Thar' She Blows

Digby, Nova Scotia August 20 - 23, 2012 Our Current Location 

Seeing a whale rise up out of the ocean and fall back in a tremendous explosion of water is awe inspiring.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.  While in the Digby area we did travel to Annapolis Royal where we played Croquet at Fort Anne;

Annapolis Royal Light House

An Annapolis Royal House

Climbed through the innards of the only tidal generation station in North America;

Played Indian at Port Royal;

	Reconstructed town of Port Royal

Sampled the offerings of two wineries near Bear River;

	Nova Scotia’s only solar powered winery

And wandered the streets of a tidal river town.

Bear River, Nova Scotia

We ate a scallop dinner in Digby, the scallop capitol of Canada, they were so good we went and bought fresh ones to cook for ourselves. Sooo delicious.

Wednesday night in Digby (Pop. 700) and the town is hopping.  Car show and live band on the waterfront.

Fresh from O’Neil’s Fish House

We hiked out to St. Mary’s Bay to see a forty foot high balancing rock then had to run back to the car to catch a ferry back to the mainland.

But the highlight of it all was watching the whales. It started with us waking up at 5am to extremely dense fog. We had to drive 45 minutes to catch a 7am ferry and then drive to a second ferry at 7:30am.  The timing between the ferries allowed for no sightseeing as if you missed the one, you had to wait an hour for the next one. And finally breakfast on a tiny little spot of land called Brier Island where breakfast service was so slow we wondered if we would have to walk out in order to meet the boat on time.

We did make it and got on board as the boat slipped away from the dock and into the fog.  It was eerie listening to the mournful sounds of the fog horns around the boat.  Thank goodness for GPS, we were soon out of the harbor and on our way. They would stop the boat, shut off the engine and everyone would listen for whales coming up to breathe.  We repeated this process numerous times before we finally zeroed in on one.

When we first saw the whales, they were dim shapes in the gray fog. But as the morning wore on, the fog lifted and then we could see the antics of the whales under the clear sky.

So far this has been the most fascinating day of the whole trip. Whale watching in the Bay of Fundy, what an adventure.