Cape Breton Highlands

Location: Sydney, Nova Scotia

Yesterday we spent the day touring the Cape Breton Highlands -- an area filled with winding mountain roads, abundant wildlife, and drop-dead gorgeous scenery. Reminiscent of Big Sur, the coastal cliffs were high and dramatic, with pounding waves below and a ribbon of road snaking along the highlands.



Along the trip we saw bald eagles, finback whales, and moose. This cow and her baby were quite a distance away, but I managed to get this picture of them using a telephoto lens.



We stopped at an odd tourist attraction called Joe's Scarecrow Farm -- a huge circle of all manner of dressed figures, ready for ... who knows what. Watch the 34-second video to see the entire circle. Lots of people had their photos taken with them, and John found another doppelganger!








The 14-hour ferry crossing to Newfoundland is tonight. Of course, it is cold and windy today -- but I have my Dramamine, and I know how to use it!

Peggy's Cove and Nova Scotia

Hurricane Bill passed by our location in West Halifax today, leaving a lot of rain and wind in his wake. No major problems for us, just a day off -- the nor' easterners in Maryland were more nerve wracking than Bill turned out to be. The rain started around 9 a.m., and finished around 3 p.m. We made the right decision moving inland -- the wind was a lot higher on the shore, and the water accumulated on the lower elevations. Tomorrow we will resume our trip.

There are two memorials in the area worth mentioning -- first, SwissAir Flight 111 crashed off the coast of Nova Scotia on September 2, 1998, 5 miles from shore. Our campground was used as a staging area for rescue/recovery teams:



And second, on April 15, 1912, the HMS Titanic sank 400 miles south of Newfoundland. Many of the recovered bodies were buried in Halifax -- the granite markers show the names where known, or a number where the deceased could not be identified:



And here are some additional pictures of the lovely Peggy's Cove and surrounding area. The lighthouse is the smallest post office in Canada!

Hurricane Bill On The Way

Location: West Halifax, Nova Scotia

Hurricane Bill has forced a bit of a change in our plans.

Today, Saturday, was to be an off day. On Sunday we were supposed to travel 150 miles from Peggy's Cove to Sherbrooke along the Nova Scotia coast, but Bill had a huge bulls eye fixed on Halifax, just in between the two. So we moved 30 miles inland today, to the western side of Halifax, where we will ride out the storm that should start this evening. This not only gets us away from the tidal surges on the coast, but also keeps us all off the road during the expected high winds. We'll be skipping Sherbrooke, and on Monday will catch up with our itinerary by driving to Bras d'Or.

I have not been able to post anything lately as we have not had an Internet connection. If I still have one after Bill passes through, I'll let you know how it goes!

On the lighter side, we took a day trip to Halifax yesterday. In the harbor was this cute little boat named Theodore Tug that took the kiddies for a ride in the harbor:



Remind you of anyone you know?





Thanks for being a good sport, John!

Bay of Fundy at Low Tide

Location: New Brunswick, CA

The Bay of Fundy with it's high, high tides has some very interesting sights during low tide when all the things that are otherwise hidden are visible:

Reversing Falls:

When the Saint John River hits the Bay at low tide, it cascades at the inlet like any river higher than the Bay would. But at high tide things change dramatically -- the amount of tidal water causes the Bay to be higher than the river, and the tidal waters actually force the river's water to flow backward. Hence the name "Reversing Falls," although you need to stick around for a long time to see the full cycle.

Boats in Alma, New Brunswick:

The term, "high and dry" comes to mind!

Hopewell Rocks (or Flower Pot Rocks):

These rocks have been subjected to the action of the waves for thousands of years, and now the bottoms are really starting to show their age! When the tide is out, it is possible to literally walk among them on the ocean floor. See the little people down there?


The park lets you know how much time you have before you will be stranded as the ocean rises -- today getting out by 6:40 was a really good idea.




Down on the bottom, rangers create stone art at each low tide, balancing rocks one on the other until the incoming tide topples them. The secret, or so they say, is to balance the pointy rocks on somewhat rough ones. Yeah, I'm sure that's all there is to it! Two rangers did all this in less than an hour and a half.

Lunch:
While this has nothing to do with low tide, this is one big lobster we had for lunch! John and I split this one claw, and still have the other claw and the tail to fill up one fantastic doggie bag!