Chester Basin....We think the schooner in the background may be "Bluenose II".
From the looks of the realtors' windows, the prices, compared to home, are extremely reasonable for property.....almost tempting enough to think about selling off on the west coast, and purchasing some waterfront here, and still have a bit left over for investing, or blowing. But.....we happen to be seeing this lovely place on a warm sunny day. The fog is just offshore, and winter here would certainly find me gone south, and broke again. So realism has set in, and saved me from turning myself into a Maritimer!
We also liked the looks of Mahone Bay, another fine-looking east coast village, with numerous sailing and realty opportunities. We are still settling for the sights, instead. We continued on to Lunenburg Harbour, and walked the town, admiring the old village which has been retro-restored, and is very nautical in every way. I think, perhaps, that it has gone maybe a bit too touristy now, and I preferred Mahone Bay or Chester....but still liked the town.
Tall Ship "Concordia", in Lunenburg
When we got as far as Bridgewater, we stopped for a late lunch, and I tried to telephone a friend, Heather, who has moved to this area, and we maintain a Facebook relationship. No luck with the phone number, however, so we continued on, past Liverpool, which seems to be famous for its Outhouse Museum. We didn't stay for that, however, and continued a short way beyond, for a campsite at White Point Beach. The proprietor there was very friendly, and the rates reasonable. We were the only tent there, and had much of the place to ourselves, so availed ourselves in getting caught up on laundry, email (sorry - didn't get the Blog done), and a fine fondue for dinner. The weather forecast had been for clear conditions, so we hadn't put our tarp out, but during the early morning (0300) a rainshower started up, and we had to quickly set up the tarp. By morning, however, the weather was again clear, and we packed up and continued around the southern end of the province.
About an hour into our Friday morning drive, we reached the village of Shelburne, which has a complex of 4 museums, all placed along a pretty waterfront. We wandered the streets and took the museum tours, becoming more impressed by the minute by this lovely village. The Dory museum is the last surviving dory-building place in the area, and was very interesting and educational.
Building dorys in Shelburne
There was also a shipbuilding museum, an old Store, and a County Historical Museum. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Shelburne, and would recommend this as a stop for visitors to NS. We then continued on past the furthest point South in the Canadian Maritimes, Cape Sable Island and Shag Harbour, whose principal claim to fame seems to be its geographical location and a UFO sighting/crash (maybe?) in 1967. We decided to pass this by, and continued on to Yarmouth on the southwest portion of the Nova Scotia Peninsula, and the beginning of the Acadian Shores area of the province. The town seemed to us to be on hard times, mostly a blue-collar town which has become poor. So we decided to continue even further on (this had originally been our destination for the day), and drove along a fog-shrouded highway, northbound again, on the west side of the province. We broke out of the fog about 40 KM south of Digby, and determined that this would become our new destination for the day. As we approached the town, however, a motorcycle in front of us started weaving (saddlebags were shifting), and wiped out ahead of us. We had to stop, and assisted with traffic control until the fire/ambulance/police people showed up. The female passenger on the bike had been quite badly mashed in the accident, but we cannot say how bady she was hurt....no reports on the radio since. When we finally arrived at Digby, the campsite we were aiming for was already full, due to "Scallop Days" celebrations.....so we wandered along a bit further, and found ourselves crossing over the Annapolis River, to Annapolis Royal, and a very nice campsite at Parkers Cove. On our way across the river, we stopped to look at a Tidal Power Plant, which collects the tidewater on the rise, and then spills it out over the next five-six hours to drive Hydro turbines. Our campsite, however, now becomes the most expensive site we've come across. For $5.00 more than the other expensive one, it was quite clean and had a view, with limited wireless, but still seems quite overpriced. We still had a good night, however, and enjoyed watching the sun set over the Bay of Fundy for this, our last night in Nova Scotia.
Linda watching a Fundy Sunset
Low tide in a Fundy Harbour
Saturday morning we only had a short drive to get back to Digby, where we'd reserved a ferry to St. John, New Brunswick for the afternoon. In the meantime, we were able to enjoy the festivities of "Scallop Days", and even sprung for a Scallop Lunch at a local diner. MMMMMmmmmmmmmm. We wandered through the various displays along the waterfront, and admired the beautiful views offered by the Basin.
The Scallop Fleet in Digby
We saw the Scallop Queen getting ready for the parade (couldn't stay for the parade, though.....we had a ferry to catch), and watched kids vieing for a new bike in a contest on the waterfront where the children would try to race across some lobster crates in the water (kind of like log burling). By three PM, however, we were waiting for our ferry,and finally boarded at 1600. A motorcycle waiting in the lineup had an interesting rig.....a small tent trailer, to which he had bicycles attached, and camping chairs, etc....amazing how much stuff he was carrying, and all with a bike! I write this section of the blog from the ferry, as we cross back west to New Brunswick. Hopefully we can upload enroute, and then continue the Blog later on from points west.
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