not been too bad, too windy I’m guessing, by! Translation - nippers are mosquitoes.
Fishing was a huge industry in Newfoundland over the past 500 years, especially for cod, until about 25 years ago. Not only were Newfoundlanders over fishing the North Atlantic but huge ships from other countries were also out there hauling in as many as they could. Around 1986 the local fishermen started noticing a decline in the number of fish they were catching and tried several times to warn the government that they needed to do something but nothing happened until 1992 when all hell broke loose. The government but a moratorium on cod fishing and put over 35,000 fishermen and their families out of work. They tried re-education, re-training, moving to other parts of Canada to find jobs but fishing was all these folks have ever known. It was very hard on them and they are still very bitter about it even though they are starting to turn things around through tourism and other manufacturing jobs. They are hoping that the cod numbers will return but other countries are still over fishing the seas.
Our first stop was Ryan Premises National Histori Site where Mr. James Ryan was the owner, operator and selfish businessman of the company store and fish factory circa 1900. We visited his home, store and warehouses to learn the story of the fishing industry and catastrophe as well as to learn about the life of the fishermen before technology came around. It was a hard, labor intensive existence of fishing, dressing the fish, drying and salting the cod, storing it in barrels and then trying to get some money from Mr. Ryan so they could live and go out and do it all again. Of course, Mr. Ryan’s home was that of a rich merchant.
Down the road we stepped onto a reproduction of the ship, Matthew, that was captained by Giovanni Cabot (aka John Cabot) and sailed to Newfoundland in 1498, just a few years after Columbus. It would have carried 20 men and took four weeks to reach land they thought would be a way to the spice islands. All they found was bountiful land and seas but that was enough.It only took two weeks to get back so he could claim the land for Britain.
We had lunch at a local tea house where I tried the Newfoundland traditional foods of salt fish Brewis, fish cakes, beans and bologna. Brewis is cod boiled with hard bread and seasoned with scrunchons. It was delicious!!
Around the corner from the ship was the home of Senator Bradley, The Mockbeggar Plantation (mockbeggar means bog or marsh). Even though he lived in the home until late 1980’s it has been restored back to 1939 when he was living there with his family. It has all original furnishings except for some wall paper and flooring. The library was added on to the house in the late 1940’s so that Mr. Bradley had a place for his pipe organ.
It was just a short ride out to the point where the Cape Bonavista Lighthouse is located. Not only did we tour the lighthouse and the light keeper’s home but we saw puffins on the island nearby and watched three whales out in the waves. We believe they were sperm whales but not sure. Of course, they come up, spout, flip a tail and they are gone so it is impossible to get a picture.
The lighthouse is located near Dungeon Provincial Park with stunning shorelines and rock features.
We then drove to Elliston where we saw even more Puffins. These were a little closer but still not close enough for a good picture. It also began spitting rain and the wind nearly blew us off the rock!
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