Newfoundland - On the Shores of Canada's Most Spectacular Coast | Free Documentary Nature

Newfoundland. That sounds rough and cold. But in summer, it's surprisingly colourful and inviting. I've seen beautiful places, but nothing as beautiful as this. The people here are fun-loving and show it. They always make you feel like you're at home. Anyone can become a Newfoundlander. All you have to do is kiss a dead codfish. Atlantic surf meets jagged coastline. This is typical for Newfoundland, the island in eastern Canada. In the province of Newfoundland and Labrador live just half a million people, on an area considerably larger than Germany. The Avalon Peninsula extends furthest into the Atlantic Ocean and is therefore the easternmost point of North America. Until summer, icebergs pass close to Avalon. They break off from the polar ice far to the north and drift south as they melt. One of them got in the way of the Titanic not far from here. The Titanic's SOS call reached Cape Reyes at the southern tip of Avalon on the 14th of April 1912. In such a wooden hut, the radio operator who received the call for help then forwarded it to boats near the then largest ship in the world. 712 people could be saved in this way. Almost 1,500 died. The original radio operator's hut no longer stands, but a plaque reminds us of the legendary radio. The Titanic sank about 300 nautical miles south of Cape Reyes into her eternal tomb on the seafloor. The Avalon Peninsula is also famous for its huge bird colonies, home to the largest population of puffins in North America, one of the favorite animals of Canadians. The chicks are fed by their parents for six weeks after hatching. Then they make their first flight down to the water. And from then on, they are fully fledged. The problem? Some first flights are misleading and the chicks land on the coastal road, especially at night, always in early August. A rescue team is meeting in a garage in Whitler's Bay. So if you catch a bird, it's important to capture it by holding the wings like this because the bird's going to try to fly away. So hold them with both wings and place them in a box. Sabine Wilhelm is a biologist and practices with her daughters. The Puffin Patrol was founded by a German, Jürgen Schau, former German head of a Hollywood studio. And then we put the light. Give me, please, the thing. Put the light and say, Hello, cutie, everything is fine with you. Yeah! We have him. Hold him. So what we're doing then, therefore you need the gloves. Just hold it a little bit with your hand. Sometimes you need someone from the outside to realize, you know what, something's wrong. There shouldn't be all these little dead puffins on the road. And so their role was really amazing that they recognize a problem, they research, they figure out what to do, and then they got the community involved. So he's now safe, and he's not quiet at the moment. He's still picky, picky, picky. So you say something, Hello, my little bird, everything is fine, you're going to be all right. Of course we know there are hundreds of thousands of birds out there, but as in any society, including humans, there are always some who are a little late or do not make it immediately. We have to give them a little help, and that is what we do. From now on I call you Puffin Patrol. Bring a lot of good safe birds home. From now on I call you Puffin Patrol. You are great and do a good job, and bring the birds home. Thank you so much. They're only one part of the Puffin Patrol, the rookies. In all, there are dozens of volunteers out tonight. We're going to actually drive to the next community down in Torse Cove, and there's a hotel there that has a lot of lights, and we often find puffins there. We'll just keep an eye out as we drive along the road as well, because you never know where they're going to pop up. Already after a few minutes, something noticeable at the roadside. It's just seaweed and a stick. Seaweed and a stick. Look at that puffin. At Ferryland Lighthouse, lemons play an important role for Jill Curran. Jill's grandfather was the last lighthouse keeper of Ferryland. When the lighthouse was no longer needed, it fell into disrepair. In 2002, Jill quit her job in the oil industry, renovated the building and misused the inventory. According to this list, I've got eight flags. I'm going to give you that back, because that last group just came in. She's now welcoming guests for a very special picnic, where the signal flags of the past are used again. You take this flag and you put it in the ground next to you, and that's how the servers will find you. Just don't go too far. Originally, we used to just send people out for picnics, and we'd have a person wearing a red shirt, you know, someone wearing a white jacket, and it just got really kind of crazy, and people would run back in and go, oh, I had a green jacket on, but now I took it off, and I'm wearing a blue shirt. So we came up with the signal flag idea, so all these signal flags would have been original signal flags that were used at this lighthouse. The complicated system is important, as the hill is huge. Dozens come every day, not least because of the homemade laminate. There's a mix of six lemons to two oranges, and we mix it with, like, sugar and butter. Don't give her a drink! That's our signature drink, Olivia! Sorry, I thought that was all. No! No. It does show that the oranges do cause the tartness in it, so that's our secret, isn't it? Yes. We're not allowed to give out measurements or anything. No. Not only the laminate is homemade, every single picnic ingredient is freshly baked or cooked at the lighthouse. Jill has thus created 12 jobs. Only women of all ages work here full-time from May to October. Barb started out as a customer as well. She said one day, if you ever need a hand, let me know. That was how many years ago? 15. 15 years ago, and she can't get out of her now. We're not letting her go. Around half past 11, the first hungry people arrive. But for the ladies of the lighthouse, it's lunchtime now. The obligatory break. Every noon before the lighthouse picnic starts at 12. And you can learn anything from how to turn a heel, how to make jam. What are our topics? Bed emojis. Change of life! It's a fun time before the madness ensues. Topics for three generations. From 17 to 70-plus, we have a lot of fun every day. I think that's kind of the secret to why I think our business has been successful. And has been for 17 years. There will be plenty going on again today in Fairyland. The provincial capital, St. John's, has a good 100,000 inhabitants, almost half of the population of Avalon. St. John's is known for its colourful wooden houses, built close to the steep streets. In recent years, a few gentlemen with long beards have also become local celebrities. Hassan Hayi and his friends are known by practically everyone in Newfoundland. Hassan invented the calendar of the Murbies. Male mermaids who want to do away with the common ideas of masculinity. Over here we have Mark, who's getting his hair cut next to me, actually. Having a great time. And you know what? He's not one to normally wear a tail in public, and he did it. And here, so we have Philip and we have Taylor. Taylor is a trans man, and so again, he embraces his masculinity, but it's a different version of that that traditionally people wouldn't normally have embraced or have considered to be a real man, and he absolutely is. Five years ago, Hassan had the idea for the cult calendar. In the rough male world of Newfoundland, with many fishermen and oil workers, he had met some who were not able to cope with their role as husband, father and partner, who were unable to express their feelings or show weaknesses. And so he founded the Club of Beards. The last time I saw my face was five years ago. The intention of the club is breaking down a lot of harmful masculine stereotypes, what masculinity is supposed to look like, what men are supposed to look like, that they should be big, muscular, bearded guys, the alpha male, when in fact men and masculinity can look in many different ways. Just because someone wears a beard and they're a little bit bigger doesn't mean they're necessarily mean or kind of grumpy. For us to get out and wear mermaid tails on the beach, it breaks that down for sure. Hassan doesn't have much time. For the production of the next calendar, a photo shooting is scheduled. In the lighthouse of Ferryland, the women's team is now challenged. Dozens of picnic baskets have to go out, sandwiched either with roast beef or chicken salad, cake and, of course, the homemade lemonade. The search system with the signal flags is worth its weight in gold, even when fog is rolling in. And that happens here sometimes within minutes. If you want to eat at the lighthouse, you should be weatherproof. Even in midsummer, the temperatures rarely rise above 20 degrees. For this, you are occasionally rewarded with a view of a whale. Humpback whales like these are usually the ones that cavort here. Did you have fun at your picnic? This lighthouse means really everything to me and I always thought growing up that it was the most beautiful place in the world. And then when I moved away and travelled everywhere I went, I still felt I'd seen beautiful places, but nothing as beautiful as this. And so I'm really happy all these years later to be back and giving people a reason to come and visit. Just a few miles away from Ferryland is a fishing village with special rules. The fishermen of Petty Harbour have imposed on themselves to use nets only at least three nautical miles away from the harbour to protect the fish stock at their doorstep. And something else is different at Petty Harbour. Every Sunday, Kim Oren and Leo Hearn teach young women here how to fish. That's rare in Canada. You're my co-pilot. A co-pilot is? Yeah. They drive when the captain falls off the ground. That's right. When he falls asleep and you're a co-pilot. He takes over. I save the day. He saves the day. So what we need to do is develop our knowledge enough so that we can kick him out of the boat, right? Right now, he has knowledge of the fishing grounds that virtually is 200 years worth of knowledge passed down from father to son, father to son. And they never taught the women. Leo's helping us. And so until we get the knowledge of the fishing spots, we usually let Leo drive just to keep him happy. Yeah. He's like standing up. That's the way. So there's a party going to hit over here. Jan, you want to come up? Within the three-mile zone of Petty Harbour, fishing is allowed only with hand lines. And then you're just going to hold it still. Kim explains the technology. Leo's just supposed to be in charge. He's not exactly in control of his hunting instincts, though. Move back, move back, move back, Kimberly, move back. Kimberly, move back, move back, Kimberly, move back. God, Jesus, Jesus. He's all right. He's this big. Like, ****. Yeah. No. I've seen it. You've never seen nothing. The young women are neighbours of Leo and Kim who want to learn the fishing trade. Rebecca Nolan has been with them the longest. You did it! You just yank him. You want to do the other side? Just yank him right there? Yeah. Yank it. Perfect. Awesome. So it just means he bleeds out faster, and so it dies quicker, and the meat moves better. I like that now that I've learned enough that I can be teaching other people, and I like that I can pass it on to another girl. I think girls think differently about the ocean and about fish. Jen's just laughing at Leo making faces. I think girls think differently about the oceans and fish, and I don't know. We have a lot of issues in the fishery right now over fishing, and we've got microplastics and climate change and all that things, and I don't know. Maybe we just need people who are thinking differently. Leo! You're stepping out! Leo! What? Get off the line! Now, Leo, move your foot, Leo! Actually, Leo's on her side. The old fellas didn't want him out on the boat because he would have seen, like... Because they'd know we were having too much fun. Yeah, well, they'd know it was easy, right? Not easy. It was hard work on the water. But on shoreline, the women looked after all the children. They met the fish. They cooked the meals. They lugged water from the well, because there was no running water. They'd do all this work. While you guys were out here having fun. When I was a kid growing up here, I was told that girls didn't belong in boats. So that made me... That reminded me. We all belong in a boat. Fishing, of course, includes gutting. So I usually start with the head facing right. And then you cut behind the fin, and you kind of go in an upward motion, right behind and around there. How you can kind of hear it as a guide. You can pull. It's OK. You can eat that? In Witless Bay, the search for stray puffins continues. It's the second night of the season. They haven't found a puffin yet. Do you want to pick him up? You have gloves on. There's something moving. The young puffin can then be caught surprisingly easily. His eyes are not yet properly trained. The biggest value as a biologist that I see is that not necessarily rescuing, but creating awareness and being more respectful with nature. So I think it all ties in together. But it starts with one single puffin. Their real destination? This hotel complex, brightly lit. And the young puffin has lost its way here. It flew three miles across the sea to the light instead of diving. So these lights out here, there's no reason why they need to be on personally. But we can't enforce it. We can only really encourage people to do it. After all, two puffins are now being put back where they belong. Along the coast of Newfoundland, there are countless small bays and fjords where the inhabitants lived from fishing for centuries, even when there were no motorboats. In places like Winterton, for example, people rode out to the open sea. The typical boats of Newfoundland are the Dorys, with flat bottom, and the Rottneys. In this garage in Winterton, someone knows everything about these boats. Jerome Canning is teaching a family from Florida how to build a boat with their hands. Den Barter and his two daughters, Faith and Jessie, want to trace their roots by building such a boat. Their ancestors lived here in Newfoundland. What I want to do is reproduce history. He took me out as my grandfather. When I become a grandfather, I want to take out my grandchild in the boat that we built here. So I just remember that's one of my earliest memories here in Newfoundland, is that he came and took me out to jig some cod. Okay, what we're really always doing is just what Dan did. We're feel and look, no measuring tape, so we can avoid the measuring tape as much as we can. So we rely on our other senses, our eyes, our feel, okay, everything. I came into boat building because of my father. He went back fishing, and I went fishing with him. And he said to me, you can't stay at fishing, Jerome, because there's too many, because my two brothers also came with me. And when they said, our boat is too small, we need another boat, I said, I'll build one. Jerome had 11 siblings in all. He has been building boats for 40 years. We're going to put a clamp on the right here, okay? Can we take this? I'm going to mark it. Take that clamp. It is incredibly difficult to find these pieces here. Okay, so what we do, we laminate. This one is glued to that one, which is glued to this one, which is glued, and so on, ten of them. They're pressed in a jig, and that will give them shape. In the past, these bent timbers had to be laboriously sought in the forests of Newfoundland. This is a knee we cut a number of years ago. So that would sit, this would be anchored into the ground, and this would be coming up into the trunk. Where to find such a piece of wood, the barters will learn. Near St. John's, a photo shoot for the next calendar of the Murby's, the male mermaids, is pending. The August model is Matthew Cooper, a huge guy, father of two sons, and many misjudge him. I'm a really big dude, and growing up downtown St. John's, there was a lot of people who were like, you're really tall, so I'm going to kick the crap out of you because you're a fighter. And I'm like, no, I'm not, I'm a little boy. I want to go home and play with my Lego. So the idea of taking back masculinity is huge. Especially taking the toughness and the violence out of masculinity I think is amazing. I hate the idea of a real man. That's such a stupid thing. With the costumes and poses the Murby's want to show, that men also have vulnerable and emotional sides. Matthew, you're so beautiful. And you know it. You know it too. You're coy. You look at the camera. You know how beautiful you are. Good. Not taking manhood so seriously makes life easier. The stereotypes of what masculinity has been like result in men being unable to process emotion and being unable to deal with the stresses of life and family and work situations. The August photo is in the box. Now the final motifs have to be determined. In Winterton, they are looking for the right tree to provide a boat rib. Jerome, the boat builder, gets to help himself to a friend's rib in the forest. That knee in behind is the good one. We're going to have to clear it. We're going to have to fall it this way. Jerome wants to show his customers every step of traditional boat building. This is the one we're trying to get. This is the big moor that we like to have right here. Only those who actually carry a piece of wood from the forest may claim to have built a boat according to old father's custom. And that's what Dan Barter and his daughters want. The reason I keep coming back is because of the spirit of acceptance. There's a culture here that is just really warm and receptive, and they always make you feel like you're at home. And that's why I keep coming back, even though my grandfather has passed on. Okay, so we're going to cut here and here and here. If you imagine the chainsaw wasn't here, you know how difficult boat building really was in the past. 29, 30, 31, 32, 33. He's 33 years old. Faith? Same age as you, Faith. Same age as you. So that's appropriate for the boat, huh? You feel bad for taking down such a beautiful tree, but at the same time, to have that piece of wood live on forever in your boat and for people to enjoy for, you know, years and years to come. Okay, we're doing good. The boat building of the Barters takes three weeks, a special kind of annual holiday. Before the puffin patrol brings the puffins back to the water, they have to weigh the birds for scientific evaluation. The weight? 300? How much? 355. Wow. Minus 30, so 325. 325? 325. 325 grams, that's massive. Let me see how it looks. Yes. Where did you get all the feeding? Oh, big boy. Oh, girl. Hey, you biggie one. Soon you will be in the water, yay. We just put a little rock in the water, but the weights are so high, and now we do have such great help, and I think it's now in good hands, and time for me myself to say, goodbye, my darling, I did my job, now the young people should do this, right? Yay. 17 puffins were picked up by the puffin patrol last night. In total, several hundred birds are saved every August. Now the helpers are taking them to the place where they started their flight last night, to Gull Island. Gull Island, they call it for a reason. But the gulls have to share the island. They live mainly in the steep cliffs. So these grassy slopes here are all puffin burrows. The puffins need the steep slopes to take off. They cannot take off in flat terrain. This is where it gets exciting. And dangerous for the young puffins. If they don't dive fast, they'll be easy prey for the gulls. The great blackback gulls definitely prey, they like to take opportunity to prey on larger chicks, especially these nicely fat puffin chicks, it's certainly a preferred prey item. Puffins are born to dive, less to fly. The first dive of their life is coming up. They have to go down, or they'll be eaten. That's it. Underwater, they're fast and manoeuvrable. That's where they should have been yesterday, instead of on the coast road. This is the first time that they've actually landed in water, going, OK, this is where I'm supposed to be, I know what to do now. Whereas when we go look for them at the street, they look really confused, they're like, what am I doing here, I don't know what to do, I can't dive. So absolutely, this is where they want to be. It's a holiday in New Purlican. So Alec, I'd like for you and Jordan to christen these boats, if you wouldn't mind, if you'd be so kind. There you go. Let's hear it for Jerome Canning. He built the boats. You've done a fantastic job with these boats, and your dedication to your job, and how particular you are to the shows and your work. So again, we'd like to thank you for the beautiful job you've done on these boats. The community of New Purlican wanted new dories because no-one else participated in the annual regatta. The old boats were just too hard to steer. This is the first time I've ever built a dory, and we're building quite a few over the years, that we put a rudder on it and a keel. Paul said that he wanted to make sure an inexperienced rower could keep a straight line when rowing. So the keel and the rudder aid that straight line, and the rudder aids to turning at the board. The new boats are a great success, with villagers putting their oars to each other all day long. Thirteen teams. That hasn't been seen in years. In the women's competition, the youngest ones win. The girls are only 14 and 15, and the whole village is having fun, thanks to Jerome Canning's new boats. On the outskirts of St John's, the final photo selection for the Murby calendar is pending. Hassan and his art director Courtney Wells have to make some tricky decisions. Awesome. Ready to dive in? Yes, let's get this thing finished. So, here's the cover with all the edited images. I don't know if you can see. Yeah, so I keep going back and forth on this one. One series was shot at the picnic at the lighthouse. Courtney is unsure whether she wants to see laminate or tea in the hands of the mermen. I think the teacups just add that little something. I think seeing the teacups really adds a layer, or a dimension, I guess, of sensitivity. The choice is not without its price, as the calendars are extremely popular in Newfoundland. Last year, more than $200,000 were collected and donated to an association to combat domestic violence. It's actually incredible. I think it started when we first did the calendar. It was just like the thumbs up or thumbs down, we liked the photos. As we've had a different calibre of photographer, so we have better quality photos to choose from. With three calendars in, you start getting an eye for what is a good photo, what people are really going to respond to, and just ultimately what is beautiful, what's a beautiful image. With the photos of Matthew and the riverbed, the two of them have a particularly hard time. Oh, that tail is so beautiful. I know, it's wild. I actually quite enjoyed this one as well. This one is great. Let's cycle through a couple of them there. They're so good! This was a great shoot. What month is it, August? Can we just extend August and have multiple pages? Who needs September or October? No one likes those months anyway. I like this one. OK, so we're locked into that one. When the sun sets before Newfoundland, it's time for rituals. This includes the kitchen party, and one thing is not to be missed. The ugly stick. At the top, a fantasy head. Then a bunch of crown caps. And below, necessarily, the rubber boot, a musical instrument that only exists here. It's a lot of fun, and it's enjoyed a lot in a lot of houses when you go visiting. This one was made out of a mop. They used glasses, a pipe, which the pipe, when I play, I usually put my fingers through here. That way my hand don't slip down the stick. Well, the real question is, how long did it take you to do this, and how much consumption does it require? Rubbing was like this. Dan could do with a few more lessons on the ugly stick. Pretty ugly, wasn't it? But the highlight of the evening is still coming up. Edgar, Dan's son-in-law, has never been to Newfoundland, and is therefore being naturalized tonight. Kiss the cod. Whoever kisses the dead cod is declared a Newfoundlander, but only if he also drinks Jamaica rum of the worst kind in one go. I got a cup here. And they call it screech, because every time you drink it, you drink a drink of it, the screeches will come out of it like that, right? It's so bad, yeah. But now this is properly distilled. You're going to have a wimp shot, an average shot, or a newfie shot. So Edgar, newfie shot. Edgar Gomez takes the newfie swallow and becomes a Newfoundlander. An island that makes it easy for strangers to belong.