Fogo Island is our final destination on this road trip. It took over 4 hours to drive from Bonavista to Farewell where we took the car ferry to Fogo Island. It was just a 45 minute ride on the ferry and then we landed in Stag Harbour on the southwest tip of the island. I was surprised at how big the island is when we drove through it on our last day. We managed to visit almost all of the 11 distinct communities on the island (we missed Barr'd Islands).
The largest offshore island of Newfoundland and Labrador, Fogo Island has a rich outport heritage. Its most renowned asset is the Fogo Island Inn, a 29 room architectural landmark, a social enterprise owned by Shorefast, a registered nonprofit. It supposedly reinvests 100% of its operating surpluses back into the community. We had the good fortune of staying one night at the Inn courtesy of my roommates' offsprings - an early birthday gift. Fogo Island Inn holds Three Michelin keys, the highest distinction awarded by Michelin. Please check my food blog Foodsparks for menus and photos of the three meals we had at the Inn.
The Inn is in the town called Joe Batt's Arm, the largest community on the island. The rest of the time we stayed in the Fogo community. My friend's daughter opened the only bakery on Fogo Island, Loaf Land, with naturally leavened sour dough bread and flaky scones to die for. The Bakery is in Shoal Bay, not far from the Fogo Island Inn at Joe Batt's Arm.
Another feature on Fogo Island is Fogo Island Arts which offers an artist residency program at the four studios on the island. We visited all four studios, all designed by Todd Saunders, the same architect who designed the Inn. All the studios are located in remote areas requiring a bit of a hike, some more than others. The one in Deep Bay required some clambering over a rocky trail but being able to see the destination at the top was good incentive.
There were many hiking trails on the island including the famous Brimstone Head Trail at the top of which is purportedly one of the four corners of the flat earth. Looking at the trail from below after a long day on the road was enough of a deterrent to discourage any attempt to achieve landing on one of the four corners of the earth, flat or otherwise!
We were lucky to have four mild sunny days on Fogo Island, totally unexpected as I had anticipated cold still in June in this northernmost part of Newfoundland.
 |
| Brimstone Head sticking out into the Atlantic - one of the four corners of the so-called "flat" earth |
 |
| The ferry to Fogo Island |
 |
Fogo is the second largest community on Fogo island
|
 |
|
This fancy mansion looked a little out of place in the community |
One of several churches in Fogo
|
 |
| Fogo at dusk |
 |
| Sunset over Fogo |
 |
| As part of the hotel package, we went on a guided hike along the shore in Tilting, one of the Fogo Island Communities. These coastal red rocks reminded me of the ones at Georgian Bay. |
 |
| A salt water pond |
 |
| A root cellar - we would have missed it if we were not with the guide |
 |
| The remnants of a bunker left behind from the war |
Snow crab pots. We had the best ever snow crab dinner at the Inn.
 |
| A boat out to pick up lobster traps |
 |
| Surprised to see a statue of the Virgin Mary in Tilting. Turns out Tilting is a mostly Irish community, which explains the Catholic presence. |
 |
Fishing stages or "flakes" in Tilting, these are in fact everywhere on Fogo Island, I have a collection of these iconic buildings historically used by fishermen to clean, split and salt codfish.
Panorama of Tilting - all the communities on the Island are built around a harbour |
The Squish Studio, one of the four artist's studio on the island
 |
| The iconic Fogo Island Inn, architect Todd Saunders |
 |
| From below |
 |
| From the back |
 |
| From inside |
Dining Room ceiling
 |
Sunset at the Inn |
 |
At blue hour
We did another short hike to visit the Long Studio in Joe Batt's Arm. There were some interesting rock formations along the way, including the remnants of a natural rock hide.
|
 |
| The aptly named Long Studio |
 |
| The entrance to the studio |
 |
| Another fishing stage in Joe Batt's Arm |
 |
| A new construct, rather out of sync with the rest of the houses in the community - Joe Batt's Arm |
 |
Loaf Land Bakery in Shoal Bay |
with its cozy hangout area
 |
Also in Shoal Bay is the Tower, another artist's studio
|
 |
| A bird's eye view of the Deep Bay community, the location of the 4th artist's studio - it was quite a climb to get up there. The Bridge Studio is that white speck you see at the top left in the photo below. |
 |
| The Bridge artist's studio - it's the only that's not on the ocean front |
 |
| Canada Day in Seldom, one of the communities on the south shore |
 |
| This fishing stage means business! |
 |
| The last sunset (Canada Day) - haze from the Quebec wildfires must have moved in. But it was a nice wrap up of our road trip. |
