East Coast Trip 2024

Morell, Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) / 7:49 a.m. / 16 degrees to Morell, Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) / 4:02 p.m. / 24 degrees for a total of 252.5 km of driving. We are heading out today, a gorgeous beautiful morning, to venture to the other side of the island.  As per the P.E.I. map there is a lighthouse not far from our hotel cottage.  What it did not outline is that it was a muddy drive in to “St. Peter’s Harbour”.  This area used to be a busy fishing port  named Havre St. Pierre.  It was a real working harbour and what remains today are the pilings where the wharves were sitting.  See pictures. We saw a red maple tree, it is not a common site in the east coast.   Stopped to check out Greenwich Beach and the beautiful sand dunes.  Came upon a researcher whose work (and that of his colleagues) involves monitoring the sand dunes.  It was a 20 year project that was to wrap up just before Hurricane Fiona hit P.E.I back September 2022. ...

 Morell, Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) / 8:15 a.m. / 14 degrees to Morell, Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) / 9:15 p.m. / 16 degrees for a total of 482 km of driving. We had breakfast in the hotel cottage before heading out for the day.  It is raining lightly but that won't dampen our day. We will make our way toward Cavendish, P.E.I.  The rain has stopped, with a light mist and cloudy.  The roads are pretty good thus far.  We noticed these black things floating in the water as we mentioned before. The black pods in the water are very similar to one's we saw in Nova Scotia.  So we pulled into the wharf and got out of the vehicle and we could hear singing.  We walked over to the container box (their work area) that it was coming out of and these 3 men were in there. One was singing and the other two were harmonizing along with him. We then asked what they were doing and they explained they were prepping pods for oysters, so we asked a few questions about t...

 Antigonish, Nova Scotia / 7:22 a.m. / 7 degrees to Morell, Prince Edward Island (P.E.I) / 6:30 p.m. / 17 degrees for a total of 258.7 km for driving. Today we will be leaving Antigonish and heading to Prince Edward Island (P.E.I) via ferry.  We will return to finish the areas in Nova Scotia we have not yet seen. Prior to heading to Caribou, Nova Scotia to get our ferry we will drive the loop above Antigonish on highway 237 to Ballantyne's Cove and back down highway 245.  What a nice drive and some beautiful properties.  We enjoyed it. The Northumberland ferry between Nova Scotia and P.E.I. runs 4 times per day.  8:30 a.m. / 11:45 a.m. / 16:30 p.m. / 19:30 p.m.  What is interesting about this ferry is that it is free, first come first serve basis.  Having said that, you can reserve a ticket if you want to ensure your spot.  For us the cost would have been $87.75 (round trip).  In summary, it is free to arrive in P.E.I.  It costs you to l...

Antigonish, Nova Scotia / 7:57 a.m. / 9 degrees to Antigonish, Nova Scotia / 3:50 p.m. / 12 degrees for a total of 354.2 km of driving. What a nice surprise to start our day with blue skies and the sun shining.  Earlier forecasts called for potential rain. We had a delicious breakfast (included with our stay) at Microtel hotel.  Nice hotel built in 2021.  Great staff as well.  We would stay here again. Today we are continuing to explore Nova Scotia and head down towards to Cape Canso before making our way back to Antigonish for a second night. We noticed in the water ways after Cape Canso near Upper Whitehead (Georges Road) what may be salmon farming, we are not 100% sure and will continue to ask some locals.  Picture included below.  An interesting site from a distance. As we travelled along, we came upon a small provincial ferry (no cost) between Isaacs Harbour and Port Bickerton.  The enjoyable ferry cable ride was about 5 minutes.  The co-pilo...

Sydney River, Nova Scotia / 7:46 a.m. / 14 degrees to Antigonish, Nova Scotia / 5/15 p.m. / 13 degrees for a total of 350.1 km of driving. Glorious beautiful day today. We stayed at the Comfort Inn in Sydney River last night.  We like the easy walk out from the hotel to our vehicle.  Hotel prices within the Sydney area appear to be a little more costly.  The hotel provides a free breakfast and it was pretty good (bacon, home fries made with real potatoes not frozen and eggs that were sunny side up but similar to a poached egg). Making our way around the last loop of Cape Breton today.  It was nice to see North Sydney across the water from a different vantage point.  This is where we came in by ferry on Wednesday, May 22nd. One of our exciting moments today and the reason we love to drive the secondary routes is what you may see that you would not normally see when driving on a main highway or interstate.  We saw not one but two bald eagles guarding their ne...

Baddeck, Nova Scotia / 7:13 a.m. / 11 degrees to Sydney River, Nova Scotia / 4:14 p.m. / 23 degrees for a total of 486.2 of driving. As we left Baddeck, it was overcast and spitting rain.  We had a massive thunderstorm overnight with heavy rain, thunder and lightning.   We drove past the Alexander Bell Historic Site in Baddeck.   We stopped for gas in Whycocomagh at an Esso.  So surprising to still see “full service” gas stations.  This is the 2nd one we have stopped at.  We have also noticed thus far within Nova Scotia and Newfoundland that none of the gas stations have the requirement to pre-pay.  Those that we have stopped at anyhow.   The weather is clearing up and the sun is coming out.  What we have noticed is that Nova Scotia does have a similar issue as Newfoundland…pot holes.  Especially on the secondary roads we have travelled in Cape Breton so far.   Need to be aware of the naming conventions when selecting which town you...

 Baddeck, Nova Scotia / 7:36 a.m. / 12 degrees to Baddeck, Nova Scotia / 5:30 p.m. / 15 degrees for a total of 361.0 km of driving. Checked the weather and we decided to travel the Cabot Trail today although it is a little foggy and overcast.  Note: We were not aware that the Cabot Trail Relay was scheduled for the weekend of May 25 & 26 with runners coming in from various locations including the United States.  The event is out of Baddeck with registration Friday evening and the run going from Saturday morning until Sunday morning.  Therefore, we decided that we will leave this area Friday morning before the large crowds arrive. First stop on the trail was "The Clucking Hen Cafe & Bakery", we shared a cinnamon roll (one of Carol-Ann's favourite and this one did not disappoint.)  We also bought a pecan butter tart to share later. Note: It was also good.  A cute little cafe, worth a stop.  We also checked out "Wrecked Cove General Store" a small...

 Port-aux-Basques, Newfoundland / 7:13 a.m. / 6 degrees to Baddeck, Nova Scotia / 9:07 p.m. / 13 degrees for a total of 59.1 km of driving. Today we bid farewell to Newfoundland as we prepare to take the seven (7) hour ferry at 11:45 a.m. from Port-aux-Basques, Newfoundland to North Sydney, Nova Scotia.  Although many friends, family and residents of Newfoundland we know advised us to take the overnight ferry that leaves at 11:30 p.m. and book a cabin to sleep, we opted to do the daytime ferry as it was our first time and we wanted to look around and maybe see whales (if it was possible).  We were also told to book early which is very important during the peak period (July & August).  We did book our ferry back on March 21, 2024 with Marine Atlantic before the end of their spring sale (25% off) which ended March 27, 2024.  In addition, we paid to reserve seats in an area accessible by key card instead of sitting in the common area as we will have an assigned...

 Cornerbrook, Newfoundland / 11:05 a.m. / 17 degrees to Port-aux-Basques, Newfoundland / 5:21 p.m. / 8 degrees for a total of 313.6 km of driving. We had breakfast at Jungle Jim's (attached to the hotel) before starting our day. We each had omelettes, home fries and toast.  Very good omelettes and quite large. We stopped at the Travel Information Kiosk across from the hotel but it is still closed for the season.  It started out as overcast and then turned to rain as we make our way around the city to do a brief tour.   The roads in this city are either going up large hills or down the other side.  We read there is a large pulp mill here in Cornerbrook so we did a drive by.  In Ontario and Quebec we are used to seeing large trees. even British Columbia's are larger and thicker than the one's at home.  The one's here are mainly pine trees and a lot slimmer 4-6 inches round.  We drove past the Western Memorial Regional Hospital and commente...

 King's Point, Newfoundland / 6:56 a.m. / 3 degrees to Cornerbrook, Newfoundland / 4:54 p.m. / 20 degrees for a total of 402.4 km of driving. After leaving our hotel room at Roy's Pub, Dining, Motel and Event Centre in King's Point, we returned to where we had seen the whale on Sunday, May 12th, which was a couple of kilometers away.  Such a beautiful morning, the sun is shining, the waters are so calm, you can see the reflection on the water.  Perry spoke to one of the locals (tried to speak to one of the locals who had the full newfie dialect) and understood that we should travel around the cove.  We drove around the cove towards Rattling Brook.  Such a great recommendation as not only could we see a whale but we could actually hear the whale (the sound from his blowhole), music to our ears.  Such a sweet sound!  We are feeling so, so fortunate once again!  After about two hours and having so much fun following the whale, we were on our way....