The Coast

Volume III of the Chevery News

Volume III of the Chevery news has been added to the Lower North Shore web site.

Inside This Issue

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REGIONAL NEWS

• Community Snapshots p.3
• Chevery News needs a new name p.3
• Brenda Anderson Fond Memories… p.4
• Coasters Association: 18 years … p.5
• Strengthening partnerships p. 5
• Transportation - Making progress p.6
• Fishery - Team work is vital p.6
• Volunteer Leaders p.7
• Relais Nordik p.7
• 1+ Million for economic development p.8
• Hydro Quebec Romaine Project p.11
• Harrington Harbour Park Project p.11
• Baie Comeau Dioscese includes LNS p.12
• Eau-Naturelle Discover Camp p.26
• Cross River History temporary exhibit p.27

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Gros Mecatina

• 75 Year anniversary of Mutton Bay Church p.28
• La Tabatiere wharf reconstrction p.29

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Saint Augustine

• N.A.L.N.S. Historical Inuit Metis Community p.30

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Bonne Esperance/Blanc Sablon

• An inspiration to everyone p.33

CLASSIFIEDS p.35

• Job postings, for sale, volunteers needed…
• Volunteer & Citizenship Celebrations p.12
• Bob Belvin’s, The Forgotten Labrador p.14
• OCOL community vitality study p.15
• CoastFest 2008 Update p.16
• Jessica Buffitt Where the root lies p.18
• QLF… Fun in the Townships p.20
• Tourism Public Consultations p.21
• YOUTH ZONE JEUNESSE p.22

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MUNICIPAL NEWS de la Côte Nord du Golfe St Laurent

• Celebrating 25th Anniversary… p.23
• La Maison Jos Hébert p.24
• Wind energy works on the LNS p.25
• NCLC Video Conference Convenience p.25

• Complete Issue

This morning, it was cloudy and cold when we woke up, so I also got to light a morning fire for a change. After breakfast, we went for a short walk through the village, and then got ready to go and visit my parents. Unfortuanately, when we tried to start the car, the battery was dead, so we had to get a boost from our neighbour Jim. After that, we were on our way, but without any real plans for the day.My mother told me that the Nordik Express was at the wharf, so we got into the car to see if we could see any damage from the accident in Harrington Harbour. When we got to the wharf, they had already unloaded all of the freight for the village, and were now loading frozen fish from the local fish plant. We looked along the side of the boat, and could not see a hole, but someone working at the fish plant told us that the hole was below the water line. We also found out that it was a thirty foot hole, and was in one of the ballast tanks, so this is why they were able to continue. With both ballast tanks filled up, the boat was very low to the water, and it looked like the ship would not be able to go into very rough seas.

After lunch, Ellis came by for a visit, and asked if I wanted to go on his sail boat today. Since I didn’t have anything else planned, I thought that it was a good idea, and we went out. After we got out on the water, the sun started to come out, and it turned into a beautiful day. We didn’t actually put the sails up, and just went around with his outboard motor. We steamed around for a couple of hours, and went to Red Bay, Old Post, and down near Big Point. It was a very nice and relaxing ride.

After dinner, we packed up our gear, and went back to our house in Mutton Bay. We were a little sad that this was probably going to be our last night on The Coast until next summer. Of course we could still get to enjoy the wood stove for one more night. Sitting in the small living room with the wood stove crackling is definitely the thing that I enjoy the most about this house.

I definitely indulged too much last night, and I had a throbbing headache when I woke up early this morning. I drank lots of water, which usually works, but I just did not feel much better. I also couldn’t sleep anymore, which is what I really needed.We decided to drive down to see what my parents were doing, but they had already gone out fishing for mackerel. We got ready ourselves, and just as we were about ready to leave, they showed up with some cod fish that they had caught. My father told us that it was an absolutely perfect day on the water, and said that he would take us out again, if we wanted to go out. They had also seen a couple of whales, so we thought that it would be a great time to go and try some whale watching.

Just as we left Red Bay, we saw our first whale, and we went off to get a closer look. The water was very calm, and it was very easy to see whales from far away. The whale must have taken a very deep dive, since we didn’t see it again, but we did see some porposes off near one of the islands. Unlike the whale, the porpoises stayed near the surface, and also came very close to the boat. I have never seen so many porpoises in one place, and so close to our boat before.

We just could not believe our good luck, and I took lots of pictures, and video of the porpoises. Since the water was so clear, we could also see them as they were swimming underneath our boat, which is something that I had never seen before. They move so fast under water, and can change direction in an instant. I was really amazing to watch.

After watching the porpoises for about ten minutes, we went out to Gros Isle to look for more whales, but did not see any. As we were coming back to Red Bay, we saw another one in the Cove, and tried to get some photographs of it too. Again it seemed to take deep dive, and we just decided that the porpoises were enough for today, so we headed back to Red Bay.

The salty air made me feel better while we were whale watching, but I still spent the rest of the day nursing my hangover, and took a nap in the afternoon. The kids also just played with each other, and seemed to be tired too. All of this fresh air and fun was starting to tire us out.

I did go by to see Ellis later in the day, and he told me that we could go sailing on Sunday or Monday if the weather was good. I can’t believe that we are already down to just two days of vacation left, but sailing would be a good way to wrap things up, before we get back to the grind.

It is raining tonight, which this just makes the evening by the wood stove so much more enjoyable. The kids did not even put up a fight when we put them to bed at 8 p.m., and I think that they must be realy exhausted. I am goin to make it an early night too.

Today was an absolutely beautiful day. My wife and I decided to go for a long hike in the hills above the Western side of Mutton Bay, to get some exercise. All of the nice seafood meals, and late evening drinks by the wood stove, were starting to add a few pounds, and I was looking forward to some exercise. I also thought that it would be a great opportunity to get some photos from the top of the hill, and I was not disappointed.We headed out across the plain near our cottage, and then proceeded to climb up to the main hill, which is near a point out in the gulf. As we climbed the higher and higher, the views became much more spectacular, and we just kept saying “Wow!” as we reach the top of each smaller hill on the way up. There are just so many beautiful spots along that particular path, and there are lots of large boulders where you can stop for a break, and just stop and stare at the ocean.

We also found some excellent berry patches along the way, and my wife quickly filled up a small margarine container with bakeapples. We both ate lots of berries, and it was really great to just snack as we walked. In the more sheltered areas, the bakeapples were starting to get a little over ripe, but at the higher elevations, and in the open, they were just perfect.

We also saw a couple of owls or hawks along the way too, and I managed to take a picture of one of them. I guess the noise that we made as we were walking startled them, and they took off from some bushes in front of us. They just seemed to float on the wind in front of us, and they looked absolutely magnificent just hanging there.

After we reached the highest peak, we deicided to hike back down to the water, and then walk along the shore instead of just retracing our steps back the way we cam up. We had to be a little careful on the way down, since we were not familiar with the area, and the moss can sometimes be slippery. There are lots of cracks and cliffs where you can hurt yourself if you are not careful, but we did not have any problems.

The hike back along the shore was also very nice, and much less windy than on the top of the mountain. It was also a great opportunity for my wife to collect some firewood to make some picture frames. She got the idea for the frames from the Stage Restaurant, and it should be a nice project when we get back.

Just as we were walking back into the village, one of our neighbours told us that the Relais Nordik had hit a rock in Harrington Harbour. Apparently, this happened last night as the boat was coming in through a narrow passage, just outside of the Harrington wharf. There was a hole ripped in the side, and all 150 of the passengers would have to get off of the boat in Harrington. Luckily, nobone was hurt, but it must have been very scary for the people on board.

Since the villages of Harrington, Chevery, Tete a la Baleine, La Tabatiere, and Saint Augustine are isolated, the Relais Nordik being out of commission is a big deal, since it is the main way that these villages get their supplies. We were already having trouble getting a few items, such as eggs in the local stores, and there would probably be more shortages soon. I would imagine that they will have to quickly get another boat running to replace the Relais Nordik, if the damage is as extensive as it sounded.

We continued back to our house for luch, and then went back up on the hills nearby again to enjoy the rest of the beautiful day. The kids were running around on the moss, and eating more bake apples. The bakeapples seemed to give them short energy boosts and they would run for five minutes, and then stop and eat some more. I also showed them how to roll down the mossy hills, which was a game that I used to play when I was a kid. It basically consists of climbing to the top to a hill covered in moss, and then lying on your side, and roling down to the bottom. Once you get to the bottom, you are pretty dizzy, so the goal is to try to stand up right away, and try to run back up without falling down. It is great fun.

This evening, we had invited several of our old friends over for our first house warming party. Two of them brought guitars, and we had a great time. I am not a singer, by any stretch of the imagination, but at one point I was singing part of a John Prine song. My cousin left at around 2 a.m., after many beers, and a late snack of local shrimp that I had in the fridge.

This was definitley the best day of our vaction so far.

Today was my wife’s birthday, so we decided to have a Lower North Shore birthday celebration for her. After the kids gave her some of their handmade cards and gifts, we packed up a lunch, and took my father’s boat down to Blais Island, which is just East of La Tabatiere. The main reason that we went to this island, was because it was very windy, and we did not want to go too far in my father’s 16 foot fiber glass boat. Besides that, it was a little cloudy, but it was warm and it looked like it could clear up later in the day.

In addition to being close, Blais island is a nice location, since it is relatively sheltered, and there are several small beaches where you can light a small fire with drift wood. I really love drift wood fires, since the wood is so dry, and it burns so easily. You also do not need an axe to break it, since you can usually just smash it against a rock to break it into smaller pieces. We picked a small rocky beach that was in a windy area, where we would not get bothered by any flies. We put all of our gear, and food on the flat rocks near the water, so that we would not have to worry about sand getting into our lunch. After lunch, we started roasting marshmellows and hot dogs for dessert.

Once we had finished lunch, the sun came out, and everone used the nice weather to explore our little isalnd. My wife went for a walk along the shore, and then slept on a rock near the water. The kids went picking raspberries, bakeapples, and blue berries, and had a great time playing in the moss and small bushes. I stayed on the rocks, and kept the fire going with driftwood. After picking berries, the kids went to the beach, and started playing in the water near the shore, and skipped rocks. They all had their rubber boots, and splash pants on, but this didn’t make much difference, since after about five minutes, they were in the water up to their knees, and the boots became buckets. They all had a great time though, and said that the water was not that cold, which was a little surprising.

By about mid afternoon, we decided to head back, since everyone was getting tired. We dropped the kids, and my mother off at the Sands, so that she could drive them back home. My wife and I stayed in the boat with my father to go back to Red Bay. As we left the sands, I knew that it was going to be a rough ride, since this relatively sheltered area was already pretty choppy. As we cut across La Tabatiere, we saw a relatively large sail boat quickly heading to the wharf in La Tabatiere, which was probably also a bad sign. At first I thought that it might be Jim and Sharon’s sail boat, but it turned out to be someone else that we did not know.

After passing Old Post, the waves started to get very large, and I have to say that I was a little scared in the small boat. The waves must have been eight feet high at that point, and sitting in the front of the boat, it felt like the front of the boat was going to go under some of the waves. My father did an excellent job of navigating around the rocky points, and the small boat actually seemed to be an advantage, since it was relatively easy to mavouver over the larger waves. Once we finally reached Red Bay, I was very happy to see calm waters again.

For dinner, we were planning to go to the Stage for my wife’s dinner party. I decided to take a shower before going to the restaurant, and I could taste all of the salt water from our boat ride back, washing off of my face. When we got to the restaurant, I ordered the seafood pizza, which was excellent, and is probably the best pizza that I have ever had. They also had a home made birthday cake ready for us, which was also delicious, and nicely decorated. I also had several coolers with my dinner, which went very well with the pizza, and help top off a very nice day.

We then went back to the cottage, and I took some photos of Mutton Bay at night, which I have included here. My main regret on this trip, was forgetting the camera adapter for my tripod, so I had to use the bridge railing, and rocks for a tripod instead.

After another great night’s sleep, I had a nice breakfast of eggs, home made bread, and home made bakeapple jam. With our stomachs full, we then went for a nice walk through the village towards the wharf in Mutton Bay, to see if there were any fishermen at the wharf. We met one, and asked if he was interested in chartering his boat, to take us around whale watching. He informed us that his boat was pretty old, and that he wouldn’t feel comfortable taking us out in it, in case it broke down. All of the other boats at the wharf were from La Tabatiere, and were being kept in Mutton Bay because of construction on the wharf in La Tabatiere. Because of the lack of boats available in Mutton Bay, we decided to go for plan B, which was to go out on my father’s 16 foot outboard boat.My father keeps his boat in Red Bay, and since it was foggy, we decided to just go outside of the rapids outside of Red Bay, and try to catch some Mackerel, or Cod. The fog was very thick, and we saw plenty of Mackerel, but the were just not biting. We did manage to catch a few Sculplins, but they are not very appetizing, so we threw them back.

We saw a few other people out fishing too, and they also said that the fish were not biting. Of course the were able to catch at least one or two, so maybe it was just our technique. One of the people that we ran into was Victor, who is from Red Bay and is in his eighties. Whenever the weather is nice, he always seems to be out in his little boat fishing, and he just seems like the happiest man in the world when you talk to him. I guess that fishing on the Coast might be the secret to living a long healthy life.

After the wind started to pick up, we decided to go back to the house for lunch, and then down to the Sands for the afternoon. The Sands is a small beach just East of La Tabatiere, and is about ten minutes from the village by car. It is a great place for the kids, since there never seems to be big waves, and there are lots of shells and rocks to collect on the beach.

Just for fun, we decided to build a small dam across a stream at the end of the beach. It all started with the kids playing in the sand near the stream, and then turned into a full blown dam project. It was also a bit of a challenge, and we started with rocks and small sticks, and then filled everything in with sand to block it off. It worked relatively well, but there still seemed to be a small amount of water seeping through the sand in the dam. I told the kids that we would come back later in the week to see the power of Mother Nature.

Then we went back to the village, and had a meal of frozen crab, with bakeapples for desert. In terms of my favorite meals, it doesn’t get much better than this, except maybe for eating fresh crab or lobster on an island, with a trip through a field of bake apples for dessert.

We then came back to the cottage, and explored a small field down the road from our house in Mutton Bay. The kids absolutely loved the area, and ate lots of bake apples, and black berries. They also ran around on the mossy field, and said that they wanted to come back tomorrow for their mother’s birthday.

The evening was another one with a fire in the wood stove, a beautiful sunset, and going to bed early (I think it is all of the fresh air).

After being stuck in Blanc Sablon one night because of fog, we were concerned the next morning, when we were delayed again because of fog. The lady at the Air Labrador desk told us that the rest of the Coast was clear, and that we should be able to take off, once the pilots gave the O.K. Everyone traveling with us told us that it was normal for Blanc Sablon to be foggy early in the morning (they actually said that it was always foggy in Blanc Sablon), and that it would probably clear up.

After about one hour, the fog started to clear, and we were able to take off from Blanc Sablon. As we flew up the coast, the weather kept improving, and it was a beautiful sunny day when we landed in La Tabatiere. The kids were extremely happy to see Grandma and Granpa, and we were also relieved to be starting our planned vacation. We drove directly to our house that we purchased in Mutton Bay on our last vacation, which my wife had not actually seen it yet. There had been numerous renovations done on it over the spring, and summer, and we were also looking forward to seeing how everything looked. As we drove down the hill into the village of Mutton Bay, and I saw how pretty the village looks in the summer, I was really glad that I had a house of my own to stay at in the village. As we pulled up to the house, the house was now white, instead of the original brown colour, and I was hoping that the rest of the renovations would be as nice.

The inside of the the house, was also much nicer with all of the touch ups, and my parents had added numerous touches, such as a clock, and little trinkets, which made it feel much more like a home. The master bedroom had also been painted a brighter yellow, and the other bedrooms had been painted lighter colours too. Overall, we were very happy with our new cottage. The one problem that we had was with the water in the house. There was plenty of it, but it was reddish, and smelled pretty bad. The water supply for the house actually comes from a small marsh in the back of the house, and I think that the smell is from all of the peat moss in the marsh. We found out later that the trick to fix this, is to add a bit of Bleech to the water in the storage tank to remove the smell. Of course you will not be able to drink the water after this, which we were not planning to do anyway, but it was fine for the toilets, and washing dishes (this is a cottage after all). My parents had also brought plenty of bottles of drinking water too, so we would not be short of water.

The kids spent the rest of the afternoon playing on the rocks in the back of the house, and also picking bakeapples in the front yard. I spent a little more time working on the water situation, and tried a different storage tank, to see if the water smelled any better. It seemed to have a slight smell coming directly out of the well too. It seemed to get better if we let the water run longer, but I just decided that my vacation was too short to spend time worrying about the smell of the water, when we were not going to be drinking it anyway.

We spent the rest to of the day exploring the hills around the house, and then we went to my parents for a nice meal of cod fish, which one of the fishermen living near our house gave to us.

The property came with two sheds, and one of them had about three cords of firewood in it. After dinner, I opened all of the windows, and then lit a fire in wood stove, and watched the sun set over Baie Du Bateau. SInce we did not have a radio, or T.V., I drank a beer, and read a book, and went to bed early.

For this vacation to the Lower North Shore, we decided to take a new flight that Air Labrador as added from Montreal to Chevery. Instead of the regular smaller plane, they are using a Dash-8, which goes from Montreal to Chevery without the need to get off the plane in Sept. Iles. The nicest part about this change, is that the flight does not leave Montreal until 11:10 a.m. Last year, we had to leave at 6:30 a.m., which meant that we had to get up really early to catch the flight, and had to stay at a hotel near the airport. On this trip we decided to stay at a friend’s house on the South Shore the night before, spend a nice evening with them, and then and have a nice breakfast before we went to the airport.We still made the usual stops in Quebec City, Sept. Iles, Natashquan, and finally Chevery. The flights from Montreal to Sept. Iles were not very full, and we were able to change our seats around so that all of the kids could have window seats. After we landed in Sept. Iles, the remaining seats filled up with people speaking with people from the Coast. Hearing their Coaster accents again, always makes me feel like I am just a little be closer to home. Because the plane was starting to fill upto fill up, we moved back to our assigned seats. This turned out to be a waste of time, since nobody paid seemed to pay much attention to the seats on their boarding passes, and everyone just grabbed whichever seat they felt like.

Besides that, the flight from Montreal to Chevery was uneventful, and we arrived at all of the towns on time, or early. The kids also handled the multiple hops very well, and were very well behaved except for a few arguements about whose turn it was to have the window seats again (after Sept Iles.)

To get from Chevery to La Tabatiere we needed to take a smaller Twin Otter, and after landing in Chevery we were told that fog was starting to close in around Tete a la Baleine, and La Tabatiere. The first flight left for Tete a la Baleine, but could not land because of fog, and had to return to Chevery. The report from La Tabatiere was that the weather was holding, so we were still hopeful that we would be able to make it to our final destination today. On all of our previous flights to La Tabatiere, we had not been delayed, so I was also hoping that maybe we would also bring some good luck to this attempt to land.

Just before leaving the airport in Chevery, there was an announcement that we might not be able to land in La Tabatiere because of fog, and if that if we could not land, then the plane would continue on, and we would then land in Blanc Sablon. All of the other people flying to La Tabatiere told us that this was still our best chance, since even if we had to fly to Blanc Sablon, there is a flight from Blanc Sablon to La Tabatiere first thing in the morning, and we would still arrive earlier than if we stayed in Cevery, which is actually closer.

I was actually thinking that it might be a good idea to stay in Chevery, since there were some friends and relatives in Harrington that we really wanted to see, but had not had the time for a stop over in Harrington on this trip. If we stayed in Chevery, and the weather was clear tomorrow, we could take the helicopter over to Harrington, then spend the following day there, and then fly back to catch our afternoon flight. I also knew that if we did make it to Harrington, there was a ride on Jim’s sail boat waiting for me, which would have been great. After thinking about it for a few minutes, we decided that since there was a 50/50 chance that we would make it to our final destination, we might as well try the flight to La Tabatiere.

We flew over the fog all of the way down the coast, and after about 30 minutes, we started to slowly decend down through the fog. I kept looking for a break in the fog, and I could see a few black patches of ground, but could not make out any details. I guess the pilots were having the same problem, and they pushed the throttle forward, and we started to ascend again. One of the pilots came back and told us that we would be flying on to Blanc Sablon, since it was too dangerous to land in La Tabatiere. It was interesting that I had actually exchanged a few e-mails with our pilot a few months ago, since he had posted some twin otter videos on Youtube, and I had asked him to post some on the Lower North Shore web site. I was glad that he had agreed to do that, since the Twin Otter is such an important part of the Coast, and it was nice to actually meet him in person on this trip. I spend much of my spare time building web servers, and creating web sites, but I am always amazed at how prevelant the Internet is now, and how it allows people with similar interests to connect with each other.

The rest of the flight to Blanc Sablon was uneventful, and the lady at the Air Labrador desk in Blanc Sablon, made reservations for us at Motel Blanc Sablon. The motel is a nice place, and has a great gift shop with lots of nice souvenirs from The Lower North Shore. We purchased some Tee shirts, sweatshirts, and a some stuffed baby seals for the children. We also met someone that we new from La Tabatiere, and her younger daughter had a great time playing with our kids while we were in Blanc Sablon.

The nearest restaurant was Pizza Delight, which was a 5 minute walk from the motel. It turns out that this restaurant is part of a chain in the atlantic provinces, which was a surprise, but it was very nice inside and the service was excellent. We were also told that the seafood dishes were made with local seafood, which met my requirements for my first meal on the Coast. The seafood pasta was excellent, and was even better with a few beers to wash it down. The kids ordered kitty cat pizza’s, which came in the shape of a cat’s face, and even had licorice on them for whiskers.

When we got back to the motel, the room was a little hot, so I opened the window and we could actually hear the ocean across the road. There wasn’t much traffic on the 138 in front of the Motel, and the sound of the ocean, and the cool breeze allowed us to sleep like babies.