One Seal, Two Free Passes, Three Lighthouses, and Four Ferry Rides!

Wednesday, June 5, 2013-

We left Digby Campground and stopped to top off the tank at a Shell station. The man on the adjoining pump said to Greg, “I hope you're having good weather? You must have brought it with you! Thank you kindly for bringing the sunshine!” Greg replied , “We smuggled the sunshine in!”

We soon found ourselves driving the forty miles down the Digby Neck. The North Mountains that run along the coast are divided here from the rest of the Nova Scotian coast as they head out along the Bay of Fundy to the Gulf of Maine. The waters of St. Mary's Bay have filled in the depression. The Neck is long and narrow and has two islands on the lower part. First is 11 mile long, Long Island, and at its end is Brier Island, which is two by three miles in size. We passed lots of lobster traps stacked in the local's yards, and after waiting for the ubiquitous summer road construction projects, reached the ferry to Long Island. It's supposed to make its five minute run across Petite Passage every hour on the half hour, but the road construction seems to have played havoc with the schedules, and the ferries run continuously.

We took in the scenery, including the lighthouse guarding this stretch of rough water, waited and watched the ferry cross the strong current at an angle in order to hit the pier properly, then drove onto the “Petit Passage” with a few other cars. The ferry looks like a landing craft. Both ends fold up and down to let the vehicles on and off. There is a long concrete ramp to drive down. Tides are still fairly high here, so how far you have to drive down the ramp to reach the boat varies with the tides.

Boars Head Lighthouse

Petite Passage Ferry

Grand Passage ferry

Out of season Lobster traps stored everywhere

 A worker came to collect our $5.50 fare, which covers both directions, and Greg commented that it was a beautiful day. His reply was, “Yes! It's a large day!”. We were soon off the ferry on the other side and driving the length of Long Island. At the end we reached the town of Freeport, a working fishing village, and watched the “Spray” crossing over the Grand Passage to be unloaded. The current wasn't quite as strong here because it was a little wider, but still required some fancy maneuvering to hit the wharf just right.
A quick trip and another $5.50 brought us to Westport on the other side and we unloaded up an unusually steep ramp. On the way up the rear end of the RV bottomed out and we heard a terrible scraping sound. The only damage we could find was a scraped off plastic retainer line attached to the gray tank cap. Not necessary. Just there to keep from losing it in case we don't screw it back on tightly.

We drove a mile or so out of town on a gravel road to the Coast Guard Lightstation at Northern Point and had lunch. Then we hiked along the bluff a short distance to Seal Cove. Beautiful scenery with columnar basalt outcroppings, but no seals. We hiked some more, still no seals. Finally we spotted one briefly in the water. Well, it was called Seal Cove, not Seals Cove...

North Point Light

Columnar jointed Basalt bedrock

Blue-Flag Iris

Seal Cove without seals

Trust me...There is a seal out there

Brier Lodge lawn mowing crew

Back at the RV we noticed what looked like a boat on fire in the water and a Coast Guard boat racing to it, so we drove back through town to the other end of the island, by the lighthouse at Peter's Island. A large military plane was also circling over, and Greg spotted it throwing out flares. Just a rescue rehearsal on a “large” day as it turned out. We made one more drive out a gravel road to another part of the island and hiked out to some more basalt cliffs, and to a sandy marshy area that is a spot for the huge number of migratory birds that flock here, but not now... We have been following Spring up the coast, but keep missing the birds! Except the robins who must be riding north on our roof as we travel!

Peters Island Light

South Point

"Small" Fundy tides are still big

Coast Guard and fishermen

Plenty of room on the return ferry.

Since we needed to drive back up the Neck and didn't know where we were going to camp, we decided it was time to head out. Back to the “Spray” and our short ride across the Grand Passage. The guy in the older model sedan next to us, struck up a conversation when I rolled down the window to take photos.
“What do you think of it here?”
“Oh, it's just beautiful! I love the color of the water!”
“Yeah, it really looks great with polarized sun glasses. Where you from?”
“Maryland”
“Wicked!!! How's the weather there? Probably the same as here.”
“Well, it's been warmer than here, but the bad weather from the system that just spawned tornadoes just went through.”
“I run the whale watching cruises with the Zodiacs.” (Inflatable boats with motors.)
“Oh, really? Did you grow up on the island?”
“I'm still growing up!”. He flashes me a big grin with a few teeth missing. “Here take these. They're good forever!” He hands me two free passes for the whale watching cruise.
“Hey, thanks! If we ever get back we'll have to use them!”
“Enjoy your journeys!!!” And we put up our windows and drove off the boat!

The ferry ride back across the Petite Passage was uneventful. Halfway up Digby Neck we found the Whale Cove Campground high up on Northern Mountain with water views on three sides. We were the only campers. Since it was my birthday, we toasted with a nice sparkling white wine from Australia, to remind us of our adventuresome spirits and the hope for a future visit there. I cooked dinner. We had beef heart, to strengthen me as I age, apple salad, to remind Greg that I will always be the apple of his eye, sauteed fiddleheads (ferns) for whimsy and new adventures, and chocolate for desert, because, who needs a reason for chocolate!

We had to have the campsite with a basalt outcrop

 On a whim we put up the local TV antenna figuring we would get nothing. Incredulously, we got Boston, 300 miles away across the ocean! So we got a dose of local news before we turned it off and enjoyed the views and the long twilight. (Inside, because the blackflies were so thick!)