Where The World Is Your Oyster

Prince Edward Island serves up rural charm and a seafood feast that doesn’t end

- Janie Allen

TRAVEL & ADVENTURE

Fishermen with lobster traps, an iconic scene on PEI; (Opposite page) Oysters can be enjoyed at countless eateries across the island

WE ARRIVED ON a wet September day and drove for miles past fields and farms to our lodging, a golf resort and spa tucked into western Prince Edward Island. It was the end of a two-day drive north from New York into eastern Canada. In the early evening chill, my husband, Glen, and I hurried to the soon-to-close restaurant and ordered seafood chowder.

Generous bowls of steaming, creamy goodness were brought. New England clam chowder has nothing on this comforting feast. We inhaled the salt-air aroma and spooned in shrimp, clams, haddock, lobster, and potatoes. It tasted heavenly—rich and hearty—and we devoured it, all but licking the bowls as we relaxed for the first time that day.

Holidaymakers flock to PEI, Canada’s smallest province, most summers for its parks, red-sand beaches and quaint seaside villages. Fans of the red-haired Anne, of the classic children’s books, are drawn from far and wide to Green Gables Heritage Place.

But it’s the seafood that attracted us to this 140-mile long crescent in the Gulf of St Lawrence. Canada is a major supplier of seafood to the world; PEI mussels make up 80 per cent of Canada’s yield, and PEI lobsters account for one-fifth of the country’s production. The island is the leading oyster producer in eastern Canada.