More lobster? Yes, please!!

August 3, 2007
Cornwall, Prince Edward Island and around!

59.7 Miles
Mostly Sunny
Thunderstorm in the evening!

Today we took a bus tour of some areas of Prince Edward Island – took most of the day, and was really worth the time, although the afternoon was rather wasted because we had a HUGE lobster lunch at a great “World Famous Fisherman’s Wharf Lobster Suppers restaurant” in North Rustico (with a 60’ long salad bar – best I’ve ever seen – with a yummy Seafood chowder, steamed mussels and oh so much more) that made every single passenger on the bus nod off on the balance of the trip! What’s more, they had a gift shop that wasn’t the usual touristy stuff – it was really classy quality artsy crafts and paintings.

First stop was at the Cavendish Dunelands, a gorgeous stretch of beach, honoring fallen soldiers which is characterized by sand dunes, barrier islands and beaches, sandspits, and associated wetlands. The diverse habitats in the Park provide a home for a variety of plants and animals. The woods and shores of the Park are filled with over 300 species of birds and a large variety of plants.

Then it was on to Green Gables, the homestead farm and surrounding woodlands where, (yes, you’re right, Anne of Green Gables) Lucy Maud Montgomery grew up and later wrote the book!

Impressive restoration and magnificent gardens here at the Cavendish National Historic Site, commemorating her as a person of national historic significance!

From there we went to a charming spot – The Prince Edward Island Preserve Co. run by a Scotsman who is everything you’d picture, right down to his kilt (except he wasn’t wearing his usual uniform this day, although he did come on our bus personally to greet us and regale us with the tale of his little business. Then we were treated to bagpipe music in the garden on our way into the tasting room. Oh my, what marvelous preserves and sauces and condiments! When Maggie and I were recuperating from the tour in the evening, we saw his TV ads several times, and he does indeed wear his kilt most of the time!

Our tour guide today was an attractive bubbly young woman, Tammy, who considers herself an island girl, although by PEI terms, she is actually “from away” since she was actually born in the U.S. (to PEI parents). Seems you’re “from away” even if you’ve lived here your entire life, should you have the misfortune of being born while your folks were on holiday even! And then, of course, there are those “blue noses” from Nova Scotia!

Those who are “from here” are very welcoming to visitors and to those who are “from away”, but the distinction is clear. And PEI folks are incredibly proud of their island and their homes and land. All the homes and yards and businesses are immaculate – every lawn looks to have been mowed that very day, but we didn’t see anyone doing the mowing! Tammy said the season has been such that she has had to mow her yard (her husband has, that is) about every 4-5 days!!!

This time of year, the island is gorgeous and green – so green, in fact, that the University funded a study recently to determine how many shades there are here – and came up with at least 50 shades of green!! So many types of foliage, so many trees and shrubs and crops – truly a color palette! Plus 25 golf courses to add to the canvas!!

Agriculture and Tourism are the main industry here. Crops? There are about 1700 farms on the island, and 450 of them specialize in potatoes. We saw a large plant not long after we crossed the Confederation Bridge – McCain’s – and guessed it to be a food processing plant. We were right – McCain’s is one of the largest! Much of the potato crop is turned into French Fries!

We also saw huge fields of bright yellow canola blossoms and soy beans, apple trees and plums. And, of course, lobster and mussels and fish! Maggie and I are doing are best to support the lobster industry! As if they need our help! And mussels are big too - about a $30 million dollar industry, with the majority going to Red Lobster Restaurants!

We received a quick lesson in how lobster traps are pulled, how they’re measured to see if they are keepers or must be returned to the sea (the size they look for has a carapace about 4” in length from just behind the eyes to the junction with the tail), females with eggs must be returned to the sea, how the traps are re-baited (using a slab of fish on a stake in the middle of the trap, and returned to the sea. There are usually 6 traps per line and it takes about 8 minutes to process each trap. The lobster men are limited to 300 traps each, and amazingly, we learned that most lobster fishermen can’t swim! As Tammy said, I think I’d like at least a fighting chance of surviving if I went over the side. Apparently they figure if they’re caught in a line and dragged down, they’d not get free in time to need to know how to swim. Not a pretty picture!

It’s back breaking work, and the season is only a few months long (about 8 weeks, then a break while the lobsters molt, then another 6-8 weeks), but on a good day they can make about $13,000, so I guess a couple months is enough. They rarely get a big lobster – they’re supposed to throw them back if they do.

Long day with lots of information to process, and Tammy did a great job of making it all fun!