We said goodbye to our friends Owen, Lynn and Maggie this morning as they were headed out clockwise around Nova Scotia. We are going counterclockwise around the island. We had a little work to do today before we left but were in line for our first ferry at 10:05.
Saying “see you down the road” to Owen, Lynn and Maggie
This is a salmon farm in the harbor on Brier Island. Salmon fingerling are placed in the large cages and harvested when the reach a certain size.
This tidal generator could generate power for 100-150 homes when it was operating.
We only drove about 107 miles down to Yarmouth, NS. The Cape Forchu Lighthouse is probably the best lighthouse we have visited. The grounds and gardens all around the lighthouse and the trail are so very pretty. They don’t allow overnight parking or we would have just stayed there for tonight. We didn’t get to go up into the lighthouse today but might do that tomorrow. Anne has a knee that is bothering her so we are trying to be careful. While at Cape Forchu we saw another white Beyond pull in the parking lot. We met the sweetest couple from New Brunswick and we shared van life experiences. They are new Christians and just this afternoon stopped at an antique store and purchased a beautiful 18th century Bible. They were so excited to show us their new treasure. They also gave us some hints on what to do when we go to PEI and if we return through New Brunswick gave us some hints for there as well. It’s so much fun to make new friends as we travel.
Cape Forchu Lighthouse is sometimes called the “apple core” lighthouse.
The lighthouse is on meticulously landscaped grounds …
… with beautiful flowers.
There is also a fin whale skeleton on display at the lighthouse grounds.
Interesting fact we learned today about the rockweed industry in Yarmouth
This is rockweed.
The antique Bible the young couple had just purchased
After leaving Cape Forchu we stopped at a cute little park on the shore of Yarmouth and just happened to arrive just in time to see the CAT ferry coming into port in Yarmouth. That is one nice looking ferry. It runs between Bar Harbor and Yarmouth, is a little pricey but depending on when and what route we decide to take back to the US, we could take that ferry. It was another great, beautiful, sunny day.
Today began with a beautiful sunrise over the waters of the Bay of Fundy. Wow, what a great way to start the day. We were up early this morning because we were going on a whale watching adventure. We ate our breakfast and took our Dramamine and put on warm clothes as encouraged by the tour group. We of course were the first to arrive for check-in but we didn’t have far to go since we spent the night in the parking lot. We were blessed with a gorgeous day. We headed out of the harbor into the Bay of Fundy hoping we could get a few pictures of the whales. We knew the whales were in the bay yesterday, but that is no guarantee that we would be able to find them today. They are wild creatures in a wild environment. We will not keep you guessing. We were able to see and photograph SEVEN whales today. There was a group of three unrelated whales, a mama and her baby, (really big baby, longer than BB) and two other single whales. We also saw several groups of dolphin and several ocean sunfish. We had never seen an ocean sunfish before Interesting to watch but really not a very pretty fish. They have two fins but no tail and swim on their side with one of the fins out of the water. For those that might want to do this adventure, we used Brier Island Whale and Sea Bird Cruises. They are one of two companies on the Island and were the first in the business. They began in whale research and now use the tours to help fund continued research. There were 2 naturalists on our trip, one teaching us about what we were seeing and doing and the other actually doing some research. All the staff were very helpful and we would recommend this group based on our experience.
This morning’s sunrise over the bay
Crew preparing the boat for our cruise
We saw several different views of the whales.
Sometimes we saw one whale …
… sometimes two whales …
… sometimes three whales …
… sometimes close to the boat …
… and sometime right up under the boat.
We never got to see a whale breach today but we did see the occasional fluke.
Whales are identified by the markings on their flukes
Mama and her little calf
Ocean sunfish
This was our other choice for the cruise.
After our tour, we scoped out some spots around the island to spend the night and drove about 3km out to another light house. After that we met up with the You Tube influencers, Owen and Lynn of VAN TREKKING Lifestyle. We have followed their channel (one of our favorites) for several years but did not meet until this afternoon. What a great afternoon we enjoyed with them. We are boondocking for the night next door to them overlooking St. Mary’s Bay. We are blessed to have two new friends that we will hopefully meet up with down the road. We have similar travel styles and likes so… hopefully we will meet again.
After our cruise we sat and watched the tide going out like a raging river. The seabirds sat in the water and floated down the rapids, few back upstream, and did it all over again – almost like a carnival ride.
We also drove out to the Brier Island Lighthouse to see if it was a good place to stay the night.
We opted to stay at the location where we had watched the tides go out. This evening we watched the tide come back in with our new friends. We also watched the cormorants dive down and bring up a fish, only to have gulls steal it.
It’s been another fantastic day on the Summer Road Trip. Feeling very blessed tonight!
PS: After completing the blog we looked out and saw one of the prettiest moons we have ever seen. Had to go back and add it to today’s blog.
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.
Margaretsville Lighthouse
Port George Lighthouse
Hampton Lighthouse
This was the only lighthouse we could climb today.
View from Hampton Lighthouse
Lobstermen unloading their boat for the end of the season
Did you notice the face in the window of the Hampton Lighthouse?
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.
Waiting for the first ferry. The sign instructed us to pull on to the shoulder and wait for the light to change.
Ferry coming to get us
Driving on to the first ferry
The ferry approaching the end ramp
Driving off the ferry. The ferry just meets the ramp at whatever level the tide is. We crossed close to low tide.
We could have spent the night in the parking lot at the Balancing Rock trailhead, but decided to go on to Brier Island.
Part of the trail was this nice boardwalk …
… and then there are the 235 steps down and back up.
Notice how Balancing Rock seems to be so precariously standing on its base.
This tour boat cruised by while we were at Balancing Rock. We could hear the guide tell the passengers that the boat was a better way to see the rock because of the 235 steps.
Waiting for the second ferry. It departed exactly on time.
Another pretty morning, a little cooler at 62 degrees when we woke up. Just about perfect. We went to Melody’s church this morning, and everyone was very welcoming. The sanctuary is full of rich wood and beautiful stain glass windows. They had a newcomers and visitor luncheon after the service and we were invited. We met so many people. There were at least seven different nationalities present. We had some great conversation. After lunch we had to say our goodbyes to Melody, but it has been such a treat to be able to visit her here in Nova Scotia. We will head on down the road tomorrow and she will leave for England later this week. We did our walking in downtown again today. This time we went back out to the sometimes waterfront harbor (sometimes the tide is way out and there is a mud flat.) and continued walking enjoying the views of the agriculture and dikes. The rest of the day was time for planning/resting/relaxing back at the RV park and catching up on paperwork. It was another good day.
The sanctuary of Wolfville Baptist Church
One Sunday afternoons they have music in the park. She is singing “Never Smile at a Crocodile.”
Wolfville has a really nice rail trail …
… that still has the rails in it.
The view from the Wolfville (sometimes) Waterfront Park
RVing With a Purpose 