Clammin'

The Parks Department offered a class on clamming at 5 Islands park Saturday morning. Bring your own shovel and bucket. No one showed up and tides wait for no man, so I forged ahead solo and untrained. 

Background: clams like mud and the Fundy Bay has large areas of red, sticky mud. One tee shirt shop will sell you a white tee shirt that you coat with this red mud in a barrel on the store porch and they guarantee it won't wash out. 

I headed down the rocky beach and into the mud. Keep moving and it is not too hard to walk through; however, stand still for a couple minutes and you get trapped. More on this later.

Success was immediate! It ain't rocket science. Find a small hole in the mud, stick the shovel in 6 to 8 inches, flip the mud, and find the clam. Of course a shovel full of mud is heavy and the clams are mixed in with rocks, plus your feet are sinking. 

 

The long shot of the beach with me starting my dig.

Just as I was finishing my first (and last) hour of hard labor a tourist family shows up - like I am not a tourist too. The little boy about 5 or 6 wanted to see me dig clams. He had little rubber boots on and the parents asked if he could watch me. He was fascinated when I showed him the tell-tale hole and dug up a clam. 

His parents had questions about clamming and using my vast knowledge and experience acquired over the previous 45 minutes (I failed to disclose the depth of my experience) I answered their questions. I have long known that being considered an expert is all about presentation. 

By this time both the little boy and I had settled into the mud. When he started to panic I reached over to help free a boot. He fell over and acquired a generous coat of the famous Fundy mud. I returned him to the safety of the beach in a condition unsuitable for car travel. His parents took things with good grace. I suspect it was not his first foray into grime. I packed it up and returned to the car which De Anne had stocked with plastic for this eventuality. Sometimes there is difficulty distinguishing between boys and men.

As we departed we watched the parents searching for a water spigot.  

If you kill it, you eat it

Note to Lee: knife is still being put to good use.

Cabin on the bay

I have neglected to show our home for the month. 

A spacious one bed/one bath cabin. The owners bought it just after a bad storm that removed 20 feet of shoreline. The result was a cabin hanging slightly over the water. The first thing they did was clear land and drag the cabin back fifty feet. Second was the addition of a sea wall of very large granite stone topped with basket ball sized stone.

De Anne has been collecting driftwood of unusual shapes. It is an ideal area for driftwood.

It the below picture, taken in front of our cottage, she is walking the shore for driftwood. Notice the skeleton of a pier to the right of her - that is completely covered at high tide.

To add to the woodsy feel is our neighbor the groundhog.

Cape d'Or

Just another drive with breathtaking scenery to the lighthouse at Cape d'Or. Concentrating on the twisty road I was occasionally startled when De Anne would issue forth with a loud "Wow! Look at that!" - which of course I couldn't do for fear of sending us to a fiery death over some cliff. I made her drive back so that I could enjoy the views, but the lesson was not effective since she was still sightseeing while driving.

The last seven kilometers was on a dirt road. (Sidebar: when we arrived in Parrsboro and visited the grocery store we were both struck by all the dirty cars. We have since discovered most roads change to dirt a few miles out of town.) At the end of the dirt road we parked on a bluff and walked down to the lighthouse.

De Anne, as usual, leading the way.

The end of the point.

From the point, in both directions.

On the return trip - fIshing boats at low tide. Note the appropriate name on the nearest one.

Expert tour

IThe Fundy Geological Museum in Parrsboro offers a field trip once a day at low tide along the cliffs nearby that have had a wealth of fossils removed. We signed up for the Wednesday tour.

The customers were just De Anne and I. The guides were two senior geology students from a local college. The male guide was obviously enjoying the trip more than us and, while a bit more reserved, the woman guide exhibited signs of pleasure being in the field. It is very enjoyable to watch people who love their work.

Of course, two college students in their element had no problem scampering over rocks and across slippery mud flats. De Anne, as always, can keep up with anyone. I worked hard not to fall too far behind.

Our guides were regularly picking up rocks and exclaiming "Oh look! Here is proof that ....". The general gist of last 200 million years is that Nova Scotia was once attached to Morocco, broke away, drifted north, was at the the northern end of Appalachian Mountains, and a lot of coal was formed, and a lot of dinosaurs died in the red rocks seen in the picture above, and then we showed up and paid $20 to leave our footprints behind.

The guide climbed the cliff a bit in his excitement to point out some crystals exposed since his last tour. I declined the opportunity to join him; however, did take him up on his offer to take our camera up for him to get the shot using his hand as reference.

Now, you and I may not be impressed, but this was the high point of the day for him.

They even knew the names of the two islands - called (with great economy and efficiency) Island One and Island Two.

We ended our tour where most of the fossils were found and both our guides were able to find several embedded fossils in less than a minute searching through the fallen sandstone rocks.

100 billion tons

After weeks of gypsy travel we have landed in Parrsboro NS. Our home for the next month is a cottage set in a fir forest fifty feet from the Bay of Fundy, or at least a cove off the Bay of Fundy. 

When I say fifty feet I am speaking of high tide. The cove we are on is about 40 feet deep at high tide and empty 6 hours later at low tide. Every day 100 billion tons of water moves in and out of the bay.

For my Indiana friends, think of Lake Monroe emptying and refilling twice a day, and that just accounts for our "little" cove - not the whole bay.

To quote a biblical passage: The Lord giveth......

..... And The Lord taketh away.....

PEI

The locals of Prince Edward Island use only the abbreviation of PEI. Access is across a seven mile toll bridge that charges nothing for the trip to the island and a mere $45.00 toll when you decide to leave. Not only does the pastoral beauty of the island lure the traveler to stay but the the toll to depart too.

We did find a deserted beach for De Anne; however, she did not find any desire to slip into her bikini.

Huge dunes along the shore.

Where the beach ended - large cliffs.

Atlantic coast

We have spent the past two days touring the coast in both directions from Halifax. No mean feat considering the price of gas in Canada. Sure, it looks cheap when you see the signs at $1.37; however, that is the price per liter! 

Everything seems more expensive here, especially if you have any vices. For my evening rum and coke I add rum with an eye dropper. I have purchased one pack of smokes and named each cigarette. At lunch time yesterday we stopped at an unassuming spot and a salad, 5 wings, order of onion rings, and two diet cokes was $31.00 before tip.

Enough whining! Canada is beautiful, and the people friendly, helpful, and exceeding polite. The only culture shock is that Canadians are just like Americans were before Americans got crabby, grouchy, and grasping.

Rant over.... Now back to the tour.....

The most photographed lighthouse in Canada at Peggy's Point.

There were warning signs leading to the lighthouse.

Just to drive home the point - another warning on the lighthouse.

Note the aforementioned black rocks. What we call wet rocks.

Notice the difference a day makes - sunshine! This is still called a beach, even if covered with softball sized pieces of rock.

Halifax

Yesterday we ran the waterfront in Halifax. Several miles have been gentrified with a boardwalk, historic warehouses selling souvenirs, and a mix of old and new boats. 

We had noted a huge, beautiful trawler hailing from Alaska at dock. When we returned a group of teenagers were in a sailing/rowing dory next to the big private trawler. The teens were getting instructions - important stuff like "don't fall out of the boat", and "if we capsize swim to the bow of the boat".

The owner of the trawler arrived on deck to watch the dory prepare to leave. I admired his seeming lack of concern when the teens hoisted the big oars to attention. One slip by a teen and a 10 foot wooden paddle would hit his perfect, as yet unmarked hull. As soon as the dory was released from its lines it drifted the three feet over to the trawler. The dory captain and mate scrambled to push off.

After the dory was out of harm's way I called out to the trawler owner "You are a braver man than me. I would have had a boat hook out." He laughed and said "I didn't want to make anyone even more nervous."

Looking out to sea, the entrance to Halifax harbor.

Along the waterfront.

Fog

Fog is the norm, not the exception in Nova Scotia. Our tour of Cape Breton Highlands National Park in the north east corner of Nova Scotia promised amazing views from numerous turnouts along the coastal highway. Alas, fog made the tour less than ideal. At the end of our tour the fog was trying to lift.

Halifax was our next stop. We will spend the next week exploring this famous town.

Deer Isle

At the end of the island is the fishing town of Stonington Maine. Lobster fishing is the industry here and we watched the lobster boats coming and going yesterday morning in spite of the low tide. 

On the public dock looking towards town.

 

Teenagers, having visited town, set off on 2 wooden, gaff-rigged sailboats for their next destination.

We entered Canada today and will tour Cape Breton National park tomorrow at the very tip of Nova Scotia.

Time lapse

Eager to get down to the sea, we started our island tour at the nearest bay arriving at the 9:00 am low tide - then ending the tour at the 3:00 pm high tide. Both states shown below.

Armed with a brochure promising great vistas in return for a one mile hike De Anne dragged me into the forest of a nature preserve. The mile was measured as the crow flies and did not include switchbacks, granite boulders, or the few million exposed tree roots. Our reward was a pristine view of the rugged Maine coast.

At the start of the trail. Luring us in with an easy trail for the first few hundred yards.

The next stop was selected by me. Just a few yards off the road.

All this free granite! When I think of what we paid for the kitchen counter.....