Monday, July 31, 2023
This morning we left our campground home for the past four nights and resumed our road-tripping. Leaving from Kentsville, we are driving counterclockwise around Nova Scotia island and as in the US, we are avoiding interstate type roads whenever possible and driving the more scenic, rural, routes. First stop was at Margaretsville Lighthouse. It was built in 1859. The lighthouse was automated in 1963 and the Coast Guard still maintains the light to help fishing vessels and recreational boaters. Just a short distance down the road at Port George is another lighthouse that we just sort of stumbled upon. It was built in 1888 and was only 21 feet high. The lighthouse is no longer in use and is maintained for historical purposes by a local group. Next was the Hampton Lighthouse which was actually the one we set out to find today. It is a white wooden pepper-shaker style tower, topped with a red roof. This lighthouse is also maintained for historical purposes.
You never know what you will find when you are looking for lighthouses. At the Hampton light, just down below the light, in the harbor, we found some lobstermen emptying their boat of many heavy lobster traps and various ropes and supplies. There was some heavy duty work going on and they seemed in a hurry. We learned that today was the end of lobster season so all traps had to be off the water by 6:00pm. In the case of this boat, on the Bay of Fundy, there was less time to do the work because they had to get the boat emptied and repositioned to its slip before the tide was out so far their boat would be resting on the floor of the bay waiting for the tide to come back in. (after the 6pm deadline). The men’s wives and children were there helping and all seemed to be in somewhat of a celebratory mood because the men would be back home rather than out on the boats. It was fun to watch.
As we continued to loop around Nova Scotia, we headed out on a little spit from Digby called the Digby Neck. The first ferry took us from Digby to Long Island. Long Island is home to Balancing Rock. We hiked out to the rock, read the sign boards, took some pictures and then drove on to another ferry for a longer ride from Long Island to Brier Island. We were later than we planned arriving, so we haven’t explored the island yet but in the morning we will be boarding a boat for a whale watching trip. Hopefully the whales will be active and we will get some great photos.
RVing With a Purpose 