Before visiting Newfoundland and Labrador, I’d never heard of the Exploits Islands.
It’s probably because these islands, which are tucked away in the Bay of Exploits, aren’t as widely known as other parts of Newfoundland and Labrador, like Gros Morne, Twillingate, or Bonavista.
At first glance, the Exploits Islands are exactly what many people picture when they imagine coastal Newfoundland.
The islands are home to quiet coves, colourful fishing stages, rocky shorelines, and small communities scattered along the shoreline.
But what makes this place memorable isn’t just the scenery. It’s everything that’s happened here over thousands of years.
Over the course of spending a full day in the Exploits Islands with our guide, Paul Langdon, I learned about the Beothuk, early European settlement, Newfoundland’s cod fisheries, outport life, and the resettlement program.
But the experience was also about taking it slow and just enjoying the islands. Paul welcomed my partner and I to the Exploits Islands as friends. We shared a meal with Paul and his wife in their home, and had the chance to wander around the islands on foot and by boat.
If you’re thinking about visiting the Exploits Islands, here’s what you need to know.
Ktaqmkuk, the Mi’kmaq name for the island of Newfoundland, is the traditional territory of the Beothuk and the Mi’kmaq.
Views of the Exploits Islands
Where Are the Exploits Islands?
The Exploits Islands are located in the Bay of Exploits on Newfoundland’s northeast coast, just off of Lewisporte, and not too far from Gander (1 hour drive) and Twillingate (1 hour 15 min drive).
The islands are only accessible by boat, which means you are best off going to the islands with a guide. We spent the day exploring them with Paul from Adventures Newfoundland.
Paul picked us up from a wharf at the far end of Lewisporte. We had been told to drive through Lewisporte, and then just keep going, until the road runs out – then, you’ll find yourself at the wharf.
This was indeed how we found the wharf to meet Paul, who was there waiting for us. We hopped on board the boat and from there it was about a 30 minute trip to the islands.
Over the course of the day we went by boat through sheltered coves, wandered former fishing communities, visited an historic cemetery, and stopped for lunch at Paul and Joanne’s house.
Some footage (drone and on-land) that I shot during our visit
The Long History of the Exploits Islands
The Exploits Islands are beautiful and scenic, exactly what you might imagine when you think about Newfoundland and Labrador. But, like with many beautiful places, there’s a story behind these islands that is well worth knowing.
Early Indigenous History
Long before Europeans arrived in Newfoundland and Labrador, the Exploits Islands were part of the traditional territory of the Beothuk.
The Bay of Exploits and the nearby Exploits River provided access to salmon, seabirds, marine resources, and important travel routes between the coast and Newfoundland’s interior.
For generations, the Beothuk moved seasonally through this landscape, returning to the coast each spring and summer.
Everything began to change as European fishing operations expanded.
Like much of Newfoundland, the Bay of Exploits became an important centre for the cod fishery. Initially, European crews arrived seasonally to catch and salt cod before returning to their home countries each fall.
Arrival of European Settlers
But over time, European settlers started to stay, establishing permanent communities close to sheltered harbours and productive fishing grounds.
Paul explained that many of these offshore islands were actually settled before larger towns like Lewisporte because being close to the fishery mattered more than being inland.
As more permanent settlements were established along the coast and at the mouths of rivers, the Beothuk increasingly lost access to places they had relied on for food.
Combined with violence, introduced diseases such as tuberculosis, and displacement from traditional territory, their population declined dramatically.
Paul described the Bay of Exploits as the Beothuk People’s “last stand.” Many of the final documented encounters between Europeans and the Beothuk took place here, making this one of the most significant regions for understanding the final years of Beothuk history.
As the population of Beothuk people declined and European settlement expanded, the cod fishery continued to grow, and the islands developed into busy outport communities (small, isolated coastal fishing villages).
These communities grew around churches, schools, wharves, and fishing stages (traditional waterfront buildings built on wooden stilts over the shoreline, where fish were unloaded, cleaned, salted, dried, and stored before being shipped off).
Families lived here for generations, making their living from the sea. Walking through the islands today, you can still see many of those buildings standing along the shoreline.
The Resettlement Program
Then, in the 1960s, the province’s resettlement program changed the Exploits Islands once again.
Families living in remote outport communities all over the province were encouraged to relocate to larger towns where services like schools, healthcare, and electricity could be provided more efficiently.
Paul told us residents would receive $1000, have their moving expenses paid for, and be given a grant to purchase land and build a new home elsewhere.
Even today, opinions about the program remain mixed. As he put it, “Some people say we should have never left.”
But moving to the mainland did have benefits. For example, it meant better access to important services like healthcare and education.
Ultimately, the resettlement program meant that over half of residents in the Exploits Islands would eventually leave.
Today, some houses have been restored as seasonal homes by descendants of the families who once lived here. Others sit quietly overlooking the water, gradually weathering with time.
Paul told us that now, there’s just one year-round resident in the Exploits Islands.
Experiencing the Exploits Islands With Paul
What made this day so memorable was hearing about them from someone whose own life is deeply connected to this part of Newfoundland.
Throughout the day, Paul would slow the boat, or pause our walk, to point something out and share a story about what we were seeing.
One spot that stood out was the Exploits Islands cemetery. It’s up on a grassy hill, overlooking a small bay.
Observing the headstones, Paul reminded us that life in Newfoundland’s outports wasn’t as romantic as we might want to imagine.
He pointed to a headstone that had the names of 5 children from a single family who had died in one summer, long before modern medicine was available. “People talk about the good old days,” he told us, “but the reality is that life was very hard.”
The cemetery is also home to the graves of John Peyton Sr. and John Peyton Jr., whose names appear throughout the history of the Bay of Exploits and the Beothuk, during the 1700s and 1800s.
Standing beside their graves, Paul talked about the complicated legacy of the Peyton family. John Peyton Sr. and later his son, John Peyton Jr., were prominent salmon fishers and merchants in the Bay of Exploits.
Their names are closely associated with some of the final documented encounters between Europeans and the Beothuk, including the capture of Demasduit (Mary March) in 1819, during which her husband, Nonosabasut, was killed.
Paul acknowledged the Peyton family’s role in that history, but also reminded us that they were operating within a much broader system of European settlement and colonization.
“It’s easy to villainize one family,” he told us, “but unfortunately, this was the culture of the time.”
I appreciated that he didn’t try to simplify a difficult history. Instead, he encouraged us to think about the wider forces that shaped what happened in the Bay of Exploits.
Lunch with Paul and Joanne
The best part of our day in the Exploits Islands was lunchtime! We headed to Paul’s house, where his wife Joanne had prepared a delicious lunch spread for us.
There was homemade moose soup, smoked mackerel, fresh bread and scones, homemade jams made from partridgeberries and bakeapples, and plenty of coffee.
We all sat down together around the table to enjoy our meal and chat.
We talked about growing up in Newfoundland, changes they’ve seen in the Bay of Exploits over the years, local traditions, and the stories that get passed down through families.
And of course, we talked about Newfoundland food, from moose soup and cod tongues to Jiggs dinner.
Paul and Joanne couldn’t believe that we hadn’t yet tried fish and brewis (pronounced “fish n’ brews”), one of Newfoundland and Labrador’s famous traditional dishes.
Made with salt cod and hard bread that’s soaked overnight before being boiled and often topped with crispy pork fat (known as scrunchions), it’s a meal with roots in the province’s fishing history.
The ingredients kept well on long sea voyages and eventually became a staple in Newfoundland households.
Another story that Paul shared still makes me laugh to think about. As we visited Paul and Joanne’s home, Paul pointed to the fence around his back deck and asked, “Do you know why I had to build that?”
I guessed maybe it was to keep moose out. “No,” Paul laughed. “A fox.”
Apparently, a local fox had developed a habit of wandering into their yard. One day, Paul left his shoes by the back door, and the fox made off with one of them.
“That was a $400 orthopedic shoe,” he said, shaking his head. The shoe was never recovered.
Why You Should Visit the Exploits Islands
Before this trip, I’d never heard of the Exploits Islands. Now they’re one of the places I’d recommend most to anyone visiting Newfoundland and Labrador.
The scenery is beautiful, but that’s true of many places in the province. What makes the Exploits Islands special is how much history there is to learn there.
In the space of a single day, I learned about the Beothuk, European settlement, the cod fishery, outport life, and the resettlement program, all while visiting the places where those stories actually happened.
Visiting the islands with Paul made that history much easier to understand because he didn’t just tell us what happened in a factual sense. He explained how the landscape, buildings, and communities we were looking at fit into Newfoundland and Labrador’s broader history.
If you’re interested in learning more about the province while also spending a day on the water, wandering quiet communities, and meeting local people, I can’t recommend the Exploits Islands enough.
To organize your visit, you can reach out to Paul Langdon at Adventures Newfoundland.
Want to have a more thoughtful trip? Here are some of my responsible travel tips to get you started.
- Learn the main tips for being a responsible tourist.
- Use sustainable tourism tips to travel eco-consciously.
- Choose responsible wildlife tourism experiences.
- Travel to places that aren’t facing overtourism to reduce your impact.
- Be aware of cultural appropriation and avoid it.
- Use second city tourism when you do want to visit more popular places.
- Be thoughtful in how you shop for souvenirs.
- Take and share photos and videos respectfully.
- Avoid tourism leakage by supporting local businesses.
- Consider your travel privileges.
I want to thank Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism for hosting Lucas and I as media. All opinions expressed are my own. If you enjoyed this blog, you’ll love my newsletter, as well as my Facebook group. You’re welcome to join these communities – would love to see you there!
