The Coast

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.

The Second issue of the Chevery News is now available.   Here is a list of the topics in this issue.

• Newspaper Task Force
• Chevery News Goes International!
• Community Snapshots Photo Contest
• Spring Sprouts for the Community Garden
• Chevery Women’s Group
• Honouring our Heritage: Cross River History
• Netagamiou Idol
• The Lower North Shore website
• DFO Teach Youth About Species At Risk
• Quebec 4H Club Workshop
• Eau-Naturelle Discovery Camp
• Netagamiou CLC Update
• A Parent’s Perspective
• Mecatina CLC: What’s Been Happening
• Art of Gold Website
• Entrpreneurship Quebec: LNS News
• OCOL Community Vitality Study II
• Your Space
• Six Steps for Effective Studying
• Une Visite Vraiement Speciale!
• Développement touristique BCN
• Coasters, Come Home Campaign
• CoastFest 2008
• L’eau Potable Pour la BCN
• Fond Memories of Home: George Keats
• LNS CLC’s: Virtually Face to Face
• Regional Social Development Plan
• Tutulle au / Trusteeship of CSSSBCN
• LNS Private Clinic in Blanc Sablon
• North Shore 2007-1012 Development Plan
• L’Escale 2007: Harvre-Saint-Pierre
• CSSA End of the Year Report
• Chevery Municipal Local Committee
• Tourism Gros Mecatina: Larger Than Life!
• Videoconferencing in the Classroom
• Amy’s Bed & Breakfast
• Quebec Week for Disabled Persons
• Harrington Harbour Region National Park
• and much more!

You can find the complete pdf version of this volume at this link.

I have recently added the first copy of the Chevery News to The Lower North Shore Web Site. This is just an excellent resource, and it is incredible how much information is available in the first issue. I won’t steal too much of the thunder of the Netagamiou Community Learning Centre, but here is a list of the articles available in Volume 1:

• Route 138: Council of Mayors Report
• Community Forum Poster Competition
• Winter Wonderland: Community Snapshots
• Chevery Covered Rink Report
• Meals on Wheels Program
• Netagamiou CLC Update
• FAQs about the Netagamiou CLC
• Mother’s Day Brunch
• Netagamiou Idol
• Mother’s Day Lobster Supper
• Message from the MCNGSL Administration
• FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions) about the NCLC
• New Lower North Shore Tourism Website
• Regional Craft Cooperative and E-Commerce Site
• Caring & Sharing Community Garden Meeting
• Telehealth Education Sessions
• Quebec 4H Club Information Session
• Petit-Mécatina Hydro-Electric Project
• “Eau Naturelle” Discovery Summer Camp ~ Elementary Students
• Telehealth Education Sessions
• Volunteer Appreciation Celebration 2007
• Chevery Municipal Local Committee Meeting Agenda
• The Closing of Aylmer Sound
• National Aboriginal Day
• CoastFest 2008 Celebrations – Lower North Shore
• CoastFest 2008 Festival of the Arts
• Other CoastFest 2008 ideas…
• REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT – LNS REVITALIZATION PLAN Renewal and revitalization strategy for the Lower North Shore
• DÉVELOPPEMENT RÉGIONAL - PLAN DE RELANCE DE LA BCN Stratégie de rattrapage et de relance de la Basse Côte-Nord
• Provincial Park Project Update
• Vitality Indicators II: Quebec Case Studies
• Western Region School News
• Christ Church & Canadian Junior Rangers

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You can see the entire article in pdf format by clicking on this link.

I have recently added a history section to the Lower North Shore web site, and also to the forums section, and I have uploaded lots of old photos which I obtained from Dwight Bilodeau, and Gros Mecatina, to get things started. There is not much detail to go along with the photos yet, but they are still very interesting to go through. An example of this, is the photo below which shows my great grand father (Samuel John Robertson) delivering mail via dog team in Mutton Bay. It also turns out that this was the last mail run on The Lower North Shore, using a dog team like this.

Unlike the Pony Express, which is very well know, most people aren’t aware that there was a similar system that was used in Northern Canada. Instead of horses, which would not be very practical in the North, the mail was relayed with dog teams, consisting mostly of Huskies. On the Lower North Shore, there were several different people, including Samuel John Robertson, and Joe Joncas, that would delivery the mail up and down the coast from Natashquan, to Blanc Sablon. Just looking at the photo above, and watching them pull their loaded komatic over rocks, you can imagine how much effort was required to deliver mail like this.  The photo looks like it was taken in the spring time, which would also have been very dangerous, since the ice would have also been starting to break up.

Like the Pony Express, the Puppy Express was replaced by the telegraph, then telephone, and other modes of transportation such as trucks and planes. Of course people currently living on the Coast sometimes still wonder if the Puppy Express might be actually faster than the current system.

Another interesting photo is the one below of Miss Massey and Abe Poland. The description that went along with the photo was “He would walk from St. Pauls to date Miss Massey, dressed to kill”. I am not sure who either of these people are, but I bet that there is an interesting story behind the photo and that description.

There are also several old fishing photos from Old Fort Bay, and Blanc Sablon, such as the one below. It is just amazing to see the amount of fish they were catching back then. I am sure that these old timers could not have imagined the cod fishery would be closed like it was recently, due to the large drop in cod fish stocks in Eastern Canada.

I have recently added a large number of Photos from Old Fort Bay to the Lower North Shore Web Site. In addition to Old Fort Bay, there are also several photos of Lourdes De Blanc Sablon, Saint Augustine River, Battle Harbour Labrador, and Port Hope Simpson Labrador. A big thank you to Dwight Bilodeau of Old Fort Bay for these Photos.

This is a photo of a Minke Whale chasing Caplin just off of the coast, near Old Fort.

This is the outside of the hospital in Lourdes de Blanc Sablon.

This is the village of Battle Harbour in Labrador.

You can see all of the photos at this link

How Canadian is this? While on vacation on the Lower North Shore, we rode our snowmobile to an outdoor hockey game in La Tabatiere. We also parked it at the side of the rink, so that we could sit on it while watching the game.

It was a beautiful clear evening, and not very cold, which made it perfect for playing and watching the game. As you can see from the photo below, which was taken between periods, we also had great front row seats.

This was just a friendly match between the second team in La Tabatiere, and the USL team in Saint Augustine. USL is a construction company, which I believe is mostly based in Toronto, but has a large number of employees from the Lower North Shore (especially from Saint Augustine). This is why the team is funded by, and named, USL. Unfortunately, I can’t remember the name of the team from La Tabatiere.

The game itself was very enjoyable, and fast paced. You can see this from the break away photo below, which was taken during the second period of the game. It is clear that everyone on the Coast takes their hockey seriously, and that the region has some very good hockey players.

After the game, I went to the local bar, where both teams went for a beer after the game. Since I had to leave the game early, I asked what the final score was, but it turned out that nobody in the bar was sure what it was either. I guess it was a friendly game.

During the conversations after the game, I also found out that they will probably be building a new indoor rink in La Tabatiere soon. Both a new rink, and community hall are needed in the village, so they will combine both buildings into one, to save on the building and maintenance costs. A covered rink will also mean fewer cancelled games, a longer season, more practise time, and warmer fans.

I will personally miss the outdoor games, and watching them from my snowmobile.

In a previous post, I mentioned that I was going to be posting videos from my recent vacation, on the Lower North Shore Web Site. I finally got around to setting this up, and you can find them at the following link.

So far I have posted one of an outdoor hockey game, Route Blanche, and Mutton Bay (Baie des Moutons, Quebec). I am also planning to upload more soon, including some from Bear Gulch, and our whale watching trip last summer.

I may also insert videos directly in my Blog postings in the future, but I am leaning towards just keeping them all in one location.