By Christopher Payne Cape St. Mary’s Ecological Reserve is about a two-hour drive from St. John’s, and the view waiting at the end feels almost unimaginable. It is one of the busiest places I have ever visited, though not because of people, but because of birds. With wingspans reaching up to almost two metres and…
By Nicola Ryan “O, this is the place where the fishermen gather / With oilskins, boots, and Cape Anns battened down. All sizes of figures with squid lines and jiggers / They congregate here on the squid jiggin’ ground.” With these lines from Squid Jiggin’ Ground, 15-year-old Arthur Scammell immortalized the most recognizable pieces of…
By Kim Ploughman For centuries, outports in Newfoundland and Labrador lived in near isolation from the outside world. News travelled slowly, if at all. By the early 1950s, a gift arrived onshore with vital information for these outports. It came from an unlikely source, a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) radio program called The Fisherman’s Broadcast….
By Pam Pardy There’s something about the town of Dildo that captures people’s curiosity. Maybe it’s the name, or the small-town charm that keeps folks coming back. But for Joanne and Josh Norman, the draw goes much deeper. Just off the main road overlooking Dildo sit two of the town’s most charming short-term stays: The…
By Nathan Freake My dad loved to fish. I did not, though I never found it boring. I quite enjoyed the slow passage of time and the little snap of a line when a brook trout bit. The problem was that I was allergic to mosquito bites. And, boy, does that ever make for a…
By Andrea Maunder Back on the first fine day in April, the scent of barbecue sent tantalizing aromas from some neighbour’s backyard. There were still patches of snow everywhere, and snow and freezing rain in the forecast. I caught myself laughing, thinking, the weather in our province certainly has fostered resilience in us, and the…
As the cod returns and old conversations resurface, those on the water and those in government wrestle with a question that still lingers beneath it all: have we truly learned from what was lost? By Pam Pardy In New-Wes-Valley, where the fishery still hums with life, Edgar Hunt doesn’t speak in hypotheticals. He speaks from…
By Gary Collins I turned 65 on August 30, 2014. A day later, my buddy Alec Oram called to tell me he had a birthday gift for me. Alec never gives me gifts! “Bryan and I want to take you shark fishin’ with us.” “Shark fishin’. How do you mean, shark fishin’, with nets?”…
By Dillon Collins There’s what we see, and then there’s what’s beneath the surface. Jill Heinerth is among the rare few who’ve had the opportunity to experience that different side, one as dark as it is tranquil, full of mystery and wonder. The world below. “No day is like the last,” Jill jokes during a…
By David Sturge When I arrived at Neil and Jacqueline’s house in Green’s Harbour, Trinity Bay, there was no need to ring the doorbell. The announcement of my arrival came courtesy of their pet geese, Gord Downey and Bobcageon, whose honking, combined with the overhead flyby of local ducks, made it very clear I…
