August, 1969

In the summer of 1969 the family vacation became a somewhat fractured affair. My grandparents were about to leave and return to their home. They had retired to a small fishing village about a day’s travel – either by boat or by rough road – away. The entire coast line was dotted with similar small villages some with no more than a 100 people living in them. The province had set up a steamer line that went up and down the coast stopping at almost every little inlet and town and for decades this was the easiest and certainly more picturesque way of getting from town to town. And although the boat had long since become diesel powered, everyone still called them steamers. This year, my grandparents, perhaps sensing a little tension between my parents, thought it would be a good idea to give them some time alone and offered to bring most of the kids with them back to their . My oldest sister, Sharon, opted to go camping with her friends at beach that was popular in the area. My youngest brother Matthew was still too young for travel and stayed with my parents. My older sisters Debrah and Mary, my older brother Benjamin and myself got to go for the 24 hour steamer ride to my grandparents retirement nest in the tiny fishing village of Bay Roche.

For the boat trip my grandparents booked a berth so that we had a place to sleep but being summer almost everyone was up on deck enjoying the warm weather and rugged coastal scenery. The steamer, on its route, stuck close to the shoreline. It was said that the skippers of these ships were so inept that clinging close to the shoreline was the only manner in which they could find their way. It was an iniquitous joke as no one could actually recall there being a steamer accident in the history of the line. The deck of the steamer had fore and aft areas for passengers to sit and enjoy the weather with each area made accessible by a narrow gangway that ran up and down either side of the ship. The gunwale of the boat was made of high solid steel: solid to keep small passengers from going through and high to keep larger passengers from going over. Even in rough weather these passenger ships felt quite safe.

My grandmother, fearing that I might run off and overboard, had strapped me like a pet into a harness attached to a leash. With me safely tethered to her hand, all the kids and grandparents sat up on deck to watch the rocky shoreline drift past. The coastline looked as if the very edge of the earth had broken off and fallen into the sea. From shear 150 meter rock cliffs, steep valley inlets and fjords to rough beaches formed where inland lakes had forced rivers that snaked their way through the bogs and marshes and broke free into the ocean. The journey was a geological marvel. I would make this same trip many times later in life and never tired of the view.

August in Bay Roche, we would all discover, was a trip 100 years back in time.

Number 1 hit from August, 1969
In the year 2525 by Zager & Evans