24 July 2017: Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club, Summerside, PEI

24 July 2017 Summerside, PEI –to- Bouctouche, N.B.

Marc-  We awoke to what appeared to be favorable conditions and departed after bringing Sue to the Moncton airport and returning the rental car.  All went smoothly on the land side.  As soon as we were past the Summerside breakwater the winds and waves began to build from the Northwest (the direction we were going in of course).  I gave up on motoring alone and decided to motorsail and tack toward our general destination.  This worked much better than just crashing into the waves.  We made our way over to the NB shore and then the seas and winds dropped off and we motored the remaining miles to Bouctouche arriving at 18:00.  Jean was there to greet us along with a Michigan boater on a 38 foot Ericson sailboat.  Sara and I both really like this place.  We decided to walk  to the IGA for a few food items.  There are lots of nice shops along the way and we returned by the boardwalk along the river.   After dinner we went to the Clubhouse where boaters were planning the next days travels.  Jean informed us of the pending weather conditions.   I was reluctant to believe him at first since the previous forecast was for light winds only.  Sara and I then watched a movie on board Lucy III. 

23 July 2017: Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club, Summerside, PEI

Marc-  Today we went back to discovery of Prince Edward Island.  We took the car North to the Prince Edward Island National Park in Cavendish.  This is the home of Lucy Maud Montgomery and Anne of Green Gables.  We arrived in Cavendish

and missed the Park entrance but found the entrance to the Montgomery family home site.  This consists of a welcome center and bookstore for the many books written by Mrs. Montgomery and the remains of her ancestral home.  The farm fields and paths remain.  The receptionist of course had red hair.   She explained that we could access the National Park from a winding path by the Village Church, cemetery, and old Schoolhouse.  We followed a beautiful path through the "haunted woods" to the Parks Canada creation of the fictional home of Anne of Green Gables.  The site was wonderful set in 19th century PEI with a farmhouse, barns and outbuildings all as described in the works of Mrs. Montgomery.  They even had staff in various costumes imitating the various characters from the books. It was fascinating that fiction was more real here than the reality.

Our next stop was the Parks Canada Cavendish Campground.  This is a first rate facility with welcome center, modern bathroom with showers, and great campsite in a forested area near a beautiful white sand beach.  There are also trails on the bay side of the park going into the local farm fields.  We took the medium length trail and loved it.  Half of the trail was along the bay , through the marshes and over creeks, while the second half was in the forest. Just beautiful.

We also went along to the Beach to see a sand castle competition.  It was then onward to Charlottetown to see the Musical "Anne of Green Gables" at the Confederation Center.  This was an outstanding performance with excellent actors comparable to a Broadway show.

22 July 2017: Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club, Summerside, PEI

 Road trip to Halifax.

Marc- We took the rental car over the Confederation Bridge again but turned left into Nova Scotia this time.  Our first visit and we proceeded directly to Halifax.  The Capital City is built around the large harbor with lots of large commercial shipping traffic.  The entry is over one of two very high suspension bridges (smaller versions of the Golden Gate Bridge).  Our first stop was the Art Museum.  They had a phenomenal exhibition of painting by local artist Maud Lewis.  Her folk style painting are renowned and really grasp life in this Province in her lifetime.  Her house has been transported and is a permanent exhibit.  She painted it in her own way to come and grab the onlooker.  She suffered from childhood onset arthritis and suffered much of her life.  It did not prevent her from being a prolific self-taught artist that sis well commercially.

Next stop was lunch.  Sue had dreamed of a broiled seafood meal and the watertfront had mostly expensive fried seafood.  We found a wonderful restaurant two blocks back from the harbor with various broiled options.  even a vegetarian could be happy here with wonderful salads at the Bluenose II..  Further exploration at the harborfront brought us to the famous COW"S Ice Cream and then the Marine Museum of the Atlantic.  The focus here was on the many shipwreaks including the Titanic.  This was the closest port to the sinking and ships left from here to do the grim task of retrieving the dead and whatever else remained.  Most of the deceased were brought back to Halifax and buried in local cemeteries after all receiving proper funerals.  Another exhibit showed where pirates were hung in this seafaring town (yes there were pirates even this far North).

We had hoped to visit Grand-Pre, the memorial to the 1755 deportation of the French Acadian population in 1755 by the British.  Whole families were loaded on ships, their villages were burned, and they were sent to the 13 Colonies to the South (later to be the United States) where they were not welcomed.  Eventually deportations occurred in other French colonial areas including Cape Breton Island (Ile Royale) and Prince Edward Island (Ile St. Jean).  Some returned years later when the British allowed some migration back.  They found there lands had been given to others by the British King and they had to lease there old farms.  The Acadians survive today in some of these provinces and are united behind the Acadian Flag:

 The flag is the French flag with an additional golden star in the left corner in honor of the Virgin Mary.  We did stop to visit one Acadian museum.  Our return trip was marked by thunderstorms and a ferry crossing of Northumberland Strait back to PEI.  The ferry crossing is free and we ate dinner aboard.  Both ends of the Ferry open up (roll on roll off design).  sue discovered that one of the ferries had been built in the Quincy Shipyard in Massachusetts.  The ferry leave a small fishing community Pictou and crosses to another small fishing village on PEI. The trip across the Strait was smooth with a beautiful sunset.

PEI and beyond

19 July 2017:  Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club, Summerside, PEI

Marc-  This day  we were off to discover more things to do in Summerside.  We visited the local museums and historic houses.  This region was known for its silver foxes that were raised here in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  This brought much fortune to the region as fox furs were in style in Europe.  A single fur could cost $ 50,000.00.  I did see two  foxes crosses the roads in Summerside at night.  The highlight of the House tour was the home of Wanda Wyatt.  Dinner was at Sharky's seafood on the harbor.

20 July 2017:  Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club, Summerside, PEI

Marc-  With Marie Bedard's help we obtained our rental car early and went off together to visit Charlottetown, PEI.  This is the Capital of PEI and its only city and a fine one it is.  The downtown is full of shops, restaurants, the Provincial Parliament, a performing Arts Center, major port facilities including the Cruise ship terminal and several marinas. We walked all over and enjoyed lunch with Marie.  She departed for Halifax and we drove down the coast to the small fishing village of Victoria.  Victoria is a gem.

It has two fishing piers and is an active fishing port. There are two restaurants on one pier.  It has a lighthouse to guide the mariners into port.  The water is quite warm and the village beach is bright red.  One shop did a big business of renting kayaks and paddle-boards.  I noticed lots of people swimming here, old and young alike.  We walked up and down the several streets stopping in to see local artist's shops, a coffee house, and a general store.  There was even a used book shop and an Antiques shop.

21 July 2017:  Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club, Summerside, PEI

Marc-  Another car travel day today with a trip back to New Brunswick over Confederation Bridge (this huge structure is 9 miles long). We went south to  Fundy National Park.  Headquarters indicated the best camping areas:   Chignecto and Point Wolfe.

The view coming down from the mountains of the Bay of Fundy was stunning. You can see clearly over to Nova Scotia.  We decided on Shiphaven as it had good hiking trails as well as a noted campground (Point Wolfe).  We first stopped a beautiful waterfall trail (Dickson Falls).  The 3 kilometer hike was well worth it.

Next stop was just after the Covered Bridge.  This was the location of a sawmill in the gorge.  The tidal river through here is very impressive with 40 foot tides.  We took the hiking shore trail from here along the cliffs to the campground.  The abundance of  yellow birch and fir trees kept us in the shade on this very warm day.

 The Shiphaven campground was very well done with bath facilities with showers and shaded campsites.  We toured an Otentik site with a Ranger.  This is a rather large tent that sleeps 6 in real beds and includes a wood floor with furniture. It even has electric heat.  This all comes at a cost of about $ 100 (Canadian) per night.  Back to the trails and the beach.  We found several ravines with water flowing down small streams.   Cairns had been built in a few of the streams.  The vegetation in the ravines has everything from lime colored mosses to flowers and the ever present fir trees.  The trails were narrow but well maintained and they went all the way to the Sea.  The beach was rather elusive as we arrived at low tide and it was about a mile away.  The river bed was mixed of red sand and gray stones.  The shore was high and rocky.  I ventured all the way to the Bay to find cool water.

Our last stop at Fundy was near the fishing village of Alma. Here we found what a New Brunswick fisherman does with his boat at Low tide.  The harbors all dry out here so boats are built to withstand sitting on the bottom.  We found a local eatery for Oysters and other fine food.  

Our next stop was the Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park nearby.  This rocky shore is outstanding for its cliffs, caves and very interesting giant rocks.  We walked along the rocks that towered above us, through caves and into the sea.  Near Moncton, NB we found a roadside restaurant:  Log Cabin Family restaurant with excellent seafood and fair prices.