Nova Scotia – At last!

Cape Breton Island

Slightly more than two months had passed since we left home for Nova Scotia when we finally arrived on Friday, July 20^th.

The ferry crossing from PEI to Nova Scotia turned out to be non-eventful! (Only felt a touch of seasickness.) We arrived about an hour before scheduled departure and were first in the RV line.  Many more lined up behind us as the departure time neared. We were surprised to see semis and huge equipment trucks getting in line too. The ferry was late arriving but we had a great view of it docking and discharging all the cars, RVs and big trucks. 

Waiting in line to board the ferry.

Watching the unloading of the ferry.

Once our turn to load arrived it went fast and smoothly and we soon were parked surrounded by big truck rigs on a lower level. All the cars were parked on levels above us. Everyone was told to leave their vehicles and go above.  We left Missy, Bella, Keeker and Ellie, the dogs and cats, in our truck confident that they would curl up and go to sleep.

Parked alongside the semis.

We joined the other drivers and climbed the steps to the enclosed upper deck where you could stay out of the weather and purchase something to eat. But most of us lined the rails outside to watch the departure.

In the fresh air on the upper deck.

Once we were at sea Jim and I went inside and after a few minutes we felt the start of seasickness begin so we headed back outside for some fresh air.  That seemed to do the trick and luckily the ocean was calm. The rest of the trip was fine.

Passing the ferry going to port we just left.

Arriving in Nova Scotia!

Before we left PEI we made reservations at the Glenview Campground in Whycocomagh, Nova Scotia (don’t ask how to pronounce that!) and were discouraged to find it packed full with semi-permanent campers using the camp for seasonal use. It felt like we were parked on someone’s front lawn. Since we didn’t plan to spend much time in camp it really didn’t matter.

Cape Breton Island is part of the northeast side of Nova Scotia. We were told we would find eagles, hawks and moose on the two northern most mountains but it was not to be.  The scenery was spectacular but there was no wildlife to be seen.

One of our excursions involved crossing a channel in a huge lake on a small ferry to reach a town called Sydney about 40-50 miles north of our camp. 

                                

                        Small ferry arriving to take us across channel in huge lake.

Unloading

Unloading on the other side.

Our last day there, July 22^nd, was devoted to driving the Cabot Trail, outlined in yellow on the map below and stopping at Meat Cove at the very northern tip of NS. We had thought of moving to the campground there but after driving the roads to get there we decided it wasn’t a place to bring a big 5^th wheel. It was a great Trail for a motorcycle ride and we were wishing we had the motorcycle with us.  In fact, there were motorcycle riders all over the Provence. 

We had almost returned to camp when Jim finally spotted a bald eagle perched atop an electrical transmission pole. It wasn't a place we had hoped to photograph an eagle but we took its photo nonetheless!