Grand Codroy, Newfoundland - July 5 - 6, 2015

Grand Codroy, Newfoundland - July 5 - 6, 2015

July 5, 2015

Today was the day to travel on the ferry from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland.  It was amazing how they parked all of the RV’s in the lower decks of the Ferry.  There was barely an inch or two between coach mirrors.  We pulled in behind a trailer that was rather wide, luckily, one of the ferry workers decided that we were not going to be able to move forward any more, or we would have a problem. 

We had to leave the kittens in the coach as we went upstairs to the lounges.  We left windows open for ventilation.  We had a sign in the window showing there were pets on board.  We left them food and a clean litter box, so they were fine. 

On the upper decks, they had a restaurant, bar and lots of comfortable seating.  There are even cabins for sleeping – which we will use on our 18 hour return trip from St. John’s, NL in weeks to come.  

We arrived in Grand Codroy, Newfoundland after a six hour ferry ride.

After arrival we were to find out about the mysterious “Screech In” Ceremony.  This was conducted by the owners of the owners of the Grand Codroy RV Park, Dennis & Alice.

When we arrived at the Recreation Room, there was a band playing.  There was a bit of dancing and general good cheer.  Once everyone had arrived, the ceremony started.  The Screech In is a ceremony to become an Honorary Newfoundlander.  It consisted of four things – Speaking Newfi, dancing Newfi, drinking a shot of Screech Rum (thus the name), and KISSING a cod.  Not a rubber cod, or a dried cod, a fresh cod.  Luckily, for the cod it was dead.  Oh MY.  Needless to say fun was had by all.

It was a wonderful welcome to Newfoundland.

July 6, 2015

After the “Screech In Ceremony” last night, where we got to bed about 11:30 pm or so, it was tough getting up to catch the 9:00 am tour bus.  For the first time, maybe ever, Stan actually woke Bev up.  She is planning to use “Screech” as her sleep aid in the future.

Alice, from the RV Park, was our tour guide.  She is the sixth generation of her family to live in the area.  She knows a lot about the area.  What she didn’t know, George, the driver, did know.

Newfoundland is basically a huge rock that people have chosen to live on.  It is so beautiful and peaceful. 

The primary industries in the area are fishing and farming.  Many of the people that have lived here their entire lives will leave their families here for weeks on end and go to Alberta to work, returning for a week here and there.   Many of the homes here are summer homes for people in other parts of the country. 

We visited a fish processing plant.  We were not able to go inside, but were able to see the area around the grounds.  Many of the group ordered seafood (Halibut, Lobster & Scallops) that was later delivered to the park.  We had no room in the freezer, so did not order anything. 

When we got off the bus to check out the fish processing plan, Bev found that she stuck to the seat.  As it turns out there was candy on the seat of the bus, and now on Bev’s butt.  Since we had traded places in our row, we found Stan had it on his butt too.   Luckily, after mentioning it to George the bus driver, we had it all cleaned up in short order.

We had lunch at a restaurant (we were the only group in there – so we don’t know how these places make it).   Everywhere we go there is SO MUCH food.  We started with a Seafood Chowder and rolls, then had Cod with mashed potatoes, coleslaw, and vegetables.  All this was followed by dessert.  A warm cake with blueberries on it – they had a name for it, but we had never heard it before.    

In the afternoon we went to the Rose Blanche Lighthouse.  It was built with local granite.  We were able to go up most of the way into the lighthouse.  We were not able to get to the top, but did see the living quarters of the lighthouse caretaker.

Since things are spread out, it took a bit to get back to the RV Park.  When we returned we had the drivers meeting for the day to follow.

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