Nova Scotia - Halifax

Another place on my must see list was Halifax.  I've heard a lot about Halifax over the years, comparisons drawn between Halifax and Victoria, port cities on the opposite sides of the continent, and I generally like cities so, this being the largest city in Nova Scotia and the capital, we made a plan to go there.  Halifax is a major port city and has a long maritime history.  Waterfront warehouses known as the Historic Properties recall Halifax’s days as a trading hub for privateers, notably during the War of 1812.  It was also the major port of entry for immigrants during the mid-twentieth century commemorated by a museum on the waterfront. 

It's a two hour drive from Antigonish so we were prepared to spend the night if we wanted to.  The weather wasn't great but we brought a picnic lunch and bikes to cycle in Point Pleasant Park on the waterfront in downtown Halifax.  It was a bit cool and windy and the cycling was not what we'd hoped but it was pleasant sitting on a bench overlooking the busy harbour, eating our lunch.  While cycling around the park, we visited the Prince of Wales Tower National Historic Site.  The Prince of Wales Tower is the oldest martello tower in North America.  

The British built these round defensive towers throughout their empire.  

I'd heard somewhere that the Tall Ships festival was coming to Halifax but didn't realize it was the weekend we were there and so we were unprepared for the big crowds and also for the fact that there was not a hotel or motel or any other kind of room available that weekend.  Meaning that we'd have to drive home that night.  Nonetheless we enjoyed looking at the ships.  

 US Coast Guard ship

 Galleon reproduction - Nancy loved the balcony on the stern.

The Bluenose

After admiring the ships on the waterfront, we strolled around town seeing the sights.  Opened in 2014, the new Halifax Central Library is a landmark known for it's unusual architecture and amenities, cafes and meeting places.  

At the top of a hill dominating the city are the four forts situated on Citadel Hill constructed in 1749 as a defense against various enemies.  The Fort has a commanding view of the city and harbour and there are people there in period clothing doing period things. 

And we wandered the streets taking in the sights in the old downtown.  

Like so many cities, Halifax is in a building frenzy and much of downtown seems to be under construction, detours and gridlock and many signs of gentrification in progress. But I enjoyed Halifax and look forward to coming back and seeing the changes that are now underway.  

Nova Scotia - Paddling the Three Sisters

Being a kayaking enthusiast, that was one of the things I wanted to check out in Nova Scotia since there's lots of coastline.  Looking online, the place that caught my attention was the Three Sisters at Cape Chignecto Provincial Park.  The Three Sisters are very tall, dramatic sea stacks that jut up from the sea and you can paddle around them at different stages of the tide.  Looked good to me!  So we signed up for a tour.

It was a long drive to Advocate Harbour on the north side of the Bay of Fundy where the tour company was based.  The trip to Advocate Harbour was through beautiful farm country and forests and I was struck again at how sparsely populated it was.  There were towns shown on the map all along the way but they would turn out to be just a little cluster of houses for the most part.  Otherwise, just open land.  Or so it appeared.

From Advocate Harbour it was another half hour to the launch site from where we could look directly across at New Brunswick. 

It was a perfect day, warm sunshine, the water like glass, as the group of us paddled along the shoreline admiring the rock formations and caves.  

And the stars of the show:  The Three Sisters

After paddling to the south side of the Sisters, we beached, and our guide, James, a young Brit, prepared a nice lunch for us: salad from the garden at the tour company office, home made bread, cookies cooked by James, fruit, coffee and tea.  A feast by the sea. 

Here too the tides were a big factor and the water level was much lower on the way back.

In terms of scenery and activities, this day was the highlight of my trip.  I highly recommend it if you're ever there.  And I have to commend our tour company, NovaShores Adventures.  A well organized operation with personable, knowledgeable staff and good gear. 

Nova Scotia - Bay of Fundy

When I first heard about the the huge tidal exchanges that occur at the Bay of Fundy, I was intrigued and so this was something on my must see list for Nova Scotia.

  So we devoted a day to seeing the phenomenon take place. We learned that the best way to experience the event was to first view it at one extreme, high or low tide, then go back at the opposite extreme tide and see it again.  If you go at low tide, you can watch the water come rushing in when the tide changes or or less dramatic flowing out at high tide. The timing of the tide was ideal for us as the low tide was mid morning so we didn't have to rush and still had time to explore the area for a few hours and come back to see it at the other end of the cycle.  To watch the incoming tide we drove three hours to the Fundy Tidal Interpretive Centre in South Maitland where a viewing ramp has been built out over the Shubenacadie River on a former railway bridge.

 

 A crowd of people gathered there to watch the tidal bore, as it's called.  When we arrived, the river at its lowest point:

And then:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYCww43XvEs

The river changed direction as the tide rushed in and a guide from the interpretive centre came out and gave us a little talk about the tidal bore. 

A whole slew of rafting companies have sprung up to take people out in rafts during the exchange.  

https://www.youtube.com/edit?video_id=ZHSefDOB24U&video_referrer=watch

The rafts give you some perspective on the size of this event. 

(Sorry about the wobbly cameraman.)  

Later we drove along the shore where we could see just how far the tide had gone out.  The bay is reduced to less than half it's size at high tide.  It's really quite amazing.

 I asked the guide at the interpretive centre where the best place was to view the tide change at it's most dramatic.  She directed us back the way we had come to the town of Truro where, at the peak exchange, a small wave comes rushing up the by then nearly dry Salmon River.  Not really very dramatic but, in comparison to our tides here, it's pretty significant and it was interesting to see the river go from a trickle flowing toward the bay to a swift river going the other direction.  

From Truro we drove back along the coast and stopped at Burntcoat Head where, as you saw in the sign at the top, there are the greatest tidal exchanges.

At low tide, you can walk across here to the island.  Some enterprising entrepreneur has started a business offering dining on the ocean floor here.  When the tide is out, they do up a fancy dinner for a group.  The dinner hours must be crazy given that the time of the tide changes every day.  Check this out: http://www.novascotia.com/packages/experiences/dining-on-the-ocean-floor/201988

When it was time for the tide to have completed its cycle, we drove back to South Maitland and had a look at the river at high tide.  Quite a difference from six hours earlier.

Low tide

High tide

That made for a long day and a lot of driving so we headed for home happy that we'd seen this sight.  It would be something to cross off the bucket list if I had one. 

Nova Scotia - hikes

Almost every day we went for a good hike.  There are trails everywhere and the ones close to Antigonish were very quiet in terms of other hikers.  On some of the nicer ones we didn't see another soul.  

Hike one was in Arisaig where we hiked through allegedly tick infested woods to the lighthouse.  

 Though there were signs warning hikers of the deer tick type that carries lyme disease, we didn't see any there and later learned that there are few if any deer ticks in that part of Nova Scotia. 


 
 These were taken on the Fairmont Ridge Trail a short drive from Antigonish. Lovely hiking in the lush forest.

On our first venture to Cape Breton we discovered the Celtic Shores Coastal trail or the Ceilidh (pronounced kaylee, more about that later) Coastal Trail, a 95k segment of the Trans Canada Trail.  This trail, built on a former railway bed, starts in Port Hastings and ends in Inverness.  It's a multi-use trail so one encounters a variety of vehicles including horses and ATVs but when we were there, there were few other users.  

On another trip to Cape Breton we visited Badeck on the shore of the beautiful Bras d'Or Lake, a large lake, or series of connected lakes, in the middle of Cape Breton. 

Badeck is mainly known for the Alexander Graham Bell Historic Site located there.  This is a very touristy area and our hike in Uisge Ban Falls Provincial Park, lovely though it was, was the busiest we'd been on. I particularly liked these trees embracing the rocks.

Another day we drove south across Nova Scotia to Guysborough which turned out to be only mildly interesting with some nice older homes.  There was another section of the Trans Canada Trail there so we found it and hiked for a couple of hours.  For the most part, it wasn't a very interesting hike passing through dense, scrubby forest and quite hot.  Once or twice there was a lake or ocean view.

 
Cape George Point Lighthouse is situated at Cape George Point in the Northumberland Shore region overlooking the waters of St. George’s Bay. Cape Breton Island and Prince Edward Island can be seen on a clear day. The lighthouse sits atop a high cliff and guides vessels into St. George’s Bay. The original lighthouse was erected in 1861 and was destroyed by fire in 1907.  The present lighthouse is the third one located on this site which was built in 1968. Interpretive panels are on site. Cape George Point Lighthouse is one of three trailheads for the Cape George Hiking Trail network.

 This was a lovely hike and there were ticks.  As we were preparing to set off on our hike, a group of women were returning from theirs and carefully removing footgear and getting accumulated ticks out of their shoes and socks.  So we were very careful and only found one on Nancy's sock part way through the hike.  Otherwise it was quite lovely with some great views.  

Another unusual feature of many houses in Nova Scotia is the prominent five pointed stars on many of the homes.  Good old Google informed me that the stars identify homes where the family, or members of the family have Acadian heritage as denoted by these Acadian Stars.
 

Next up, Bay of Fundy