Fishermen

Today was a bit brisk in the morning.  Although it was about 6C it was very damp from the lake.  Charlie and I did some walking today and checked out this fishing town.  I went to the library to borrow Wi-Fi and post the blog and ended up just sitting and reading other blogs in the quiet warm surroundings. 

When I headed home I noticed some of the fishing boats returning.  They are bringing back perch and pickerel to be loaded on trucks and shipped away. In the summer I think they do a lot of local sales as well.

I took a movie so I’m going to see if it will work here.

I didn’t see them off load any fish because the guys all went for dinner I so just have pictures of the boats tied up.

Back door open 

I even saw a boat named after my friend Carole Ann. Carole Ann loves boats, but the big cruise types most of all.

Some of the boat have their moorings farther down the canal, and to get there the drawbridge on the main street has to be lifted for them to go through.

When I went down town I saw the tourist train they have parked at the Port Stanley Station.  It takes tourists for a ride up to St. Thomas and back in the summer months.

Right beside where we are parked is a site of an old coal and fuel offload site from the prewar days when ships delivered lots of stuff here to be shipped to London etc.  The whole harbour was apparently a buzz of activity and the Port prospered.  Now all the ships have left and Port Stanley is left with a bit of a mess to clean up.  The Federal Government is throwing lots of money at this area in an attempt to take it back to nature.  The smell of fuel is quite noticeable from the pile of excavated contaminated material they are hauling away to special storage sites.  It is good to see that the General Contractor from Toronto has hired some 

The same gentleman also pointed out something interesting that he has observed here in his home town.  The economy of this area up to now is the tourist trade.  Businesses in town are noticing a trend away from the paying tourist.   Foreign tourists today have a different lifestyle which sees them not spending their money on food and souvenirs and fuel.  They tend to bring their own lunch and supper and drinks, and are not prone to buying souvenirs but are satisfied with pictures.  All of this is great, however it does not add to the local economy.  So now the local community is left with cleaning up after them with no money going in the coffers.   He is concerned that the local taxes have been rising in the last while and he wonders how much they can take before they put up a gate and say locals only.  We hope not.

Charlie and I took a walk on the breakwater out to the light house at the end.  The boardwalk is a lovely new structure which opened in 2015.  (Its actually the wall we spoke of yesterday).

When I got to the end I took a picture looking back to where we are parked.  Although you can’t see the motor home from this angle it is parked on the right side of the island in the middle of the picture.

Here is our picture window view for one more night.