East Coast
Prince Edward Island - PEI
I crossed the Confederation Bridge to go to PEI. The bridge is amazing, 8 miles long and 140 feet above the water at it apex. On the New Brunswick side there is an Information Center and behind it there is an observation deck I took the shot from shown below. Once I got to the PEI side I stopped at their information center to get some directions and then drove off toward Cape North at the extreme northwest of the island. Along the way I stopped at Summerside to talk to a retired trucker who had taken up the hobby of creating lawn ornaments. He does everything - from creating the designs, woodworking and assembly, painting, and even using real shingles to cut them down to create shingles for the lighthouse and windmill. Incredible! As I got near North Cape I passed a small harbor at the village of Seacow Pond. What a cool name. At the Cape there is a wind farm and of course a lighthouse, but the main reason I wanted to go there was to see the reef the separates the Northumberland Straight and St. Lawrence Gulf tides. You can actually see the difference in the tides, a seam the separates the two currents at the reef. Unlike the tidal change in the Bay of Fundy, the change in tide at North Cape is only about a foot or so according to what I read.
The Confederation Bridge from New Brunswick Lawn ornaments at Summerside, PEI
Seacow Pond harbor near Cape North Cape North PEI welcome sign
Junction of two tides and reef at Cape North Cape North PEI lighthouse
Driving along highway 14, following the Northumberland Straight coastline, I felt like I was driving through southwestern Ontario. I stopped at Miminegash Harbor West along the way to the West Point Lighthouse. There were some quaint fishing sheds and boats that I had to photograph. Another thing I had to ask about was why there were so many buildings with large stars on them. The stars were different colors, including blue, green, red, brown and so forth. It turns out these are "barn stars", symbols that represent different meanings such as wealth, good luck or good health, depending on the color. Linda and I saw them everywhere driving around in Nova Scotia and we could not figure out what they meant. Now we know! Finally, toward sunset, I arrived at the West Point Lighthouse. This beautiful black and white lighthouse was built in 1875 and there is an attached small hotel beside it. I stayed overnight in the hotel and it was the nicest place I stayed on the whole trip. Unfortunately a storm cloud rolled in and obscured what promised to be a fantastic sunset.
Fish shack detail at Miminegash Harbor West Bronze barn star adorning a small house
The incredible West Point Lighthouse at Cedar Dunes Provincial Park, PEI
The next morning I got a taste of what most of the rest of my time on PEI was going to be like - lots of fog! Although it made an interesting effect for photographing the lighthouse, I was a bit disappointed, I must say. I toured around Charlottetown after meandering back from West Point, then not seeing many good opportunities I drove up to PEI National Park at Brackley Beach. I wish I could have been there in the middle of summer on a sunny day! The beaches stretch for miles in either direction. They are wide and sandy, quite clean, with large sand dunes and marram grass, and there was only one other person on the beach, walking away from me toward Cavendish. I found a single lobster claw in the sand while I was out there, and could not resist photographing it. After checking out the beaches I headed over to Cavendish to check out the famous red cliffs PEI is noted for. The ones on the north side are not as tall as they are in other locations, but still they are impressive. I spent quite a while wandering along the top of them, then finally I made my way down to the water's edge to get a perspective from down there. After I was done all this I felt I was sufficiently hungry that I could manage the lobster supper at St. Anne's Church. It was the last night of the season so my timing was perfect. As you can see below though, there was more supper than I could handle! In the shot below is the main course, but what you don't see was the bowl of chowder, the plate of mussels and salad and the desert that followed. Well, I think it did because I was offered it, but there was no way I could have eaten it. What a meal!
West Point lighthouse in early morning fog Boardwalk leading down onto Brackley Beach
Lobster claw on Brackley Beach, PEI Nat'l Park Small lighthouse near Stanhope Beach
The red cliffs at Cavendish, looking west and looking east - overlooking the Gulf of St. Lawrence
St. Anne Roman Catholic Church, home of the amazing (and huge) church lobster supper
Back at Charlottetown the next morning I drove to the the Port-La-Joye/ Fort Amherst national historic site first thing in the morning, hoping to photograph the Blockhouse Point lighthouse along with a view looking across the harbor to Charlottetown. Once again it was quite foggy. I did get a shot of the lighthouse and one shot of the harbor with a memorial to the Grande Derangement (the ousting of the Acadians by the British) in the foreground. It was too early to tour the museum so I decided to check out Charlottetown and then the east coast of the island. I walked around the Province House and its gardens as well as some of the streets surrounding it. A few of the buildings showed they were built as early as 1780. After leaving Charlottetown I drove toward Georgetown. Along the way I encountered a lot of traffic due to the "70 mile yard sale" that was going on at the time. Every farmhouse and business along the highway had all manner of stuff for sale. It would have been interesting to stop but there just was not enough time. Georgetown has an interesting harbor where I stopped to talk to a fisherman that was cleaning his equipment. He mostly caught mussels, and was just starting to go lobster fishing with a new boat he bought. At $3.50/lb for lobster it was going to take him a while to pay for that new boat! Georgetown also has some interesting old buildings, including the famous King's Playhouse, which is beside a really pretty public garden dedicated to A.A.McDonald, one of the Fathers of Confederation who had lived in the area. Between Georgetown and Montegue I had to stop to take a picture of the ubiquitous potato fields that cover the island. Driving on I arrived at Montague where there is another nice small harbor. They also have an interesting pub called Sir Isaac's Restaurant & Mister Gabe's Pub, that had a sign out front proclaiming the best burger in PEI for 2011. Well, all I can say is, they were right! The "Lord of Montague" burger was perhaps the best burger I have ever eaten. If you go to Montague, definitely check this place out. After lunch I decided to leave PEI due to the weather not being all that conducive. So I headed for the Wood Islands ferry terminal to catch the ferry back to Nova Scotia. When I arrived they rushed me onto the ferry, and I no sooner got parked when we were under way. Talk about great timing! The cruise over was nice, with calm seas and warm sunshine to bask in on the upper deck.
Blockhouse Point lighthouse Grande Derangement memorial and Hillsborough Bay
Memorial at Province House, Charlottetown Potato field near Georgetown
Home of the "Lord of Montague" Leaving PEI at Wood Islands ferry terminal