They say Canadians are among the friendliest people in the world. On Prince Edward Island, the country’s smallest province, the entire Island feels like one welcoming small town.

At the Borden-Carlton Visitor Information Centre, hosts provide endless inspiration for the best ways to meet other friendly Islanders who are excited to show off their little piece of paradise. Whether it’s on land or by sea, adventure awaits visitors who are, like I was, looking for authentic experiences with these Atlantic Island folk.

Authentic experiences on the sea

Darcy RhynoCaptain JJ Chaisson holds a lobster aboard “Chaisson A Dream”

Captain JJ Chaisson — aka The Fiddling Fisherman — has everyone tapping their toes to a set of traditional jigs and reels. The music from his fiddle is bouncing off the nearby red cliffs where we’re anchored off PEI’s east coast. In the setting sun, the cliffs blaze almost as red as the lobster on my plate aboard his fishing boat, “Chaisson A Dream.”

Island adventures don’t get more authentic than this: The Lobster Lovers Experience. Captain Chaisson and his wife and first mate, Julie, set out from their home port of Souris on this tour six days a week all summer long. Before sitting down to our on-board lobster supper, the captain gave me and a dozen other lucky guests a chance to haul a few lobster traps, handle live lobsters, and set the traps again. 

As Julie serves the dessert, Captain Chaisson regales us with tales from his previous career as a touring musician. “The first thing I ever did was entertain people,” he says. “I played my first solo when I was five and a half. I’ve played coast to coast in Canada and the U.S.” JJ even fronted a Celtic rock band for a while. At an age when most get the urge to explore the world, he was already feeling the pull back to his roots. “I travelled enough as a teenager to know I’m a homebody.”

Julie and JJ grew up as childhood sweethearts, but it’s Julie who has fishing in her blood. Her uncles, grandfathers, and great grandfathers all fished for a living. While her future husband was setting the world on fire with his fiddle, she was watching her mother and father work their fishing boat.

Music runs as deeply in JJ’s family as fishing does in his wife’s. He played that first solo at the nearby Rollo Bay Fiddle Festival. The Chaisson family owns the venue and has run the event for decades.

“The summer before we started the Fiddling Fisherman, I did 72 shows,” Chaisson says. The pressure of working two professions proved too much. And yet, music was such an important part of his life, he couldn’t give it up. The solution was to combine the two, making “Chaisson A Dream” into a tiny stage for his performances.

Darcy RhynoTranquility Cove Adventures Captain Perry Gotell

The same kind of passion that drives the Chaissons is found all over Canada’s smallest and only Island province. From lobster feasts to fishing excursions, PEI’s boat tours offer something for everyone. Visitors can spot seabirds, look for seals and whales, or catch and cook their own mackerel. “You’re pretty well guaranteed to catch them,” says Captain Perry Gotell of Tranquility Cove Adventures in Georgetown who has fished lobster, crab, clams, and mackerel for 30 years. Another popular tour of his is clamming on a remote sandbar. “No matter when you come here, you can dig clams,” Captain Gotell says. “It’s the only place you can get all six shellfish native to PEI.

Adventures for landlubbers

Darcy RhynoCanadian Potato Museum

Back on land, visitors can meet friendly Islanders by signing up for individual and small group experiences across PEI.

Near the aptly named Bay of Fortune on the eastern end of Prince Edward Island, Teri Hall, author of “A Sea Glass Journey,” takes guests to a local beach in search of glass polished by sea and sand. From there, they return to her Fire and Water Creations studio with their treasures to make sea glass jewelry. 

In O’Leary, at the other end of the Island, visitors to the Canadian Potato Museum can make their own potato fudge and visit a farm. One company in particular, Experience PEI, is dedicated to offering visitors unique Island adventures, like falconry, shellfish beach boils, sandcastle construction, and sheep herding. It has an adventure for every taste. 

One cooking adventure stands out among Island experiences. Now a modern cooking school and restaurant, The Table Culinary Studio maintains its roots as the former New London United Church. The historic building sits across the street from a Victorian home, the birthplace of Lucy Maud Montgomery, creator of Anne of Green Gables.

Darcy RhynoChef Michael Bradley instructs participants at The Table

Chef Derek Hoare and his team offer hands-on adventures that connect guests to their food.

“Some are a little off the beaten track,” Hoare says of The Table’s trips to local beekeepers, farmers, and fishers. 

When I joined Hoare on his Hive to Table Experience, we traveled on country dirt roads to the home of a beekeeper to learn the intricacies of honey production before returning to help prepare a four-course meal, each dish — like honey mustard chicken and honey butter carrots — made with the local sweet stuff. A dozen other experiences with names like Bounty of the Sea, Oyster Obsession, and Spudtastic are built around the Island’s culinary riches.

Chasing the PEI dream

Back on The Lobster Lovers Experience with the Fiddling Fisherman, the sun is just dipping below the horizon as Captain Chaisson heads back to Souris. We’re watching the scenery drift by as he’s trying to put his finger on why this adventure is so popular. “It’s the real thing. Part of this experience is to pick the lobsters out. We throw anchor, cook up the lobster, and watch the sunset. Then, when they think they’ve had it all, I take out the fiddle and serenade them.”

Darcy RhynoJJ Chaisson, the Fiddling Fisherman, playing for guests at dinner

All this is true, but I have my own theory. The experience is more than just an adventure the Chaissons enjoy providing to their guests. Aboard “Chaisson A Dream,” a boat named for their lifestyle in pursuit of the two things that mean the most to them—traditional Island music and the family tradition of fishing the sea—this adventure defines them. It’s who they are as Prince Edward Islanders.

For a full list of Authentic PEI Experiences click here.