Wednesday, August 7, 2019
We took the 8:45 am ferry to Change Island for $11.50. It’s an easy 30 minute ride, and only 8 cars were going, Fogo getting most of the tourists and traffic. One road runs right up the middle of the small island, then branching out at the north end of the island in the town of Change.
That was a trick trusting the ferry man to back us into that spot!
We passed the little visitor’s center before we saw it, and turned around in a tiny settlement in a beautiful cove with a street named Parson’s Lane. Returning to the small Visitor’s Center, we met Kimberly, a cute, young lady who is on a student grant from the government to work there. Her family has lived here for generations, and she was great about telling us all about life here. There are few jobs, most people still making their living fishing.
They had many craft items, mostly made on Change Island, but some from other Newfoundland places. The cold winters are great times for people to do crafts. They are quite good at knitting wool and making quilts. The prices were very reasonable.
We drove around, taking as many pictures as Martha would allow. This is a rich photographic place, especially as the sun came out in the afternoon, turning the waters blue, the grass more green and the buildings more bright. There are so many little coves at the top of this little island, and every one like a private place for just a few houses.
Then we went out and hiked the Squid Jigger Trail, which starts in a neighborhood and winds around coves and points with great views everywhere. We stopped for lunch at a half-collapsed picnic table. Soon enough, a lady came up the steps on her walk. She introduced herself as Wendy, and was born and raised here. She now lives near St. Johns, but was home for a visit. She talked for a half hour about what it was like to grow up here, and how rough the winters are. She said her father drove had an oil delivery business and used to drive across the winter ice to the mainland or to Fogo! She told us the millions of berries we had seen are blackberries, but they weren’t quite ripe yet. They are black and grow on what looks like a dwarf Juniper. The others we had seen were bake-apples. Her father loved them, but she remembers her mother cooking them on the stove and they smelled like sweat socks. She suggested more places to go and see and a restaurant in St. Johns called Chaffs I think. I should have been taking notes.
Blackberries
Bake apple
We walked back to the truck and drove around the coves some more, but we wanted to take the 3:00 ferry back so we could go to Sansome’s for dinner. We did take one more quick hike around a pretty lake on the way back. I fell in love with Change Island.
Sansome’s is quite a unique place on the water, where the family catches the seafood, cooks and serves it. Martha made the right choice with lobster, which she said was so sweet. I tried the fishcakes again, and they were good, but I don’t think I will do it again. With so much lobster, crab and mussels, I’ll stick to the pure thing. We shared a seafood chowder and moved it into first place – not so much cream and cheese, no potatoes and lots of seafood – lobster, crab, cod and muscles – yum!
