Yuki (and Brody's) RV Adventures: Twillingate, Newfoundland

Greetings!

Our next destination was driving the Road to the Isles, which took us over several islands. At the end of the road is the historic Twillingate Island, a scenic old fishing village full of colorful and well maintained houses on the sea, where merchants from all over established trade in the mid 1700's.

It was overcast the first day we got there but we drove to the tip of the island

to see the lighthouse.

and take some photos of the area.

That night mom and dad went to the local (and only) pub to see a comedy show "Newfoundland 101" with Dr. Sam Elliott as the professor.(to teach them the local Newfoundland customs and language)

A bit corny, but at the intermission, mom and dad joined a small group to get "screeched in", a process that would make them honorary Newfoundlanders.

Essentially it involved taking an oath

kissing a cod fish

chugging a shot of Screech (local rum)

and answering the question "Is ye an honorary Newfoundlander?" with the answer "Deed I is me ol' cock, and long may your big jib draw (this was the hard part).

The jib is the big sail on a schooner and as long as it draws wind, you'll have good sailing. So it means, ‘Long may you have good luck’”.

Mom said she had a hard time repeating the sentence, but nothing like dad. He had the audience roaring with laughter as he tried to repeat it. ( Mom has it all on video but couldn't get enough bandwith to upload it here).

You will have to pay dad some big$$ to watch his video as he got the Cod Tongue Award,

for the student that has provided the most unique pronunciation of Newfoundland words. Also known as the "nar clue" award. Brody and I couldn't stop laughing.

The next day had some sun peaking through the clouds, so after breakfast we hopped in the car to see the sights.

Twillingate is known as Iceberg Alley, and I was thinking we might see several, but all I could see was one lonely iceberg in the distance

so we drove closer around the bay to see if we could get a better look. We met another couple from Newfoundland and as we were walking and taking pictures we met a local man, Melvin whose daily goal is to meet tourists and tell them about the area. He invited us into his boat house

and then asked if we wanted to go on his small motorboat to get close to the iceberg.

Brody and I were so excited; until we found out the "we" didn't include us. So we watched as mom and dad got on the boat and got closer

and closer

and closer yet to the iceberg

It looked scary out there so I'm glad I didn't go!

They got so close that they were able to grab a few chunks that were floating in the sea to take home.

That is if dad doesn't use them all in his drinks before we get home. On their way back they spotted a small iceberg that looked like a whale

After the boat trip, mom and dad went back inside Melvin's boat house where he showed them all the memorabilia he has collected from tourists who have visited him..

He has a pen collection from all over the world and shared his scrapbooks of postcards he has received from tourists who visited him. We have to think of something from South Pasadena to send him when we get back.

The next day we took a ferry to Fogo Island,

a mere 25 wide and was first settled in the 1680's. When we got there we headed to the farthest point, Tilting, a traditional fishing village with a rich Irish culture.

We just finished our picnic at the point

when we were joined by a local resident, whose mother was born in the house behind us

and his grandfathers' fishing shed in front of us.

He told us about the area and its strong Irish heritage and said we are standing on the closest place to Dublin in North America.He is also an author of several books on the area, I am going to ask mom will buy me one.