While we were staying in Port Rexton, we took a day to visit Cape Bonavista. We looped up through Elliston, with its root cellars and colony of bustling puffins, and past the more-scary-in-name-than reality “Dungeon” rock formation, learning the meaning of a geological “gloup” in the process.

Then we stopped right at the tip of the Cape at the lighthouse, before heading into the town of Bonavista itself. The supposed landing spot for Giovanni (John) Caboto in 1497 (“O Boun Vista”, “oh happy sight”), it’s managed to retain a bit of a working cod fishery, with trawlers active in the bay. After waiting a couple of hours to let the wind and waves die down, we went out ourselves for a more modest fishing expedition, using traditional jigging without any poles.

There’s a limit of 15 cod fish per boat for personal catches, and we got there easily, with some super-impressive specimens amongst them. After filleting, we had more than 35 pounds of cod that we were able to share amongst the various family who hosted us (repaying Newfoundland hospitality with Newfoundland’s most famous product).