The Points of Bonne Bay

During our stay on Bonne Bay yesterday the Fram first stopped at Woody Point, a short ride on the Polar Cirkel tender boats as you can see from the photo above. The rain had stopped by the time we landed, with some travelers heading to an excursion into the park or a trail hike. I wandered the town.

Both Woody Point and Norris Point across the bay (where the captain maneuvered the Fram for our afternoon landing, and more excursions and hikes for those so inclined) are fishing towns, although during the summer both communities can be overwhelmed by visitors to Gros Morne National Park, hence a number of music and literary fests and events during the season. But it was the fishing that hooked my interest.

In Woody Point the center of the local fisheries is the 3T processing plant, owned by three brothers, Todd, Tom and Terry Young. At the retail store around the corner you can purchase their catch, usually in frozen form. The bargains hawked in the 3T store's window includes halibut steaks at the equivalent of $6/pound in U.S. funds, and squid, 10 kilos (22) pounds for US $35. At less than US $5/pound, the Shatter Pack Cod (frozen filets, separated by sheets of plastic in a large box), that, too, is a bargain compared to the price back home in Philadelphia.

One of 3T's owners, Todd Young, was featured in the Discovery Canada series "Cold Water Cowboys", shown in the U.S. on the Weather Channel as "Cold Water Captains".

During my morning in Woody Point, in the midst of a conversation with a local guide about his 'Saabaru", a Suburu cloaked as a Saab before the brand disappeared into oblivion, we spotted a bluefin tuna breaking the bay's surface, just a few hundred yards offshore. I've always thought of tuna as offshore fish, but like every other living creature they follow the food. The inshore herring and mackerel season is just starting here, and the tuna hunt them in the bay. The smaller fish, I was told, are easy catch off any of the docks in the village.

Woody Point is its own historic district and it seems every building by the waterfront has a plaque. Even buildings constructed after a 1922 fire are so noted. But some of the Victorian residences are interesting examples of the style, as pictured later in this entry.

During the summer Water Street fills with the visitors to the park, with two or three pubs to meet their needs for food and drink. The streets, one of the locals informed me, are filled with buskers. Even the local post of the Royal Canadian Legion, a veterans' organization, welcomes those from away (the Newfoundland term for non-locals) to join them in imbibing.

In the afternoon I made it to the landing at Norris Point, but a rapid drop in blood glucose level led me to skip a walk into the heart of town, or the hike up the steps to the top of a steep hill for a better view of Bonne Bay. But the views were pretty spectacular from our landing site, and I also had a chance to watch a local general cargo freighter, the Argentia Desgagnés unloading salt into a constant parade of trucks, providing for the region's winter road needs. A local high school student I met, Lee, explained it would take 18 hours for the operation. With his thick Newfoundland accent Lee was sometimes difficult to understand, but I suspect he had a similar reaction to my hybrid New Jersey-Philadelphia patois.

Enough verbiage. Here are some additional photos.