Nothing says that you are at the
ocean like beautiful lighthouses and yummy seafood, so we decided to talk about
both in this last post from PEI.
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| Even though we used this photo in an earlier post, it is so perfectly PEI that we just had to use it again... |
There are 63 lighthouses and
rangelight buildings in PEI, of which about 37 are still active. The Province calculates that to be a density
of one lighthouse for every 34 square miles, the highest concentration of lighthouses
in North America. They are everywhere,
in potato fields, in community parks and at the furthest reaches of the island. We saw about 7 lighthouses and were only able
to climb up in one of them.
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| North Cape Lighthouse |
The lighthouse on North Cape is
still a working lighthouse and is not open to the public. This treacherous cape has a 1.5 mile rock
reef, the longest rock reef in North America. Even though we could not climb
it, we were able to admire the structure and take pictures.
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| Tignish Run Lighthouse |
A little ways South, the decommissioned
Tignish Run Lighthouse has been moved from its original “working” location to the
tiny seaside community of Tignish Shore, where it is the centerpiece of a
community oceanside park.
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| Malpeque Outer Rangelight
(Back) - the one in the potato field |
The Malpeque Outer Rangelight
(Back) is located in a potato field. It’s
(Front) partner is located on private property directly on the coast. Mariners would line up these two lights or
structures (in daytime) in order to locate the mouth of
Malpeque Bay. This structure is near the
entrance to our campground.
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| West Point Lighthouse |
We were able to climb up the West
Point lighthouse, which is still working.
At 67 feet 8 inches, it is taller than the other lighthouses that we
saw. The view from the top was
spectacular. It is located in a Provincial
Park and the lighthouse keepers quarters have been turned into guest rooms, as part
of a small hotel that was added to the structure. Wouldn’t that be a fun place to stay?
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| Under these buoys are suspended "socks" full of growing mussels |
Aquaculture is very big in
PEI. Every bay and estuary has oyster
cages or mussel structures, growing the seafood for which they are famous. The food we know as PEI Mussels are called
Blue Mussels on PEI. In the Spring,
mussel farmers hang bits of rope in the water of the protected and shallow
bays. The adult mussels “spat” and the
microscopic spat stick to what ever they touch first, like rope. They grow, and when they are about a half
inch long, they are stripped from the rope and put into long mesh tubes called
socks (think about the plastic net bags your oranges might come in), and
suspended from horizontal lines supported on the surface with buoys. The mussels grow through the openings in the
mesh and grow on the outside of the socks into the large loveliness that might
make its way to your table.
Interestingly, the whole process takes 12-18 months, and the mussels are
not harvested until a wholesaler has purchased them. They are harvested year-round, even in the
winter when the ice is cut with chain saws.
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| Malpeque Oyster cages |
Malpeque Oysters were originally
found in Malpeque Bay but are now grown in aquaculture cages all around the island. They are an interesting animal. They became almost extinct from a cancer, but
somehow, without intervention from humans, were able to conquer the cancer. The population is now cancer free and being
studied by scientists.
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| Lobster pots |
Lobsters are harvested in the
Gulf of St. Lawrence (to the North of the island) May- June 30 and in the Northumberland
Strait (to the South of the island) August – October. This allows the different populations to
recover from the fishing. We observed
the fisher folk collecting their lobster traps on June 30, and then saw the
traps neatly stacked on the wharf waiting until next season.
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| Yup, that is our tiny stove, cooking a yummy meal... |
With this great abundance of
seafood, we had many delicious, salty meals.
Mussels are so inexpensive, that they were included in one salad bar as “all
you can eat” and were served at a social event at the campground for $5/an
overflowing plate.
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| Ta da |
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