Day 2: Change Islands and Tilting
Few of the places we visited had water deep enough to accommodate the ship, so we usually made our way to shore in inflatable
rubber zodiacs. Our first landing, staged under a brilliantly blue sky, was at the town of Change Islands, where a large group
of townspeople with nametags and huge smiles were waiting to greet us.
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Even when I stood still, admiring the rich colours in the trailside heather, the path seemed to heave and swell
a bit, as I tried to recover my “land legs” from my first 24 hours on the ship. |
The town’s buildings are sprinkled loosely over a treeless landscape, looking as if they had been
dropped randomly from the sky and were now hugging the shore in order to keep the option open of
leaving on the next ship. I was among those who chose to hike along the seaside rather than tour
the town. The spryness of many of the more elderly passengers impressed me as the trail snaked
over and around untamed, rocky hills. Every turn revealed new views of crashing waves and views
of distant shores. Even when I stood still, admiring the rich colours in the trailside heather,
the path seemed to heave and swell a bit, as I tried to recover my “land legs” from my first 24
hours on the ship.
Back in the village, we feasted on a banquet prepared by the local woman-folk in the community
hall, with folding tables stretching unbroken from one end of the hall to the other, adorned with potato
fish-cakes, bread fish-cakes, soup, and saran-wrapped rolls and homemade desserts. One of the local town
fathers took to the stage to give us a formal welcome. A very serious-looking woman followed with a very
funny-sounding recitation, and the entertainment concluded with lively accordion and fiddle music with mummers
flailing around the back of the stage.
Then it was back onto the Zodiacs to travel to the nearby town of Tilting, a National Historic Site.
Tilting is the North American community located closest, geographically, to Ireland. Aptly, the Irish-born
settlers of Tilting created a cultural and physical landscape almost identical to that of the rural areas
of their home country. Neighbourhoods were organized by family. If someone married someone from another neighbourhood,
they would not move to the new neighbourhood. They would move the house back to the neighbourhood where they properly belonged.
Generations of passionately proud and resourceful people eked out a spare but seemingly adequate living here. However,
things changed dramatically with the collapse of the cod fishery in the 1990s. In a matter of years, the town dropped from
a population of 500 to 200. Few people under 40 remain. In an attempt to preserve remnants of a dying past, and to attract
tourism, a number of buildings have been converted to museums. One can also see the outbuildings used in the family-based,
inshore fishery, and the outfield gardens and common grazing areas.
At the Dwyer home, we were told that sometime more than a dozen people would live together in a tiny home with ceilings
so low that the inhabitants had to duck to miss the rafters. There was almost no insulation, and the only source of heat was
the kitchen stove. In the winters, often viciously cold, families would spend the day huddled together in the kitchen. When
bedtime came, they would make a mad dash for their feather beads upstairs.
As in the Change Islands, we were treated to another big communally cooked meal at Tilting’s town hall. There was no shortage of musical and comic talent from the community and from the ship’s staff, and we then headed back to the ship on the Zodiacs in the darkness of the late evening. |
About
Steve Fick: Artistic Statement
Daily Journal
Day 1: St John’s & Salmonier Nature Park
Day 2: Change Islands & Tilting
Day 3: L’Anse aux Meadows & Raleigh
Day 4: Cape Charles & Battle Harbour, Labrador Coast
Day 5: Gros Morne National Park
Day 6: Grand Codroy Valley
Day 7: White Bear Bay & Ramea
Day 8: Conne River & Francois
Day 9: St.-Pierre, France
Day 10: Return to St. John’s
Related Stories
Ghost
coast
Torngat
Mountains
Resources
www.fick.ca
www.danielpayne.ca
Adventure Canada
Newfoundland & Labrador
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