O'Brien

The early bird gets the worm and the ferry! We had an especially early rise in order to catch the ferry to Fogo Island. Any trace of Hurricane Dorian was long gone as skies were blue and we enjoyed a wonderfully warm and sunny day! We decided to be “walk ons” for the ferry rather than take our vehicle! Excellent advice from our hosts, Heather and Alan! We were met by Lettie from Fogo Island Bus Tours and our day went from great to fantastic. Lettie, in true Newfoundland style, took us under her care and showed us almost every nook and cranny of the beautiful Fogo Island. She shared stories, insights, jokes and tips!

The ferry landed in Stag Harbour and we then made our way to Seldom. First stop- FU Trading Company. I know what some of you are thinking! FU stands for Fisherman’s Union not anything else! Here we learned about the fishing cooperatives and how crucial they were for saving the livelihoods and home of the local population.

Who has heard of the Flat Earth Society? Well, we had and since one of our group read about it having an office in Shoal Point,we were off in search of that! Sadly, we found the building but no sign (literally) of anything so we knew it was time to move on to the next stop!

Joe Batt’s Arm, nestled in the north of Fogo Island, is home to the Fogo Island Inn. Legend has it that the town is named after a European settler possibly a deserter from Captain James Cook in the early 1750s.

Built and opened in 2013 by The Shorefast Foundation and at a whopping $2000/ night with a minimum 3 night stay, it sits on an outcrop of rocks against the Atlantic Ocean. We were “allowed” to walk to the building after parking close to the road but there are times, according to Lettie, that the property is off limits. We were also allowed to go to the art gallery inside the main entrance but everything else was off limits. The building is supposed to blend in to the landscape but our group consensus was that it did not. It really stands out- you couldn’t miss it!

The Fogo Island Inn furnishings are all locally and beautifully made. Furniture, rugs, quilts, artwork and so on! Because of this, a spin-off business has developed which sells these goods all over the world! It’s pricey but very beautiful.

In addition to building the Inn, the Shorefast Foundation also built 4 small but architecturally unique studios which are available for artists to live in as part of their residency. They typically host 15 residencies a year!

I really didn’t know much about the Shorefast Foundation and it’s CEO, Zita Cobb. I’m definitely going to add them to my twitter feed!

Our next visit was to the lovely town of Tilting which is primarily an Irish settlement. Lots of evidence to support this with shamrocks and Irish flags on display.

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