Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby (2017–…): Season 1, Episode 5 - Fogo Island Inn, Canada - full transcript

All over the world there
are remarkable hotels

born of bold vision and daring endeavor.

Oh, my goodness, look at that.

Whether it's an epic structure
housing a sky park

the length of the Eiffel tower…

This is definitely the biggest space
I've ever been inside.

Or, a glass box perched
in the cloud forest.

Look at that view.

Wow.

They're all products of innovation,
creativity and hard graft.

The people running these hotels
strive to create the perfect sanctuary.



But what does it take to offer
once in a lifetime experiences…

in stunning locations.

To build a hotel in a place like this,
everybody thinks I'm crazy.

In total we have about
160,000 pieces of uniform.

Oh, my word.

I'm a restaurant writer,
newspaper columnist and critic.

I have opinions on just about everything.
What a mad place to build a hotel.

Feel like Scott of the Antarctic
and it did not end well for him.

And I'm a chef who's worked
for the top end

of the hospitality industry
for, well, over 20 years.

How many opportunities do you get to cook
breakfast with elephants and giraffes?

We'll travel to amazing hotels
in every corner of the world.

To spend time getting to know
the people working away behind the scenes.

When did you last have
a full night's sleep?



I don't remember.

-Really?
-Yes.

You're the engineer,
you're like Scotty in Star Trek.

Precisely, I've been called that.

Join us as we venture inside…

The world's most extraordinary hotels.

This is Fogo Island
and it feels very far away,

it's taken us two days of travel by air,

road and sea to get to this remote,
rocky outpost.

Perched off the east coast of Canada
and above Newfoundland,

Fogo is a tiny island,
only fifteen miles long

with the weather extremes of a continent.

It can hit 25 degrees here in the summer,

but in winter the sea freezes over.

There are eleven small communities
dotted across the island,

people from Europe having settled here
in the eighteenth century for one reason

and one reason only,
the abundant supply of cod.

At first glance and indeed at second
and third glance

Fogo looks barren and inhospitable
so why would anyone want to build a hotel

on these storm-lashed rocks
at the very edge of the world?

Especially one that's expensive,
exclusive and at a cost

of over 20 million pounds.

Wow, I wasn't expecting that,
it doesn't look an awful lot like a hotel,

but just huge and angular on stilts.

Wow. Amazing.

It really does stand out
from the landscape.

I think it's sort of beautiful.

The Fogo Island Inn is the brainchild
of Zita Cobb and her family,

it's a passionate personal project,

but Zita humbly refers
to herself as the innkeeper.

Now what is that umbrella doing?

We gotta hide it in the closet,
you only need them when it's raining

and until then it's just litter
they need to be

hidden away in the closet
and never opened up inside.

This is Zita's first foray
into the hotel business.

We at our Inn, we don't have a rule book,
we practice hospitality, you know,

in a way that doesn't seem,

you know, like it's professional in,
in that industry sense of the word,

but it's entirely natural
and entirely human.

Hello.

-Welcome to the Fogo Island Inn.
-Thank you. I like the look of that fire.

Oh, it's nice and warm in here.

Coming in from the fierce cold
this place feels cozy and welcoming.

There are 29 rooms and the Inn employs
110 members of staff.

The impressive dining room
has two walls of glass

that offer spectacular views
out across the Atlantic.

A room here costs between 1000 and two
and half thousand pounds per night,

this place is not only the most
expensive hotel on the island,

it's the only hotel on the island.

And here is your key, Sir.

-Thank you very much.
-Welcome.

We'll be staying in guest rooms
before being immersed into hotel life.

Beautiful.

Wow, look at that view.

The ancestors of some of the staff here
came from the southern coast of England

and the west of Ireland
over 300 years ago.

And they speak with the island's
unique local accent,

part Canadian, part Dorset
with an Irish twang for good measure

it can take a bit of getting used to.

-A lot of people ask if we're twin..
- A lot.

or sisters, we get that a lot

and as you see we finish
one another's sentences a lot,

and we even go sink mopping together.

'Cause we're that much alike
we can do that together so.

Now, in case you didn't catch that
people often

ask these eighth generation islanders,

Laurie and Cynthia,
if they're twins, they're not.

But they are sisters
who finish each other's sentences,

and they enjoy synchronized mopping.

We actually walked in together side
by side

and years later we're still side by side,
so it's a great relationship,

we can work together really well,
so I like it, I think she do too, so.

Oh, yeah, I love it.
Everything is back from years ago,

we have Miss Zita to thank for that.

Zita has been inspired
by the old time look

and I think she hit it on the head
when she designed these rooms,

everything is beautiful
from this tiny wood

stove to the wallpaper to the chairs
to the old fashioned quilts,

even I got home made quilts
and look at the wallpaper,

nobody has wallpaper
in their rooms anymore,

but this wallpaper was made
for here and it's beautiful.

And the Inn really does offer a place
to put what we know.

Nearly everything here,
from the furniture to the upholstery,

Zita's had locally made with the ambition

of giving the Fogo vernacular
a modern twist.

The result is a place
that feels comfortingly familiar.

We've had guests say that actually
it's just like

walking back into my grandmother's house

and the view just tops it off,
everyone's amazed with the view.

You get icebergs, whales jumping out
of the water, just beautiful.

There's a whale or possibly an island.

Peaceful, it's something I could sit down
and watch all day.

Look, there's a scarf here for me,
that is so sweet.

We got out of our way
to please all the guests

and whatever they request we try
to make sure it's done for them.

It's a Dictionary of Newfoundland English.

I'm not selecting these, I'm literally
putting my finger on the first word.

I see, this one is Scrubber, a board
or fender bar along the side of a boat

or vessel to protect hull from scraping.
Hence the expression in Newfoundland

"You won't get far around here
without a scrubber."

Hot ass, a tin kettle with a large flat
bottom and sides tapering to the top.

That is genius,
so I'll call down to reception,

"Can you send up a couple of hot asses?"

This is really pretty.

Look, here we go.

Made by Millicent Dwyer 2015
on Fogo Island.

That is so sweet.

We've had some famous people
and I'm sure we'll have more,

we've had politicians
and Hollywood movie stars.

Yes, we have,
but I shall not say the names.

Sorry Cynthia, but I've looked it up
and it was Gwyneth Paltrow

a couple of months ago.

You need to see this.

I mean, I'm not a loo fetishist
so I wouldn't normally bother,

but, I do love a lavatory that says hello
when you walk into the room.

Well, that's the chair
he's going to sit in so we puff it out.

Oh, my goodness.

That is so soft and comfortable.

Yeah, I'm right at home here.

It's a great job, some people don't look
as housekeeping as a great job,

but I do, I love it at housekeeping,
I love clean so.

-It's not like cleaning.
-No, it's not, it's different.

That's our finished product
waiting for a guest.

So wouldn't you want to get in that bed?
I would.

If we're to understand why
this Martian spacecraft on stilts

has been built out here on the rocks
then the best person to ask

is the architect, Todd Saunders.

-Hey, Todd.
-Hi, Giles.

Do you do this often,
come out here and have a fire?

Every now and then,
I come and have a coffee

with some other people around.

-And admire your handiwork?
-I try to.

Zita picked Todd both for his talent

and because he's a local boy
with local knowledge.

I grew up here. I knew the scent,
the smells, the berries,

the food they ate,
I knew the type of people here

and so I didn't need any explanation
what Newfoundland architecture could be.

-Tell me about the stilts.
-Yeah, it's a bit of a homage to the past.

All the buildings were built
on little stilts

'Cause they didn't have sand here
actually to do concrete

and the fishermen didn't have time
to make foundations

so the fastest way to do it was
just put them on these wooden poles,

make a flat level
and then build the building above it.

And they're not all straight,
some of them are at an angle,

is that the, an aesthetic thing or?

It was the way they always did it,

they never did them perfectly straight,
it was a more haphazard thing,

the buildings actually have
this amphibious quality to them,

they look like they're half on land,
half in water.

In 2008 this exposed location
was chosen for the Inn,

construction began with steel,
concrete and black spruce,

a design built to withstand
the test of time and weather.

The Inn took three years to complete
using around seventy percent

locally sourced materials and the 450
passionately committed people

involved in realizing the project
all had to adhere to one golden rule;

it had to feel familiar, but modern.

There is a special feeling about
a Newfoundland home and we couldn't

put our finger on it and we said,
you know,

everything on this island
was from this island before

so we said, okay everything in this Inn
will be made on the island

so everything's made at a workshop
up the road there.

Were you made on the island?

I was made an hour away from here in
the back seat of a Volkswagen, Beetle.

-Hello, how are you?
-Good.

Welcome back.

Todd's architecture is clearly
having an impact,

the Inn has only been open a few years

and already there are
returning guests, Janet Fitzpatrick,

a psychiatrist from the mainland,
is on her eighth visit.

I come here and there's just a peace
that comes over me as soon as I walk in

and I feel I can breathe.

And you speak very highly of the people.

The people are fantastic and they love
this island,

everybody here loves where they live,
you come and stay here for a few days

and you understand that feeling.

I mean the thing I really hope
that every person that comes to the Inn

gets a really strong sense of is place.

Zita's ambition for the Inn
is to reflect everything

that's special about this island

in terms of nature and culture
right down to the food.

Our job is to do our best
to put Fogo Island on a plate.

Our food should taste like Fogo Island.

I want to discover what the island
specialties are

and how the kitchen is using them.

Can I get a quick run for table
twenty one please? That's dairy free.

So I'm joining the two chefs
entrusted by Zita

to uphold her local culinary vision
for lunchtime service, Ian Sheridan…

It's a happy loving kitchen.

…and Tim Charles.

Just going to get some kale.

This is for three so I want enough kale
for three as well?

Feels good to be doing something I know.

It doesn't take long before I find out
just what's so special about this island.

What looks at first glance
like a barren landscape

is an incredible larder of wild
ingredients right under the nose of Ian.

Look at that, the hotel's just there
and you've got juniper out here.

Right underneath the dining room.

Unbelievably, there are sixteen varieties
of edible berry growing wild here on Fogo,

but the boys want to show me
by far the most important food here

that encapsulates the island, cod.

We'll receive them like this and then
we'll break them down into portions

and then we'll take the trim bits
and use them that way.

I love cod as well,
it's one of my favorite fish.

It's the reason why everyone's here
on the island in the first place,

they came for the fish
and they stayed for the fish.

-Dead center?
-Put it all over the rim.

-All over the rim?
-I'm kidding.

That's one of my pet hates.
I thought shit.

That's it, you and I we're over.

-We're over.
-Delete my number off your phone.

Both Tim and Ian are from mainland Canada

and Zita knows
they bring invaluable skills to the Inn.

There's a whole bunch of things
we just don't know

and with every person
that comes to this island

they bring a whole other world,

a whole other kind of way of knowing
that is new and makes us stronger.

The Inn overlooks traditional
fishing grounds,

but it's at the mercy of the weather.

They say there are seven seasons on Fogo

and this building must endure sub
zero temperatures,

hurricane winds, downpours
and burning sunshine.

The man battling to stop the place
from being consumed

by the elements is maintenance supreme
Don Paul who's also from the mainland.

Now that's salt water in the air
I would say.

Don's going to show me how he keeps
the Inn from succumbing to the weather,

as long as he's got
a pair of wellies in my size.

Can I fill your boots, Don,
that's the question?

-I'd really appreciate it if you could.
-Really?

You think I'd be genuinely helpful?
What are we doing?

-Truly. You're gonna need this.
-I'm gonna get wet you're saying?

Could, better be looking at it
as I always say than looking for it.

-How do I look?
-You look great.

I wouldn't want my Savile Row
tailored shirt to get crushed on there.

That's right.

Today we're concentrating on the sea spray
that sticks to the windows

and must be scraped off continually
so the guests can enjoy a crust-free view.

So in this game,
it's all about length, is it?

Length is what it is all about when
you've gotta go reach for the top.

It must be a thankless task,
the ocean is there just depositing salt

and all you can do is keep wiping it away?

-That's job security.
-It is, I guess it is.

Does a building of this
sort present particular problems?

Well, in the wind it can, the
wind sheer can actually remove boards,

we've got a few loose boards that rattle
that we have to keep nailing down

and battening the hatches
and once we had a skylight come adrift

which was a bit of a problem.

Oh, dear, what's that,
shoddy building work in the first place?

-Well, I can't say that, I think--
-Yes, you can.

-No, it wasn't.
-Good, glad to hear it.

It wasn't, it just was that the screws
broke in the wind, it was a hurricane.

I mean basically is this
like a frontiersman thing, you know

out here, middle of nowhere
if you'll forgive me,

small population, not so many specialists,

you have to basically
be able to do everything?

Correct, we have to, as Zita says,
treat this as a ship in the ocean

and we have to have all our spare parts
and all our skill sets in place.

You're the engineer,
you're like Scotty in Star Trek.

Precisely, I've been called that.

I see the comparison, kind of heroic
keeping it all going,

-"She can't take anymore Jim!"
-"The lithium crystals are failing."

So when Zita says she wants you to go
Warp Factor 7,

you can't change the laws of physics.

You can't, but you have
to find a way to do it, Laris.

So Don, you haven't got that Irish twang,
you haven't got anything Newfie

about the way you speak. So you're
what, you're from the mainland I guess?

I'm actually from
the west coast of Canada,

I grew up in British Columbia
in the mountains of the Kokanees.

So how did you come to be here?

Well, simply put I fell in love,
not only with the island,

but when I first came here on a visit,

I walked into the Partridge Berry
harvest festival

and my eyes met
with this wonderful artist, Meliz Keefe,

who was here,
and it was love at first sight.

I know they say it's not,
but it truly happens.

Don and Meliz were recently married,

a cause for celebration
for all at the Inn.

How long does it take
to do the whole building?

You don't, you'd be surprised,
just to do this bottom section

like we've gone been going through,
two guys can do it in two hours.

-As long as one of the two guys isn't me?
-Well.

-Thank you, sir.
-You're welcome.

On remote islands like Fogo it's important
to be as self-sufficient as possible,

not just in terms of the skills
needed to live here,

but also when it comes to sourcing food.

One islander who surprised the kitchen
with his home-grown vegetables

is Norm Foley whose Irish ancestors
settled here in the eighteen century.

but how do you grow crops
in this landscape?

I've been told that Norm employs
a weird technique

involving small fish called capelin.

One, two, three, very important food
around here, capelin.

The ocean comes alive when
the capelin comes in on our shore,

the cod fish would never come only
for the capelin, the whales.

-And you're using it as fertilizer?
-I'm using it as fertilizer.

And this is an ancient way of--

This is the way my dad
and my grandfather and so on and so forth.

Burying fish in the garden.
Wow, there's a first for everything.

And it works, Norm produces
an abundant crop of kale,

carrots, potatoes and parsnips.

Wiggle back and forth.

Some of which make their way
onto the plates of the diners at the Inn.

This is the real test, come on,
you're not…

put some muscle into it,
I wants to grab that so bad.

No, you can't, it's mine.

Look at that!

-Now did you ever see the like of that?
-No!

But it's not just gardening that
connects Norm to the Fogo Inn,

he's also a community host
looking after guests that stay there,

it's a venture set up by Zita

that aims to showcase
the island's culture and its people.

Locals from all walks of life,
the quilt-makers, boat builders,

even fishermen are this island hosts

You just keep the same depth
just back and forth.

Befriending guests and making them
feel part of the Fogo family.

It's like putting everything we know
into something,

believing deeply in ourselves,

but hoping that others in the world
see the value in our culture,

see merit in what we have to tell
or say or show.

Someone actually asked
how much we get paid to act this way

and I said no, this is just natural,
this is Newfoundland life.

It's putting yourself out there in a
really kind of big way as a community.

For Zita the Inn
is an extension of the island.

-Does it get any better than that?
-No

-It doesn't.
-No.

But all is not quite what it seems,

what looks like a paradise
to guests on holiday

is actually a community
facing very real challenges.

The population of Fogo
has been in decline,

there used to be six thousand
people living here

but in a few decades the number
has fallen to below half that.

Housekeeper Cynthia has brought
her children up on the island,

but her eldest daughter now
lives miles away on the mainland

and is expecting twins.

Just like a basketball.

No matter how hard she tries Cynthia can't
tempt her daughter back to Fogo.

I'd love for them to come back
then there'd be more people for the island

'cause we don't want the island
to be like just a retirement home,

we wants the young people to come back,

keep the place going
and that's what we need, young people

'cause we don't want the island to die,

we wants the island to survive
and keep going.

Alrighty, we gotta go back to work,
we're on break, take care, bye.

Alright, bye.

Simply put, not enough young families
are staying on Fogo

to raise their children.

This island is facing an uncertain future

so why would Zita build an inn here
and what's driving her ambition?

She has after all invested
millions of dollars

of her own money into the project.

She gets talked about an awful lot,
she's a visionary,

she's some sort of prophet,

it's a bit of a cult of personality,
it's like the Wizard of Oz,

I hope she measures up.

The whole project really I suppose
is kinda built around two sentences,

"Nature and culture are
the two great garments of human life",

E.F. Schumacher. Second sentence,

"Every human being
should get up in the morning,

look at the world
and try to see it as whole."

You can taste these.
These are absolutely edible, see they?

Quite a, quite a bland flavor probably?

-Exactly.
-Like a very weak plum, isn't it?

Yeah.

Is it bad luck
to pick berries in a graveyard?

Zita is an eighth generation islander
and her life here as a child

had little to do
with the modern ways of the mainland.

I grew up here in a time that we had
no running water and no electricity and,

and my parents couldn't read and write.

I mean you're not talking
about ancient history,

you're talking about
the late sixties, aren't you?

-No electricity, no running water?
-Exactly.

When I was five and I got really sick,

I had tuberculosis and I had to go away

and so I spent a year,
as a very young child,

in a sanatorium on the other side
of Newfoundland

and it felt like being pulled up
really by your roots.

And so to have been removed
from the community at such a young age

I understood what the world feels like

when you don't live embedded
in a community

and so I've always in my life valued
that more than anything.

Not long after Zita's return,

disaster struck the island
she loved so much,

decades of international over-fishing
brought cod to the brink of extinction

and this simple fishing
community to its knees.

Unable to survive many families,
including Zita's,

were forced to leave the island.

My father had to let go of this place,

collapse of the fishery
just about killed them

and moving away really
did literally kill him,

so they, they moved away

and I went off to university
and then he died.

So many people left during that time
that the population

had almost no chance of recovering

until the little girl who so loved
her island hatched a plan to rescue it.

I've always wanted to come home
and so when the opportunity,

presented itself that I was at a place
in my career I could retire,

I had more money than I needed for a life.

What had you been doing?

I was a chief financial officer
of a technology company

in the fiber optics industry.

-And how much is more than you could need?
-Enough to build that Inn, that's it.

And build that Inn she did,

gifting it to the island
through a charitable foundation

so that all profits go back
into local projects

to create jobs and help the community.

So, taking money that I had
that was more than enough

and bringing it home,
it seemed like the obvious thing to do.

What an amazing story, a little girl
growing up with no electricity,

no water on a windblown, rocky outcrop,
a place from fairy tales,

travelling across the sea
to make her fortune,

tens of millions of dollars
by all accounts,

and coming back to save
the island of her birth

which is threatened with extinction,

just the thing that makes me
worry she's fifty eight,

she's not getting any younger,

there are huge pressures
on any small hotel business to succeed,

but this place has the hopes
of the whole community resting on it.

Wherever you go around the island
and the Inn you can't help

but notice the influence of fishing.

We have been here for four centuries
as people of the sea, as fishing people.

And cod is of course the focus
of most conversations at meal time.

-Cheek.
-Yes.

-Tongue.
-Yes.

And there's the livers.

I've never had cod offal for breakfast.

-It looks amazing.
-That's great.

In its heyday cod fishing around here

was worth over 100 million pounds a year,

but big boats from other countries
plundered the sea

leaving nothing for the islanders.

To prevent extinction a cod fishing ban
became law in 1992, the cod survived

and are now flourishing and the islanders
can fish for them once again,

but with strict quotas in place.

Several local fishermen
have special licenses to supply cod

to the Inn every week,
such as Glen and Jerry Best.

Can't get a better fish than cod
so we're proud to,

flaunt it in front of all the tourists

that come and eat at the Inn
in the dining room.

Beautiful looking fish,
the skin is like a red color

and then you get some that
are really white and grey.

In the dining room guests
enjoy the fillets

of nearly a thousand
sustainably-caught cod each year.

To learn more about
the returning cod industry

that's nourished the island
for generations,

we're going to spend a morning
with Glen catching cod for the Inn.

It smells quite strongly of fish,
okay, just so that you know.

So it's only right to dress
for the occasion.

-Are you tough?
-Yeah, but I don't like the cold.

So, no.

Like many fishermen here Glen's family
normally fish for lucrative crab,

shrimp and turbot,
but his heart still belongs to the cod.

If I eat fish for my dinner
in the Inn tonight

will it have been caught on this boat?

Past week it will have been caught
on this boat,

might have been caught
with these two hands.

The traditional way to catch it
is by jigging bait, like squid,

with a hook and line.

So you can feel it tugging on the,
on the line.

Yeah? God, it's a long way down,
here we go.

-You got one?
-I think so.

-Wow, that's quite a big fish.
-Oh, that's a nice size.

Look at that, I've literally never caught
anything in my life apart from a mackerel.

So how much would you say that weighs,
about thirteen kilos?

No way thirteen kilos,
that looks like eight.

-Let me--
-I'd say it's maybe six kilos, seven.

Six kilos, seven, so about fifteen pounds?

So it's like both my children
added together when they were born.

I don't know what a fuss
my wife made about that,

it's not that big,
actually it's quite heavy.

Here we go. This is just so much fun,

I mean it's, I think it's fun
because there are lots of fish in here,

I don't know how much fun it, if I'd been
here for three days getting nothing.

That's quite a big one as well,
yours is bigger though, isn't it?

-That is cool.
-Wow.

-There's another nice one.
-Yeah, there we go.

This is my third.

The Best family have been fishing
these waters for nearly 200 years,

fathers passing down
the knowledge to sons.

So you guys gonna give me a hand to get,
this fish cleaned up now

or you gonna leave me with all the work?

But a shadow now hangs
over the family's future.

There you go, perfect.

The sole male heir to the operation,
Glen's son Matthew, has left Fogo

and has no interest in fishing
or carrying on the family business

and for Glen the implications
are devastating.

He has been home fishing shrimp and,

just to make some money
to go through university,

but he hasn't shown any interest
in actually taking over the business.

What we've been doing for five,
six generations

probably we could be the last.

Well, that's the end
and that'd be pretty sad.

And it's not just Glen's son,

in recent years many
young people have moved away

due to limited opportunities
on the island.

Zita fears that the aging population
being left behind could be the last.

It's so dangerous because
we're holding hands with the past

as hard as we can,
people of my age say and fifty and older

and we are trying to hold hands
with these young people,

we are half the population in numbers
that we were thirty years ago,

what's gonna happen over
the next five or ten years?

The Inn offers a huge range
of job opportunities

that provide an alternative to fishing

which Zita hopes
will stop people leaving the island.

Sometimes I look at it
and think it's just a little Inn,

it's just a 29 room Inn,
but it holds a lot of dreams.

And fulfilling these dreams
by making a success of the inn

is far from easy, a successful hotel
depends on attention to detail.

How are we doing with our people
in room 29 with the baby?

I talked to them last night,
she is vegetarian, but eats chicken.

Did we sort out how we're getting
those people at 2 o'clock in the morning?

I don't know.

It doesn't take much to lose your way,
when you lose your way

a little bit it has a tendency to build
and then if that takes hold

then we'll lose our confidence, details.

Zita takes guest comments very seriously

and there's been
a complaint about the food.

Well, there were several issues
with the breakfast,

one problem is the bread's all wrong,

you can't toast sour dough bread
because it just turns into a weapon

and the potatoes that were served
on the plate were placed

so haphazardly that there was
no indication of love

in the way they were placed.
Every time you put something down

that's an opportunity
to show a little extra care,

no care was shown, they were just,
looked like they were thrown at the plate.

And the bacon looked like it
was in a microwave

which I know it wasn't in a microwave
cos there's no microwave here at the Inn

so I don't know how you make
that microwave effect.

Look, we have some more blue sky coming.

Can you come to Ops tomorrow morning?
I had a whole bunch of breakfast comments.

-Yes, do you wanna talk about that now?
-Yes, absolutely.

The number one thing is we have to
come up with a different toast,

sourdough doesn't toast.

-Is it just too much?
-It's too hard, like it's like a weapon,

like it hurts.

And, really, we should have
a classic white Newfoundland toast.

Yes, absolutely.

When you're new to the exclusive
hotel business

the slightest mistake can hurt
and with so much resting on the Inn

it just can't afford to lose its way
so Zita's asked locally born pastry

chef, Marlene Hancock,
to help improve the breakfast.

Marlene's had an idea
to create a new bread

with an ingredient found
washed up on the shore,

a chunk of iceberg.

This is iceberg ice, ice that came down
from way up north,

it's thousands of years old,
but you'd think it would taste salty

'cause it's floating in the salt water
and the sea,

but it's not, it's a very fresh water,
very pure water.

Marlene's also adding seaweed.

This is the seaweed that actually
washed up on the shore

so hopefully that's okay,
if not, if I need more I'll add more.

And lastly she puts in Fogo sea salt.

Natural salt right from the sea behind us,
little bit of this

and a little bit of that,
it's gonna be a surprise I guess,

it's nice when people try your product
and say that is really good,

it makes you feel good,
it makes your job worthwhile.

But to have any chance
of reaching the dining room

all food must first pass
Zita's taste test.

-I love it.
-Good.

I really love it, you know, this could be
the only iceberg bread in the world,

that is like taking Fogo island
and putting it inside the bread,

I think Marlene you are
ninety percent of the way there,

the only thing I would say
is just bring on the seaweed,

-Up the seaweed.
-Yeah, I can do that.

I think it's a winner,
Marlene that's so good.

The ancestors of housekeeping
sisters Cynthia and Laurie

settled on Fogo in the nineteenth century,
theirs is one of many families

for whom the Inn represents hope
for a secure future.

They've invited me round to meet the clan
and get a deeper understanding

of what makes family life
so special here on Fogo.

It's very kind of them,
I don't really know what to expect,

I just imagine there'll be
a lot of good, clean fun.

Hi, Giles, just in time
for a game of cards.

-This is mom, Marie.
-Hi, Marie, nice to meet you.

This is sister Lauren.

-Your sister?
-Yeah.

-Your mom?
-Yeah.

-My sister Sharon.
-Sister Sharon.

-Sister Nancy.
-You're having me on.

-Sister Paula.
-Hi.

Work sister, Mary.

Work sister, honorary sister?

Are you introduced,
do you know everyone's name?

Yeah, that's mom and sister

and work sister, Mary.

I do know all
the kings of England from 1066.

Is it normal that there's is so many
of you all together?

I mean is that the normal
Newfoundland family?

Is it Newfoundland just,
is it just three families or something?

Everyone's a brother and sister,
is it like Greece?

Years ago there was big families,
but not so much these days.

When we grew up there was kids
everywhere, but now--

-There were twelve in our family.
-She got twelve.

-You were one of twelve?
-Yeah.

Seven boys and five girls.

I don't know whether I want to,
whether I want to ask why did they do that

or why did they stop, I don't know.

-Cold weather.
-Pardon?

You weren't expected
to survive the winter?

So what happened these ones all lived,

was the plan you were only meant
to end up with two or three

and then life expectancies went up and,
and here you all are.

And do you play cards together
every night?

No, like once a week we usually
get together round at mom's,

usually on a Monday night
or a Tuesday night.

Four of these sisters work at the Inn,

the alternatives would be the local fish
plant or life on the mainland.

So I can really see how the Inn
is holding the community together.

What on earth are you drinking?
Did you put a leprechaun in a blender?

What on earth?

-Good?
-It's bubble gum flavored mouth wash.

It's a great honor being treated
as one of the girls,

but before I know what's hit me
Cynthia has Shanghai'd me

into a traditional rowing race.

-So Giles.
-Yes?

-Do you row a punt?
-I beg your pardon?

-Do I what a what?
-Row a punt.

-I don't.
-Don't?

So do you know what I mean
when I say row a punt?

I know about punting,
you do that with a stick and a pole.

No, this is with two paddles
and there's like two in a…

-This is rowing?
-And you sit down and you go.

-Is that?
-Are you strong?

I'm not sure about this punting business

and not only am I expected
to row a boat like a local,

now I'm being pressured into becoming a
local with a bizarre initiation ceremony.

So the first thing you have to do
is repeat what I say exactly.

That's not too bad actually.

Then, I will give you something to taste.

So this is supposed to cleanse your body

from the inside out and your throat
and your eyes and your soul.

They say it's really bad,
but it's not that bad.

They say the same about you.

-Another one?
-Yeah.

So then just before you become
an official Newfoundlander

you've got to do one more thing,

this is cod fish and you have to kiss him.

-Oh, man alive.
-No, it's alright. I cut the tongue out

so you won't get the tongue.
Pucker up, pucker up baby.

-Thank you very much.
-You're welcome, give us a hug.

Allow me to say ladies,
time to shut up and deal the cards.

As part of the mission to get the island
thriving

an annual rowing race takes place
using local boats called punts.

It's normally a brutal four hour event
held in open water for die-hard locals.

-Giles, you're in the back.
-Okay, do I go in first?

Watch, it could be slippery.

But Cynthia assures me this morning's
mixed doubles race

will be a far more sedate affair.

I hope you're not all talk 'cause
I've got no idea how to do this.

No, I'm gonna show you
and you're gonna win. Boom.

Today is a trial event for locals
and any interested guests at the Inn

so novices like me are welcome.

Stroke.

And I've jumped at the chance
to partner my new buddy Norm.

-Yeah, not bad.
-Not bad.

Every single punt taking part

has been built here on Fogo
in the traditional way.

This hope she's gonna win this race
'cause my neck is on the line.

For generations these punts
have represented survival,

the only means of catching food
to feed your family

and in all that time islanders have gained
something of a reputation.

Winston Churchill himself said

that Newfoundlanders are the best
small boatsmen in the world.

Come on Cyn, put some beef into it.

The race is a way of preserving
these historic boats

and celebrating the resourcefulness
of the people who crafted them.

Game on.

But by the looks of it,
the most important thing of all round here

seems to be winning.

Beating Giles by miles, look.

Oh, Monica's there, that's a bit annoying.

He'll have an excuse, I'm sure.

Cyn, is this one, is my right on that?
Cynthia, is that on right?

-No.
-That's why I can't make it move.

It looks like we have a winner, it's Zita.

Oh, my word.

And Norm and I, come a respectable fourth.

Congratulations, Monica.

Oh, well.

But what about Giles?

Cynthia and Giles, fifth place team.

-Give us a hug.
-Was that fifth place?

Yeah, well, we didn't cheat 'cause I
thought it wasn't in the spirit of things.

Every October the Partridge
Berry Festival celebrates

the island's variety of wild berries.

This year's event
was one of the most memorable.

A few days ago it hosted the wedding
ceremony of the Inn's maintenance man,

Don Paul and his bride, Meliz.

Had a little bit of butterflies
but I'm so excited and happy.

Now what do you think, how do I look?

For Zita the Inn and the island's future

must include more outsiders
like Don and Meliz.

It's not always easy to convince someone
who lives in a big city somewhere

that they should move to this little
island that's far away from far away

so when somebody chooses
to make their home here,

you know, it's in some ways
it's like an endorsement of us and,

sort of affirms
the things that we see in our place,

that is very moving.

Love is patient, love is kind,
love is not envious

or boastful or arrogant or rude.

-Yes, I do.
-I do.

Around here there's
only one way to celebrate.

I wanna be married to Meliz.

For Zita it's vital to make
a big fuss of people

when they choose this island
to be their permanent home,

like throwing what islanders call a scoff
or feast in the dining room at the Inn.

A scoff is a tricky thing to pull off

because it has this kind of
unpredictable nature to it,

but we still wanna do it
in a way that has the precision

that we have fought so hard to accomplish.

-Yeah, this one needs turning round.
-One, two, three.

It's only right that Giles and I pitch in
to help with preparations.

I like that.

You're doing really well,
not bad for a mainlander.

Not bad for a mainlander,
that's what I am, a mainlander?

And for the bride and groom
two personalized tarts.

After all it is a scoff
in honor of Don and Meliz.

Made with love, there you go.

The kitchen has pulled out all the stops
to put all things Fogo on the menu.

In keeping with Zita's inclusive
sense of hospitality,

the scoff is not only for locals
but all guests staying at the Inn.

Well, you know, we just got in today

and we were asked just out of the blue
to attend a wedding.

You just mingle, I mean there's, there's
nobody that just you don't talk to,

there's nobody you don't know
within five minutes of being here.

You know, that's why you feel
part of the family here,

coming to a wedding where it,
it seems so intimate, right?

And they don't know us from anything
and so it's only…

Spectacular, yeah.

-Congratulations!
-Thank you, Marlene.

Here are a couple of lattice jam
tarts that Monica and I made for you both.

-Thank you so much, Marlene.
-Oh, thank you so much.

While the party carries on
we're being ushered upstairs

and pressed into joining what seems to be
some sort of freakish cult.

This is not going to hurt a bit, okay?

This is a costume called Mummering.

It was brought here in the 1820s
from England and Ireland.

Traditionally mummers
would turn up uninvited

and in disguise to get a party started.

I can't believe I've spent time
on this island

getting to know these people
and their lives and their hopes

and their fears and the good things
and the bad things

and we present them to the world as this
unique and exciting living community

and they've just revealed themselves
to be a complete bunch of whackos.

I hope I'm not complicit in the mockery
of an entire island,

I promise you this was their idea.

I'm going to have nightmares
about this for the rest of my life.

Tradition dictates
that the host of the party

must guess the identities of the mummers.

Now who's this one? How about this one?

-It's a funny one.
-I'm Monica.

It is a lot of fun,
possibly more fun than I expected.

I believe I've made
some great friends for life, cheers.

The fact of this is it isn't really
just a hotel,

the Inn is Fogo Island
and Fogo Island is the Inn,

when you come and stay here it's,
it's more even than a window on society,

it's like the looking glass
in Alice Through The Looking Glass,

you pass through it and you become
a fisherman or a mummer or a cook,

it's an experience
unlike any I've ever had.

And around here the celebrations
always end with a traditional song

about those little fish called capelin.

It's time to leave,

but before we do the Inn
has one last surprise up its sleeve.

Hi.

God, they're beautiful.

Over on the mainland Cynthia's daughter
has given birth to twin boys.

It's been lovely being introduced
to Jake and Luke and reminds me

I have to go and see my babies
and, I'll see you again one day soon.

The Fogo Island Inn has had grandchildren,
er it's amazing how involved everybody is,

it's a very lovely feeling.

But that's only part
one of the job done the next thing

is to get them to come and live here.

It's extraordinary that something
as simple as a hotel can come

to symbolize the hopes of a community
and its distinctive way of life.

I wanna make sure that I do
what I can to hold on to who we are

and remain relevant

doing something that helps give us a shot
at another hundred years here.