Petty Harbour gearing up for summer as attractions reopen for Ocean Week
Despite some rain, drizzle and fog, Saturday saw the unofficial beginning of summer in Petty Harbour with some Ocean Week events.
"This is our big splash to open back up," said Kiley Best, the chair of the board of the Petty Harbour Mini Aquarium.
In celebration of Ocean Week, an annual national celebration, the aquarium reopened for the season with a host of festivities — including the unveiling of the aquarium's new virtual reality attraction.
"It's really, really cool," said Best.
"You get to feel like you're underwater and also on the back of a boat in Petty Harbour. And you can see things eating, things moving. It's as if you're underwater, like a diver."
Visitors wear a VR headset to virtually dive into the frigid Atlantic waters just outside the aquarium doors. Within seconds, the viewer is exploring an underwater terrain filled with lobsters, sea urchins and anemone, among other mysterious creatures of the deep.
"It makes it accessible to people who actually don't go underwater," said Best.
However, guests can also take off the headset and see the underwater critters in the flesh.
"We collect animals from local areas here in Newfoundland and we put them in the tanks for the summer," said Best.
"We give them the exact habitat and conditions that they need to thrive and we take care of them. We feed them very well and we use them for educational purposes."
When the summer's over, the fish are then released back into the ocean. Best said there are also plans to soon expand the aquarium.
In honour of Ocean Week, Steven Lee, an interpreter at the aquarium, was offering squid dissection demonstrations.
"We talk about how many legs squid have, their core functions, how they move and cool facts on eating, changing colour, as well as microplastic pollution and any other harmful impacts of the ocean," he said.
Lee said he loves his job.
"I've always had a passion for marine life and protection," he said.
"And the catch and release facility that we have here is really amazing."
Teaching traditional skills
On the other side of the harbour, while businesses like Chafes' Landing and Tinker's Ice Cream Shop were reopening for the season, Fishing for Success at Island Rooms was holding an open house for Ocean Week.
"We're working to transmit the traditional small scale fishery of Newfoundland and Labrador," said Kimberly Orren, the executive director of Fishing for Success. The organization is a non-profit social enterprise which seeks to keep preserve traditional cultural knowledge and offers fishing experiences in the summer.
"Families come here to learn traditional skills," Orren said.
"And once you finish learning the the traditional skill, you have something to keep and take home which is really cool for visitors."
For the Ocean Week open house, Orren had a number of activities planned, including projects that reuse old fishing rope.
"We've got some rope weaving where you can create a withe, a wit, or a weft, or something else depending on where you were knit in Newfoundland and Labrador," said Orren, describing the province's many names for a round band of rope traditionally used for boat rowing.
"It's a little ring of rope that you can make it bracelet sized or big enough to start your own ring toss game."
Other activities included a touton making lesson, an antique foghorn demonstration and tours of the Fishing for Success facilities where traditional techniques are being used to dry wood, build sheds and repair dories.
"It's a great thing to recognize what the ocean means to us and how we need to work to protect it," said Orren.
Meghan Young has been a heritage interpreter with Fishing for Success for about eight years. She said the organization has a beautiful message.
"It's important for young people to be aware of their surroundings and be aware of where they come from and that there's different things that you can do in the world, knowing about your heritage."
For this summer, Young is looking forward to working with kids.
"It's really fun to see how their minds work and watch them have little awakenings to certain things and be inspired by nature."
As for Orren, she enjoys finding unexpected connections with tourists from far flung locales around the world.
"People from anywhere who come to visit us, they have some kind of family story about fishing, whether it's simply recipes or things that nans and pops did. So, right away we can get into shared conversations. And it's wonderful for us too because we get to travel the world without even leaving Petty Harbour."
