Friday, July 22, 2016, St. John’s, NL
Day 55

Checked into the Pippy Park Campground and a 50 amp full hookup pull through site is ours for the next 3 days. We visited Signal Hill National Historic Site which rises 525 feet above St. John’s harbor.  It was the site of many battles between the French and the British. The British defeated the French in 1762 which was the last battle between the two in North America. We hiked to the top, including the Cabot Tower and up and down and around the hill. The park trail ends along the battery where several houses are now built precariously on the side of a cliff who only recently got running water. We did not realize that the 1.7 km trail only included the portion in the park. We had another km to go to get back to the park’s parking lot. The hike took us almost 3.5 hours.  We did stop and admire the scenery along the way, including the Fort Amherst Lighthouse across the harbor entrance and the Cape Spear Lighthouse in the distance. And we did take our time during the narrow spot where we needed to hold onto the chain implanted in the cliff in order to avoid experiencing the bottom of the cliff. This spot was near the end of the park trail and a good thing too. If it was near the beginning, I am sure Rosemary would have opted to turn around. We also saw a humpback whale in the distance which was exciting. Dinner at Portobello’s Restaurant overlooking the harbor was good. After dinner, we headed to Middle Cove which has a beach where the capelin are rolling. Capelin is a fish similar to sardines. During July, they return to the beach area to spawn and the fish literally wash up or “roll” onto the beach by the thousands. It was a real happening with people catching the fish in any way they could - nets, buckets, garbage bags.

Thursday, July 21, 2016, St. John’s, NL
Day 54

Slept fantastic, with a little help from dramamine. No praying to the porcelain god! The wrist bands worked or at least thank goodness for the placebo effect. Breakfast was a buffet and as soon as we sat down we noticed we were near land already. The pilot did a great job turning us around and backing in.  We could not even feel the contact with the dock. Getting off the ferry took much less time than getting on. First stop was the info center 3 km away. There we turned the gas back on and started our refrigerator which takes 6 to 8 hours to cool down. Then a half hour drive to Rodrigues Winery and Distillery, a Harvest Hosts host. We do tour and tasting. Fruit wines and brandies. A little sweet for my taste. One wine was a cloudberry, definitely unique.  It is also called bakeapple.  We found out later that name was anglicized from the French, “baie qu'appelle” meaning, “what is this berry called”. We had planned on staying the night but it is mid-day so we decide to move on to St. John’s when we called our campground and asked to move up our reservation a day.  Sure the gal told us. We hit the road for the one hour drive. Five minutes from the campground we get a call from the campground that no they don’t have room for us but we can stay in their overflow area without services for $31.50. Walmart it is tonight. We shopped at Walmart and the Sobey’s next door to fill up our refrigerator.

Wednesday, July 20, 2016, The Atlantic Vision Ferry
Day 53

The big day is here, our 16 hour ferry ride through the open Atlantic Ocean to the island province of Newfoundland and Labrador. We checked out of the KOA at noon and headed to terminal in North Sydney about 30 minutes away. Stopped for diesel as I am told the prices are much higher in Newfoundland. Also got propane at Canadian Tire which turned into an ordeal as its hose was too short.  Had to detach the car and then back into a narrow space on my blind side to get close enough to reach. Checked into Marine Atlantic about 1:30 and got in line. Ate lunch in the coach and then went for a walk. Back to the coach at 3:30 and packed our refrigerator into a cooler with lots of ice as the propane must be turned off for the cruise. We did a good job of eating most of our refrigerated food and everything fit into our big cooler. We drove onto the ferry about 4:30. We checked into our deluxe stateroom and find a king size bed instead of the queen we expected. I take my first dramamine pill and put on my wrist bands. We headed out on deck just as the ship departed promptly at 5:30. We moved our watches ahead 30 minutes to Newfoundland Time, 90 minutes ahead of Eastern Time. We walked around the ship and watched the land pass by for awhile until it got too cold. We passed on the buffet dinner and opted for the a la carte dinner. We both had the halibut and the meal was very good.  Service was a bit slow but it was not like we had someplace to go. The lounge area had “entertainment” of an old guy and a guitar playing our oldies.  He missed some lines as he strained to read the words and substituted some humming. We headed back to our room and enjoyed the running water showers we took. Before bedtime, I took my second dramamine.  To all my friends who tried to get me on a cruise saying once under way you don’t even know you are on a boat, I still don’t believe you! This 30,000 ton boat was rocking!

Tuesday, July 19, 2016, New Harris, NS
Day 52

The day before our ferry, so we headed into North Sydney, about 20 minutes away to scout it out. We go to the tourist info center which surprisingly has 4 employees to just us 2 tourists. You know there is nothing doing in North Sydney when the number one attraction is the Marine Atlantic Ferry Terminal.  I asked for a map of the town and was given a map of the nearby town of Sydney Mines which did have some of North Sydney on it but not enough to include the tourist info center nor the post office which we were looking for to mail some cards. We did walk the downtown and made a purchase at Home Hardware.  Another 20 minutes away, we went to Sydney, supposedly the third largest city in Nova Scotia. First stop the info center at which I requested a map of the town. I got a one page map of downtown (basically 2 streets). When I inquired of a botanical garden I read about, voila, I got a map of the town! Turned out the biggest thing to see in Sydney is the world’s biggest fiddle, right next to the info center. There was a nice boardwalk along the waterfront which we walked.  Also walked the other two streets. Ate dinner at Governor’s Pub and Eatery and had a very good meal, seafood chowder, fish and chips and a Big Spruce Cereal Killer stout. Rosemary had the halibut.

 

Monday, July 18, 2016, New Harris, NS
Day 51

Another 20 mile drive east to the North Sydney/Cabot Trail KOA Campground.  We took a 3 hour tour on Donelda’s Puffin Boat to the bird islands, Hertford and Ciboux. Along the about 45 minute ride to the islands, several bald eagles approached the boat.  Donelda claims that the eagles know the sound of her boat and come to her.  Of course, she throws a fish into the water as we all watch the eagle swoop down and grab the fish and fly off into the distance. Really quite exciting watching these majestic birds fly over our heads and then by us about 15 feet off the boat. When we approach the islands, countless birds of many different kinds, puffins, great cormorants, double breasted cormorants, razorbills, herons, kittiwake, black gulls, herring gulls and more bald eagles among others. The islands are also home to grey seals and lots of them.  The seals seemed as interested in us as we in them as they watch us pass by. The puffins seem like colorful rubber duckies. They have relatively small wings so they must flap their wings 5-7 times a second to maintain flight. When they land in the water they make an ungraceful splash. A marvelous outing indeed.

Sunday, July 17, 2016, Baddeck, NS
Day 50
Today was the Cabot Trail day. Named for John Cabot who arrived on these shores in 1497, the trail is a 300 kilometer (186 miles) loop which includes the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. Our campground in Baddeck is at the bottom of the loop. The day began with Rosemary wearing a jacket. Many places to pull over for scenic overlooks with some outstanding coastal mountain views.  We hiked the Skyline Trail, a 4.7 mile trip to a boardwalk with several levels over looking the cliffs.  Spectacular views but the weather turned sunny and hot and the walk to the boardwalk was long. On other hikes we visited several waterfalls and did some coastal rock climbing. Lots of walking and driving making it a 10 hour day but definitely worth it. The day ended with Rosemary wearing a jacket.

Saturday, July 16, 2016, Baddeck, NS
Day 49

A 20 mile drive east to the Bras d’Or Lake Campground. A visit to the Alexander Graham Bell Museum educated us as to how little we knew of him other than the telephone. He did quite bit more including airplane design and hydrofoil boats.  He also invented a wireless phone called a photophone around the turn of the last century but deemed it not useful or feasible. He and his wife Mabel came to Baddeck for vacation in 1885 and fell in love with it.  They moved here and built an estate called Benin Breagh. That’s it across from the lighthouse.  Bell’s descendants still own and maintain the house but it is unoccupied presently. It is easy to see why they stayed here as the area is really beautiful, at least during summer.  We did a quick tour of Baddeck and its wharf to discover the Blue Nose II is here.  We climbed aboard and hung out discussing things with some of the crew for a bit. Then it was off to Big Spruce Brewing for a sample flight of 4 beers, including “Cereal Killer”, a good oatmeal stout. We capped the day at Baddeck Lobster Suppers. Rosemary had the lobster entree while I had the lobster dinner complete, that included all you can eat chowder and mussels with my lobster. The goal was to pig out on the mussels and pass some of my lobster to Rosemary. Worked like a charm as I had 4 big bowls of mussels to an unbelieving waitress and Rosemary had a three clawed lobster.