Then he demonstrated how to cutup a cod for salting it down for preservation. He showed us how to cut the cod tongue out (remember we ate some cod tongue), how to cut the cod cheek meat out and then how to get the backbone out and how to salt it down. Before refrigeration they had to work fast to salt it down to keep it from spoiling. He also cut out two small pearly white stones that float inside the ear canal. These stones give the codfish its sense of balance. His daughter makes earrings out of them. He comes from a long line of fishermen but also taught school for awhile and has a published book of poetry. He was very critical of the government regulations and political control that is destroying the family fishing industry in Newfoundland.
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| Whale Belline |
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| Shark Mount with three rows of teeth |
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| Salting Cod |
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| Captain Jack |
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| Cod ear pieces |
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| Lobster Traps |
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| Stage was floated over water to this location |
As I have said and our photos prove the land is VERY rocky here so it is difficult to bury poles in the ground and even more so at the waters edge where it is all rock. We have noticed how some of the buildings and home made docks are built over the water. Where normally a post is buried in the ground under the water here they build a container maybe 4 feet square and fill it with rocks and attach it to the building or dock, etc. Sometime there is also posts placed on the rocks in many places and the top of the post is attached to the building for additional support. Like anywhere people adapt to their surroundings.
The group went to the Twillingate Dinner Theater at 5PM for dinner and a show. Lena and I had lobster again. The theater is only four years old and is very popular. It was sold out tonight. The food was good, service was good and the show was fantastic. Three of the men entertainers were also part of the waitstaff. Two women were also entertainers. They sang a variety of Newfoundland music and performed many hilarious skits. One of the men, Jody, played 7 different instruments in the show. Lena asked him after the show how many could he play. He said 18 and still learning.
At the intermission Jody explained about a 50/50 drawing they do that benefits numerous families in the area during the Christmas season. For $2 a ticket you get a chance to win half of the money collected (that is why it is called a 50/50). Last year they raised over $40,000 during their 17 week show season and this year they hope to raise 50,000. The owner of the business built the dinner/theater to provide jobs for the local residents and is currently providing 26 full time jobs at the theater. But their season is short so there is a long time during the Winter they are not open, therefore no jobs. The owner hopes to provide jobs for 100 people by the time he dies.
Day 46 Thursday July 25, 2019 Today was a free day to explore the area on our own. We drove up the hill to Long Point Lighthouse but they didn't open until 10AM. I walked up to a viewing platform that overlooked the bay and saw a whale playing around. Then we drove out of town to visit a few of the communities that are scattered around the area. At Toogood Arm we stopped at Pike Arm Lookout. There were a combination of steep steps and gravel trails to the top. Lena didn't want to do the climb to the top but I wanted to see the view so I made the climb. From the top I could see for miles in all directions and could see two or three communities. When I got to the top our Wagonmasters were setting at the picnic table on the viewing platform enjoying the peace and quite and the views.
On the way back we drove through a few other communities before getting back to Twillingate where we stopped at the Split Rock Pub for lunch. Twillingate was originally named Toulinquet by the French that came here but when the English came here in the 1700's they couldn't read or speak French so the name it Twillingate.
The Tailgunners came in so they joined us at our table for lunch. Just as we were leaving the Pub the town was having a Fun, Fish and Festival Parade through town. They had the normal police cars, firetruck and some unique “floats”.
Then we went back to the Long Point Lighthouse to tour it. The lighthouse and double light keepers house was built in 1876. We didn't go up in the lighthouse but viewed the extensive information panels about the ill fated Titanic that hit an iceberg a few hundred miles off the coast of Newfoundland. They had 46 or so panels about 3 feet square telling the story of the Titanic. The tragedy was a combination of total incompetence, greed and arrogance (on the part of the Captain). The Captain had never even been on the ship until the day it sailed and the other officers had only been on it a few days. A lot of the crew were hired from pubs a few days before sailing and had no sailing experience. There were lots of design flaws in the ship, partly to save money. One saving grace was the ship did not sell all the tickets to fill it to capacity by about 1500 people. They only had about half enough lifeboats to even handle what was on board and they didn't even fill them. The existing lifeboats could have held 500 more passengers but were set adrift without being fully loaded. They received several messages about icebergs in the area but chose to basically ignore them and continue sailing at full speed.
The group met at 8PM for root beer floats, a campfire and our driver's meeting for tomorrow’s 216 mile journey.
Day 47 Friday July 26, 2019 Friday We departed for Paradise Farm RV Park in Bonavista Newfoundland at 9AM. About 65 miles down the road we stopped in Gander and parked in the Walmart parking lot along with all but about 6 of the other RVs in our group. We kind of covered up one end of their parking lot but a lot of us went in and stocked up on groceries so they got paid for the parking.
Gander has long served as a refueling stop for Trans-Atlantic flights and a temporary haven for flights diverted from their destinations. It played a big role in WWII.
On 9/11, 240 flights were rerouted to Canada when American airspace was closed. 39 of these flights were rerouted to Gander. The 39 flights had 6,579 people on board which swelled the population of 10,000 by 2/3 in a short period of time. The people of Gander open their homes, school buildings, etc. to house everyone. They feed and housed them and provided everything from tooth brushes to clothes.
We visited the Silent Memorial site just outside of town. December 12, 1985 256 men and women of the 101st Airborne Division and the crew of the Arrow Air lost their lives at the site when their plane crashed just after leaving the Gander Air Field. They were on the way home to Ft Campbell Kentucky from peacekeeping duties in Eqypt. There is a tall metal cross erected on the spot the plane crashed that is made from the metal of the plane.
Then we went to the Aviation Museum which displayed at lot of history about the creation of the Gander Air Field. It was created right out of the scrub bog of the area before any roads even came to the area. There was a partial metal beam from the Twin Towers in New York in the museum. It was presented to the town for all they did for the passengers from the 39 flights.
The scenery was kind of bland on the trip today and the roads were mostly good but there were also some really bad potholes. We arrived about 5PM and setup in site 13 which appears to have just been created and someone needs to come back to this site and practice some more on how to level gravel. Today has been the warmest day we have had in awhile.
At 7PM we all gathered up at the campground picnic shelter for a supper prepared by the Wagonmasters and Tailgunners. They had grilled fish, tossed salad, potato salad, slaw, 6 kinds of pie and ice cream.
Day 48 Saturday July 27, 2019 At 10AM the Wagonmasters lead us to Elliston to the Puffin Sanctuary. We walked a couple hundred yards or so over some rough terrain to view the Puffins. The rocky cliffs down to the water were beyond impressive. The nesting places for the Puffins were separated from where we were by a large gap in the terrain so we could not get very close to them. They have a colorful head and are a fairly small bird of only about 11-13 inches. They return to the same island year after year where they were born, They even return to the same burrow and the same mate. Puffins swim better than they can fly and keep their eyes open under water. About 95% of Atlantic Puffins breed around Newfoundland's coastlines. The Atlantic Puffin is the provincial bird of Newfoundland. We also saw several whales just out from the cliffs.
Elliston is also know as the Root Cellar Capitol of the World and there were about a dozen in the area where we were viewing the Puffins. They were build into the side of a hill with a mostly rock face, wood door and dirt roof. Several were open and available to walk into. I went into one. They were large enough to stand up in and could store a lot of vegetables over the winter. They kind of reminded me of how my parents store their potatoes many years ago.
We drove on to Dungeon Provincial Park to see some more unusual rock formations and a twin cave where the roof had collapsed exposing the caves from above.
The Bonavista Lighthouse (built in 1843) was also in the park so we drove up to it. There were several whales all around the point where the lighthouse was located. I tried to get a good photo but it is hard to predict when they are going to surface and they don't stay up long. Several in our group stopped down the road a short distance at the Little Dairy King for some lunch. We kind of overwhelm them so it took awhile to get our food but it was good when we got it. While we were waiting we could see whales out in the water by the Cafe.
We drove by through Bonavista, took some side roads and returned to the campground to relax the remainder of the day. Several in the group are going out on a boat at 7PM for another Puffin viewing experience but we decided we have seen Puffins and didn't need to spend $130 to see some more.
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