Jake's Journey: Five Islands Provincial Park to Annapolis Royal/Digby, Nova Scotia

Where are we today? - Wednesday, September 26 - Baddeck, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.

Here is a broad view of where we have been.

The red arrow marks our spot today.

This is Cape Breton Island, with the red arrow marking today's spot.

But first, I need to tell you about all the things we've been doing since my last post.

Monday, September 10 – Today I took a nap in the morning and a siesta in the afternoon, while Mom & Dad went out exploring. First they went to the Five Islands Lighthouse.

Five Islands Lighthouse with the Five Islands in the background

Then they went to the Spencer’s Island Lighthouse.

There are two ladders that take you to the top. Dad went up to the top.

Mom stayed at the bottom.

Their next stop was the Cape d’Or Lighthouse. It wasn’t far from the parking lot, but the trail was steep.

The parking lot is near the top of the hill on the left.

Then, they went to Cape Chignecto Provincial Park. They hiked the Fundy Ridge Trail which is 5 km. It was a beautiful hike that started in forest and they hiked 410' up and over a ridge and back down to a bluff. Then they went down about 150 stairs to the beach. They returned to the visitor center via the beach.

The stairs came down along a small waterfall

Beautiful hike along the beach.

After their hike along the Fundy Ridge, they went to another section of Cape Chignceto Provincial Park to hike to see the Three Sisters. The trail is only 1.2 km with a 60 meter elevation change, so seemed like a leisurely walk in the park. The only real problem was that the “park” was full of mosquitoes. Mom thinks they filmed the Deep Woods Off commercial here. Despite mosquito repellant, they were still swarmed. They did have some nice views.

The three sisters. One is a bit shy, unless you go down to the beach.

On their way home, they stopped at The Wild Caraway Café in Advocate Harbor. If you ever get to Advocate Harbor, Nova Scotia, you MUST check it out. Dad had Seafood Chowder. It was a big bowl and full of seafood in a nice cream base with herbs. Mom had Scallops with falafel, tomato cucumber salsa, spring onion, and garlic scape crema. They both raved about the meal for days. I thought that was mean, since I had the same old kibble when they got home.

Tuesday, September 11 – Today we drove to Truro. It's raining and gray, but that's OK for a driving day. We stopped at a nice spot with a view of a river and there was Wi-Fi. Mom and Dad worked while we waited a couple of hours. Then, we saw the coolest thing. It’s called a Tidal Bore.

The Bay of Fundy has some of the largest tidal changes in the world. At high tide, there is so much water flowing into the Bay that it surges up the river, changing the direction of the river for a few minutes. This happens twice a day at high tide. That’s why we hung out here for 2 hours. It was very cool, but pretty hard to show in still photos. You will just have to come here to see it.

After we saw the Tidal Bore, we drove through the rain to a town called Annapolis Royal. It’s an important place in the history of Canada and Nova Scotia.

Wednesday, September 12 – Today Mom and Dad spent the day in Annapolis Royal. First they went to the Annapolis Tidal Generating Station. It was built in 1984 and generates electricity from the tide. When the tide comes in, it fills a lake behind a dam. Then, as the tide recedes, water flows from the lake and generates electricity. It's a relatively small plant, but it can generate power for 4500 homes. Pretty amazing!

Then they went into downtown and looked around the shops. They they went to the Fort Anne National Historic Site. European settlers first came to this part of Canada in the early 1600's. Fort Anne was originally built by the French in 1636. Control passed back and forth between the French and the British and changes and "improvements" were made over the years. The British took control in 1710 and the area remained British.

When they first got into Annapolis Royal, they walked by the dock and saw a fishing boat, sitting on the mud. That’s the picture on the top. The photo on the bottom is the same fishing boat, 2 hours later. It shows how much, and how fast, the tide changes here.

Then, they went to an area just outside Annapolis Royal to the Port Royal National Historic Site. They learned that the French settled at this site in 1605. The site was burned in 1613 by British colonial soldiers from the colony of Virginia (in what would become the US). The site has a recreated settlement, built to the original plans, and using construction techniques from the 1600's, showing what it was like in the early 1600’s.

Thursday, September 13 – This morning Mom and Dad went to the Mac Donald Museum in Middleton. They have a great collection of old clocks and watches. Dad likes this kind of stuff.

Then, they drove to the Grand-Pre’ National Historic Site. There they learned more about the Acadians (early French Settlers) in this area and that they were rounded up and removed from the area, by the British, in 1755. Some of those were sent to Louisiana.

Grand-Pre’ is a memorial to those whose lives were changed by the mass removal and includes a very nice chapel.

They had dinner at Hall’s Harbor at the Lobster Pound. They don’t often say bad things about places, but they rated this restaurant a big disappointment. Mom had the lobster bisque which was basically Campbell’s tomato soup with one chunk of lobster in the middle. It was one piece, too big to eat on its own and no knife provided to cut it. L At least it was a pretty setting, so not a total loss

Friday, September 14 – Today Mom and Dad drove to a nearby town called Digby. They looked around the shops in downtown and had lunch at the Crowe’s Nest. This was recommended to them by fellow travelers a few days ago and they agreed it was great! They had scallops and thought it was a great lunch with good views.

The same people that recommended the Crowe’s Nest, also recommended a whale watching cruise. Mom and Dad called, but there was only one seat left, so they couldn’t go L Instead, they decided to drive along the “Digby Neck”, which is a spit of land off the NW corner of Nova Scotia. They took a hike to Gulliver’s Cove. Dad heard a noise and looked out and saw two whales breach, just off shore. Mom has been teasing Dad about Cheap Ed's Whale Watching "Cruise" ever since.