On to Twillingate

We decide to try for the 9am ferry off of Fogo Island.  Again, we seem to be the only vehicle on the road, but when we arrive at 8:30 there are about eight vehicles in front of us.  This includes one rv and we recognize it as one from the campground and we know David and Linda already.

So there they are ahead of us; we shall not be the first in the center lane and not be the first off the boat.  We again get the center aisle, right behind the Winnebago View.  A hello to our friends as we get out of the vehicle and go upstairs to the lounge.  We also see another friend from the campground, Helen.  Helen is a hiker and tents and hikes all day.

A discussion follows in the lounge, with our Canadian friends.  We discuss our experience yesterday at the health clinic.  As with every Canadian we have ever met, they are quite pleased with their health care system and cannot understand why we still have to deal with high profit private insurers.  Oh , well.

Les wandered up to the bridge.  The captain invited him in, shook his hand and they talked the rest of the voyage.  Les excused himself so the captain could dock without distraction.

Off the ferry ( notice sunshine), behind our friends,
and on to the town of Twillingate.  This is a usual stop for tourists.  We find the rv park, but leave again soon after for a little drive through the town and lunch.  Still on our "eat local", I have the fish cakes and Les has something called Moose Mess.  Kind of a poutine with ground moose meat.  We meet a couple from Rhode Island at the restaurant.  This is trip number twelve to Newfoundland for them. They are also at the campground.  We drive to the Auk Winery after seeing as many signs on the road as there are for South of the Border or Ruby Falls.  It is a small winery that does not export out of Newfoundland.  Its claim is wine made, not from grapes, but from local fruits.  There is rhubarb, strawberry, blueberry, partridge berry and more.  After a tasting, we don' t buy anything.  Our main taster says, Yuk.

We stop at the fish market and get scallops for dinner.  We see many quite large lobsters.  One is eleven pounds.  We tell the cashier that it is a shame to sell him. They don't plan to :  you can have your picture taken with him, for a donation to charity and they are releasing him at the end of the month.

Tonight we go to see the local show, Split Peas.  It is seven woman who have been performing together for 15 years.  They sing and play instruments including the accordian and the ugly stick.  Almost all local music, but a bit of calypso thrown in.  Don't know where that came from.  It is a delightful show.  When they do a "where are you from?" segment, there are only six of us from the US.  The rest of the maybe 200 peole,  are from all over Canada.  I think the Newfoundland tourist boards need to do more marketing in the states.  During intermission they sell the Newfoundland treat, touton, served with partridgeberry sauce and tea.  One of their songs is about the time zone here.  It is 1/2 hour later than Atlantic time.  The song refrain is that when God made the earth, she needed one half hour longer to make Newfoundland.