Nova Scotia

Bay of Fundy at low tide, Five Island Provincial Park

We had difficulty getting reservations on the ferry from PEI to Nova Scotia, so we decided to travel back across the Confederate Bridge.  Unfortunately for me, this eight-mile-long bridge had a substantial wait in the middle due to construction.  My grandmother’s fear of bridges began to work on me… I was ever so grateful when we hit dry land.

We continued our travel along the Bay of Fundy, through logging forests along Chignecto Bay, around the Minas Channel into the Minas Basin.  The bay continues to narrow along this stretch of the Minas Basin, making it the highest tidal bore in the entire world.  This natural phenomenon is quite evident along the beaches where the tidal flats melt into the sea.   They are hundreds of yards out at low tide, while they lap at the stony beaches at high tide.  Unfortunately, we have awakened to thick fog every morning and have been unable to photograph the highest tides to offer a photographic comparison.

View from Five Island Provincial Prak

We spent our first night at the lovely Five Island Provincial Park.  Rox and I decided to take a photo stroll.  Half way into our walk, we were caught in a downpour.  It was warm enough, however, that the rain felt great.  Thankfully, we were able to make it back to camp before getting completely soaked.  Later we picked crab apples from one of the many apple trees in the campground.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to make some applesauce in the next few days

We drove to Truror the next morning to have the oil changed in the truck and the tires rotated.  We also did laundry and picked up a few groceries.  The town was busy and David and I were glad when our errands were done.

We had learned that there were more Sandpipers to be seen further up the Minas Basin, along Evangeline Beach.  So we headed there on a lark to see what we could see.  

We arrived late in the afternoon and set up camp at a private campground just yards away from the look out point.  A stroll to the beach that evening quickly drove us back to the camper.  The gnats or “no-see-ums” were just dreadful along the shoreline. 

High tide wasn’t until noon the next day, so we had a leisurely morning before heading back to the beach. Thankfully, the thick fog burned off by the time we arrived at the lookout point (or “look off” as they say here). 

The lookout area is about 50 yards in length and about fifteen feet above the actual shoreline.  Large boulders seem to hold back the sea.  There is a metal staircase down to the beach, but signs are posted everywhere requesting that onlookers stay off the beach during high tide so that the birds could roost.  

Unfortunately, several folks were rowing long, kayak-looking boards along the shoreline.  A photographer had also set up his chair near the birds.  The flocks tried to roost around him but were skittish and unsettled.  At one point, the entire flock split on either side of him, then rose into the air to find a calmer resting place.

The Evangeline Beach site was obviously better known than Mary’s Point.  Approximately 50 folks gathered to watch the birds, many coming and going as high tide passed.  There were not as many birds gathered here as we had seen before, but the higher vantage point made it easier to photograph their numbers in some respects. 

We met a young college intern using his spotting scope to find birds that had been banded by his study.  He asked me to tell him if I saw a bird with a band on his right front leg.  I had to laugh… with this number of birds gathered so closely together and our vantage point of looking down at them, I wondered how he would ever located one with a tiny white band on his leg!

Sandpipers on Evangeline Beach, Nova Scotia.
If you locate one with a banded right leg, please let me know!!!

We heard from several folks that the Blomidon Provincial Park would be worth visiting.  It was barely two hours up the road from Evangeline Beach.  With our later than normal start, we decided to make it our next stopover.  On our drive, we crossed through beautiful orchards, “u-pick-em” flower gardens, and acres and acres of cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower fields. 

Flowerfield in Wolfville, Nova Scotia

As we set up camp, a small creature caught David’s eye.  I quickly grabbed the camera and tried desperately to capture this tiny little thing on film.  I must have chased him for a good twenty minutes.  He dodged left and right, tunneling under the grasses, scooting along the edges of roots, and dashing across open areas.  We think he is a shrew of some kind, judging from the length of his nose.  We will have to wait until we have good internet connection to name him.  He was immensely tiny… his body was less than an inch long.  He was also incredibly fast.  We were amazed to find him out and about in the middle of the afternoon.

Blomidon Provincial Park was a lovely spot, set on a crest overlooking the Bay of Fundy.  As we sat out that evening, we realized that we had now traveled the bay from its beginning in New Brunswick, all the way around to Blomidon, covering approximately two-thirds of the bay’s entire beachfront. 

View from Blomidon Provincial Park

Tonight would be our last night on this phenomenal bay.  We decided to hike the Jodrey Trail to the lookout point, which would give us a view of Five Islands.  As we hiked deeper into the woods, however, we heard distant thunder coming ever closer.  Discretion being the better part of valor, we turned back to camp.

About a half hour later, we were again in a deluge and quickly entered the camper.  The morning fog was so dense that we could barely see twenty feet in front of the truck.

So we say farewell to the Bay of Fundy.  We have heard of a wildlife refuge near Shubenacadie that has wild ponies on it.  Today, that is our destination.  From there, we travel on to the northern shore of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton.

Nova Scotia on Dwellable