Yesterday I wrote about fishing outports in Newfoundland. I thought I would continue in that direction with some memories, and then tell you how I have spent some of my day in port.

The closest fishing outport to the City of St. John's is Quidi Vidi. It is about as picturesque as one could hope. Traditional shacks line the rocky waterfront with bits of fishing stages in front of them. The picture above is of Quidi Vidi today. The harbor has a very narrow entrance and opens into a protected lagoon that has been a home base for fishermen for centuries.

My first visit to Quidi Vidi was back in 1977, 45 years ago. There was nothing touristy about it back then. I was on a vessel berthed in the main harbor of St. John's and heard that a basking shark had gotten entangled in a fisherman's net. That net anchored along the shore, was that fisherman's livelihood; it was how he fed his family and paid his bills. He did the only thing he could do; he had tied the net and shark to his trap skiff and used his make-and -break one cylinder engine haul the whole mess into his home port of Quidi Vidi to see if he could salvage the net.

When I heard the news I set out on the two mile walk to Quidi Vidi at about 8:00 pm. I was with a group from the vessel I was on and armed with a tape measure. We arrived at twilight to a surreal scene. The shark and net had been winched out on a slipway used for launching boats. Fishermen were working to untangle the mess, doing as little cutting of the net as possible. The shark, much the worse for wear, was still alive and would sluggishly move its tail from time to time. His skin felt like sandpaper as we stretched our tape measure out and recorded 28 feet from nose to end of tail, a big fish.

Part of me felt sad for the whale shark. But, it was a time to view the situation from the fisherman's point of view. Without that net, his family would face a hard winter and financial hardship. So, the work continued to salvage the net. Sailing has always opened my eyes and challenged me to view the world through the eyes of others.

Today Quidi Vidi has a different feel. There are still fisherman who fish in small boats, going out to sea as they have for ages past. However, the big green building on the right hand shore in the photo above is now the Quidi Vidi Brewing Company. It is one of the creative ways these old communities are facing the future. This microbrewery turns out a variety of offerings, including their "Iceberg" beer made with water from Newfoundland's icebergs.

With it looking more likely that the engine will be back aboard by the end of next week, followed by a couple of days of installation and testing, I am mapping out a new itinerary for the summer. I am going to be talking with my crew tomorrow to start working out the details. I also had the wonderful task of rebuilding the head on Tazzarin today, never a fun task. But, it had started to have issues, in particular with the valves that draw water in. The good news is that it now works better than it has in years! I only hope the rebuild work on the engine is as successful as my rebuild of the head...

Bill

Tazzarin's Whale & Iceberg logo design by Emily Dove