The Adventures of Myron and Dorcas: Channel-Port aux Basque and Doyles Newfoundland

We completed our 7-hour ferry passage from North Sydney NS to Channel-Port aux Basque about 6:30 NT (Newfoundland Time). We arrived at Grand Codroy RV-Tent Camping Park in Doyles NL about 30 minutes later. Due to the late arrival time and the lack of convenient restaurants along the way, our hosts prepared heavy hors-d'oeuvres so we wouldn't all starve.

CRAP! It started as a pinhole cinder burn about 4 years ago.

The morning after arriving in Newfoundland we boarded a bus to tour Channel-Port aux Basque and the Grand Codroy Valley.

Twas a dreary day

Not a good look for any motorcoach

The Precious Blood Church is a timber frame church constructed in 1912 in the community of St. Andrew's, a farming community situated at the mouth of the Little Codroy River.

Precious Blood Church

Our caravan group

They let anyone drive in Newfoundland

We made a stop at the "My Dear Minnie” Museum of Heritage & Culture. Opened in 2021, “My Dear Minnie” Museum of Heritage & Culture is located in the former family home of the late Minnie & Richard White. Known as Newfoundland’s First Lady of the Accordion, Minnie White was a musical icon whose legacy is known provincially and beyond.

Painted rock snake: non-venomous

Minnie White

Minnie White was awarded the Order of Canada in 1993. In 1994 she was inducted into the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council Hall of Honour, and in 1995 nominated for Instrumental Artist of the Year at the East Coast Music Awards. During the summer of 1998 the community of Upper Ferry declared "Minnie White Day" in her honour. White continued performing at festivals and special events until her death in 2002.

A button accordion is a type of accordion on which the melody-side keyboard consists of a series of buttons. This differs from the piano accordion, which has piano-style keys. The button accordion is a primary melodic instrument in traditional Newfoundland music.

Button accordion

Auto knitter machine

Minnie White's Order of Canada medal

Winter travel necessities

A particularly scenic stop was at Rose Blanche-Harbour le Cou, where we visited Rose Blanche Lighthouse. Built 1871-73 with stone from a nearby granite quarry the Rose Blanche lighthouse was in operation from 1873 to the 1940s. After it was abandoned in the 1940s the building fell into ruins. The spiral stone staircase extends into the tower wall and kept the tower from collapsing while the remainder of the lighthouse fell to ruin. In 1999 the lighthouse was fully reconstructed and now serves as a tourist attraction.

James Delaney Buffett was born in Rose Blanche. He was the grandfather of singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett. He was a sailor and had a great influence on Jimmy Buffett’s life, who wrote the song The Captain and the Kid as a tribute to his grandfather.

The most scenic outhouse in the world

Newfoundlanders love their Adirondack chairs

Rose Blanche as seen on a rare clear day. (Photo from newfoundlandlabrador.com)

Fiddleheads are served deep fried. A Newfoundland delicacy

On the way back to camp we stopped at the local mall in Channel-Port aux Basque for dinner and some light shopping.

Only the necessities

After our bus tour we were treated to traditional Newfoundland music. And of course we were "screeched in". A "Screech-In" is a unique Newfoundland tradition that welcomes visitors to the province and inducting them as honorary Newfoundlanders. The ceremony involves reciting a few traditional sayings, kissing a cod, and taking a shot of Screech rum, which happens to be made in, and imported from, Jamaica. I only kissed one cod, but I had multiple shots of Screech rum.

From THE CANADIAN ENCYCLOPEDIA:

Screech is a type of rum popular in Newfoundland and Labrador. It was originally a Demerara rum (a type of rum made in Guyana in South America) that was imported to Newfoundland as part of the triangular trade that sent salted codfish down to the British West Indies to help feed the slaves in the Caribbean and Americas.

Rum has always been popular in Newfoundland. In the early 19th century, when the small British Dominion had approximately 20,000 inhabitants, import statistics estimated that 371,000 gallons of rum and spirits were imported from the British West Indies, and an additional 443,000 gallons from other sources. Indeed, the history of Newfoundland has been described as "a long battle between rum and religion." Now, screech is Jamaican rum, bottled in Newfoundland and Labrador. It is amber brown in colour, 40 per cent alcohol by volume, with a spicy nose of brown sugar and vanilla.

The name screech is a bit of a mystery, though the term itself comes from “screigh” in Scottish dialect. According to local legend, the name came from an American serviceman. The story goes that the soldier was at a bar and asked for a shot of rum. Upon consumption, he howled at the flavour's strong bite. A superior officer asked what the noise was, to which a local Newfoundlander responded, "The screech? T'is the rum me son." However, this is almost certainly mere fabrication. Some assert that screech was a general term for rum used around Newfoundland. Someone might enter a bar and ask, "What's the screech?" In either case, the actual etymology of screech is still unconfirmed. The Dictionary of Newfoundland English is only willing to go back as far as 1957 for its usage in reference to rum, which was when the Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corporation (NLC) started bottling it with the name. Nevertheless, it is well-established that the name goes back to at least the 1940s, which was where the NLC got the idea.

The 1940s was a time of great upheaval for Newfoundland. During the Second World War, Britain gave the American and the Canadian military the authority to set up army bases. The island was flooded with American and Canadian service personnel. Newfoundland's population was increased by 10 per cent. The economic windfall was significant, along with the influx of 20th-century technology, such as cinemas and modern vehicles; up until this time, Newfoundland was still very much isolated from the rest of North America. However, many Newfoundlanders felt these new come from aways or "CFAs" looked down upon their old traditions and way of life. Likewise, it was at this time that the term Newfie came into usage. This collision with the outside, modern world was a fertile ground for a new initiation ritual to germinate.