July 13, 2024 – Drive to Lewisporte, Central Newfoundland

Saturday morning, we left Deer Lake and drove to Grand Falls-Windsor where we stopped at the Salmonid Interpretation Center. The Center is one of the largest salmon enhancement projects in North America.  This beautiful sculpture made from driftwood was in front of the visitor center.

In the visitor center we watched a film where we learned how the community and the power company worked together to bring the salmon back to the Exploits River.

The salmon are diverted through the Salmonid Center where they can bypass the hydroelectric dam and continue their journey upstream to spawn.  We learned that unlike Pacific Salmon, the Atlantic Salmon do not die after they spawn but return to the same spawning grounds for about 3 years before dying.

Salmon returning to the sea are coaxed to the section of the dam where the waterfall drops them back down into the river.

The river was cleaned up so the salmon can survive their trips upstream and back downstream.  The area is beautiful.  We enjoyed learning about the life cycles of the Atlantic Salmon and how one community was able to return salmon to their river.

We continued our drive to Lewisporte where we are staying at Woolfrey’s Pond Park.

After dinner, we all took a walk around Woolfrey’s Pond.  We walked along boardwalks around the pond.

It was a beautiful evening, and we enjoyed a nice relaxing walk around this very pretty pond.