Geared up

Everything is ready and waiting. Setting day, first day of the lobster season, was planned for April 29th but the wind was prohibitive. It continues to be. Now the earliest day is Thursday. Meanwhile the boats are tied up by the wharfs

and the traps stacked behind them, ready to be loaded on board.

My husband and I visited two ports. At Malpeque, the scene was consistent with other ports around Prince Edward Island. The traps, ropes, buoys and boats all show the work which goes into the preparation for the season. 

At French River, a smaller fleet of boats is tied up, waiting for traps to be loaded once the season is a go. 

While they are not deep, the boats are wide, able to hold dozens of traps, stacked on each other. 

The Knot Inarush and its gear are rearing to go.

On the hill overlooking French River, the scene stretches out before us.

The yellow fields are moments from green, as are the trees, waiting for nature to do her magic. The Knot Inarush is in the left of the photo. It doesn’t matter if we R Inarush for lobster. Nature is in charge.

Out of water

A beautiful sunny day drew us out of the house last week. We drove to Stanley Bridge on the north shore where a number of objects which are usually in the sea were prominent on shore. 

The marina at the Bridge has many floating docks where the boats tie up during the warmer seasons of the year. 

This day it was different.

Many of the floating docks were high and dry, stacked on top of each other in the parking lot. 

It is unusual to see what lies beneath a dock, but seaweed and mussels were visible on the pontoons.

On the opposite side of the parking lot, closer to the water, buoys of different sizes were ashore as well. They were brightly coloured and the largest ones dwarf the small shed nearby.

Next to the largest buoys, others of various sizes were piled together. All had mussels and seaweed below their water marks.

There isn’t much room for boat storage in this area but one boat was tucked in below the road. 

And as is often the case, lobster traps, some of the tools of the trade, were stored beside a shack. 

There was activity, as a few people worked in the fishing shacks. An open door gave a glimpse into the domain of the island fishers who are out of water too. However, spring is on the horizon!