Saint Pierre and Michelon

A fun thing to do while in Newfoundland is take a short ferry ride to France. Saint Pierre and Michelon sit 25 kilometres off the tip of the Burin Peninsula. The only pieces of France remaining in North America, the islands are desribed as a self-governing overseas territorial collectivity of France.

You can fly to St. Pierre from St. John’s, Newfoundland (or Halifax or Montreal), but we chose the ferry from Fortune, Newfoundland. Though the ferry does take a few vehicles, it is difficult (and unnecessary) as a non-resident to take your car to the islands. The town of Fortune is set up well for passengers to leave their cars safely and walk onto the ferry.

We checked in at passport control, went next door to pay for parking, and were escorted to the parking field. The escort vehicle took us and our bags down to the ferry terminal where we passed by an immigration desk. Once checked in, we had to stay within the secure area until we were signalled to board the ferry. Passports were required, of course, since we were on our way to France.

As we were arranging dates to visit the island of St. Pierre, we read that a lot of restaurants and shops would be closed on Sundays and Mondays. We booked a hotel for four nights starting on Monday night, and then couldn’t get a ferry to St. Pierre since they only run the direct route on certain days. Instead, we had to take the ferry to Miquelon, disembark for a short while, and reboard for the next leg of the trip to St. Pierre. Our return trip was more straight forward, direct from St. Pierre back to Fortune. We ended up seeing a bit of Miquelon, which we hadn’t planned to visit, while still keeping to our planned dates.

Michelon

We had maybe an hour and a half to explore Michelon. Since it was our first port of call in France, after disembarking we all walked through a small building and passed by border agents before exiting out onto the streets of Michelon. Michelon is actually one part of Miquelon-Langlade, two land masses connected by a 10 kilometre sandy isthmus. There are hikes you can do and tours you can take to really appreciate the island’s interesting geography, but we were limited to a short walkabout.

Arriving in St. Pierre

The smaller-by-far of the two islands, St. Pierre is the administrative centre and accommodates 90 per cent of the population of this French territory. As we arrived (and throughout our visit), two landmarks stood out: an island with a prominent church and colourful buildings, and the lighthouse perched on a rocky breakwater at the entrance to the bay.

L’Île-aux-Marins (Sailor’s Island) is uninhabited, but accessible with a 10-minute ferry ride from Saint-Pierre. It is now an open-air museum offering a view into its past as a fishing community. Some of the small homes continue to be used as summer cabins by descendents of their original owners.

With the construction of outer breakwaters, Pointe aux Canons Lighthouse was decommissioned in 1984, but remains an important icon of St. Pierre. You can walk to the base of the lighthouse, but the building itself is closed.

Walking around town

As well as Sunday and Monday shop closures, we had read (and been told by the owner of the inn we were staying at) that it was very important to make restaurant reservations ahead of time. Since we were coming in late on our first night, we hadn’t bothered, thinking we could walk to the market that was not far from the inn (and thankfully open on a Monday) and pick up a few things. We did, but pickings were very slim.

Our inn provided breakfast and we had made reservations for the remaining three dinners, so we only had to worry about lunch. Shop and restaurant times are European–if a restaurant is going to be open for lunch, it will be open from 12 to 2 and then won’t reopen for dinner until 7:30. Get there on time, or go hungry!

One day, a cruise ship arrived in port and the downtown area was overrun with passengers. Otherwise, foot traffic was light enough, the tourist information center was helpful, and we enjoyed wandering the different areas of town and all around the waterfront.

The refurbished dories along the waterfront are a reminder of the important role of fishing to the area. A group called Les Zigotos was formed in the 1990s when it was clear that the once 500-strong fleet of these flat-bottomed boats would soon become extinct. Les Zigotos wanted to keep the boats on the water rather than store them in a museum and now offer dory tours. Each dory is tied to a winching mechanism called a capstan, which is used to haul the boat onto shore to protect it from high winds and seas. The capstans are positioned in front of the sheds called Salines, named for the massive amount of salt stored there and used to preserve cod. The Salines were private work sheds and social hubs, and some are still used that way.

We messed up on our plans to visit L’Île-aux-Marins, leaving it to our last possible day and then discovering that the ferry wouldn’t be running.

A little farther afield

Since we didn’t have a car with us, and there were parts of the island that we couldn’t see on our own, we joined a van tour. Eléa of Eléa Guided Tours is part of the growing tourism industry in St. Pierre. She was a lovely guide and provided lots of insight into the history and culture on the islands. We learned how France must subsidize the economy of St. Pierre and Michelon, especially since the collapse of the cod fishery. And how all 100 (or so) members of the police force (which we thought seemed excessive!) were imported from France on a rotating basis–no locals are trained and hired. There were comments about France’s lack of trust in the locals, suggesting that the relationship has some challenges.

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TripBits

• Ferry: SPM Ferries (spm-ferries.fr). 78€ per adult over 60 for the PASS SPM, which allowed us to travel to Miquelon first and then onto St. Pierre. A round-trip ticket for just Fortune to St. Pierre was 10€ per over-60 adult less.
• Parking: About $15 per night, which includes an escort to the parking facility to leave the car and a ride to and from the ferry.
• Van tour: Elea Guided Tours Panoroma Tour. 68€ per adult less 10% for seniors.