Corner Brook – Laurie Apgar Chandler

The pace of life aboard ship accelerates on a port day. This morning I woke at seven. That would be the new 7:00, as we have moved our clocks ahead 1 hour and 1/2 hour the last two nights. Today I discovered that the Newfoundland Time Zone is only half an hour ahead of the Atlantic Time Zone, something I did not know happened anywhere.

Anyway, after the most refreshing night’s sleep yet, I swam for half an hour with the pool all to myself. Fortunately for me, there are few swimmers aboard, although I love the one older man in a Speedo who out swam me the other morning, going back and forth with a snorkel!

Then I was off on foot to explore Corner Brook, located on the Bay of Islands, which was first charted by none other than British explorer and cartographer James Cook. Today it is a pulp and paper mill town, so my nose felt right at home as I left port.

A replica of Cook’s naval uniform hangs in front of a model of the H.M.S. Endeavor in the Corner Brook Museum & Archives.

“Snowshoeing the horse for a winter log haul,” by artist Bond Penney, who began working in logging camps at age 16. There were also old photographs of small round horse snowshoes.

The cod fishing industry was the impetus behind Cook’s commission to chart the Newfoundland waters for the British Navy. Dried and salted cod were a valuable British export. Traditional fishing dories were painted yellow or orange above for visibility in the often foggy weather and green to hide them from below.

The extensive Corner Brook Stream Trail system took me by the historic Glynmill Inn (with nice free Wifi on their shady porch), past a pond with swans, and through an attractive birch and conifer forest. It made the perfect do-it-yourself shore excursion. So now I’m going off duty with reporting and will meander back to the ship just for fun. Talk soon!