Cape Spear - Hallelujah!!!

                                            On JUne 21, we made it to Cape Spear Newfoundland, the most easterly point
                                           in North America!!  As we stood by the
                                           light house we saw at least three whales, we suspect they are Fin whales.

                               
                                          Leaving Argentia sailing to North Sydney, a 14
                                          hour trip.  Mom and Erica loaded themselves on gravol and were sleepy the
                                          whole time, it was a very smooth sailing the entire way.

NEWFOUNDLAND!!!!!

                                             Whale watching tour in Twillingate - Mom and Erica groggy
                                               from taking gravol.

                                                 Gannet cliff at Cape St. Mary's southern Newfoundland.
                                                 One of the largest colonies in North America - gannets, murres,
                                                  razor bills, kittiwakes and black cormorants - we got out on the cliff
                                                  very very close to birds.  Here we realized Dad is mortally afraid of heights.
                                         

                                                                   Gannet into sunset

                                                               Puffin flying overhead in curiosity

                                                                 Downtown St. John's

                                   Port aux Basques Newfoundland - first taste of Newfoundland

                                                  Puffin colony in Elliston, Newfoundland

                                                            St. John's, Newfoundland

Cabot Trail, June 11 and 12

                                                      The Cabot trail through the windshield

                                                        The cabot Trail from the side window

                                          Camping on a cliff in meat cove, Rustana from the beach

                                               Our campsite, no getting up in the night!

After Lunenburg, we crossed to Cape Breton Island and did the Cabot trail, and managed to survive the ups and downs and twisting highways. We (thankfully, Mom would have had a panick attack if she could look out the window and see cliff) went counter-clockwise, putting us on the inside of the road, it was nearly impossible to topple over the edge, even though there were some steep valleys on the inside as well.  Halfway through the trail we stopped at a treacherous campsite at Meat Cove; it was situated on a very steep cliff, the picture makes it look like a rolling hill.

Peggy's Cove, June 10

                                            The Bluenose 2 undergoing repairs in Lunenburg

                                      Erica at the Peggy's cove lighthouse, it was extremely windy.

That day we satarted in Lunenburg where we visited the Bluenose 2 as it was being reapaired from "hogging" Hogging is when the keel loses it's proper shape and sinks in the water as the boat sails. Later we continued on to Peggy's Cove Lighthouse, the most photographed lighthouse in the world due to the unusual setting upon which it sits; rocks.

Halifax

                                                Me steering the sailboat on my birthday

                                     Dad, Mom and cold Erica on the Mar on the Halifax harbour

                                Me and my birthday cake, which we ate at midnight in Lunenburg

We spent my birthday (June 9) in Halifax, which we toured from the harbour on the sailboat the Mar. I was able to hoist a sail and steer the boat for a few minutes.

Prince Edward Island

The Confederation Bridge of P.E.I. and N.B.

                                                        Eeyore the donkey of Avonlea.

                                          The PEI countryside - red dirt! too much iron in the soil

                                           Erica and I being tortured in the old schoolhouse in         
                                           Avonlea. 

                                                      Erica and in front of Province House in P.E.I.

                                              Blossoms  at the Charlottetown harbour

                                                 Anne of Green Gables rasberry cordial

We visited the fictional town of Avonlea, the town in which  Anne of Green Gables resided on the 6th of June.                                  

New Brunswick, June 2-5

                                        The Grand Falls falls, the largest falls in New Brunswick

               Erica and I in front of the worlds largest covered bridge in the world, located in Hartland, NB

Rustana (Rustic Canadiana's nickname) coming out of the covered bridge, Mom, Erica and I had already walked through, so we were able to take the picture.

                                              Erica and I in front of the Fredericton Legislature

                                                             Hopewell rocks at high tide

                                                Erica and I at Hopewell rocks at high tide

        Erica and I waiting near groundhog holes, we didn't see any, ( we only got this close for the picture).

Mom and Dad in Hopwell rocks at low tide, these particular rocks are named Lover's Arch, so named because there have been weddings there.

                                                   Erica and I at Hopwell rocks at low tide

                                                          Hopewell rocks at low tide

               We were lucky to visit Hopewell rocks at the time this Peregrine falcon was nesting her chicks, she was sitting on them at the time, but apparently she has three.

 As we passed through Shediac, we had to pose with the world's largest lobster, that is one of the most uncomfortable positions I have ever been in!

We were in New Brunswick for a total of four days. The first day we did Fredericton. I t is not a large city, we alked around a little, looked at their fairly small Legislature building, and moved on, arriving that night in the Bay of Fundy national park. The next day we went to Alma Beach, and the following day we visited Hopewell rocks, were we got to walk on the sea floor among rock formations. After that we did plenty of driving, our last stop being in Shediac, where we quickly visited a lobster, and then went over the Confederation Bridge into P.E.I.

Alma Beach,. New Brunswick, June 4

A scallop shell at Alma Beach, this one was the best, the other where pale in colour and most were missing peices  

                                           Erica and I trying to get through a mud flat quickly

                                             Snail shells on a rock, there were hundreds there! 

Knotted wrack, there were many boulders so full of  this plant that you could hardly see any rock surface at all.

                                       Dad rescuing one the codfishes that had beached themselves.                        

                                      

       Dad first put the fish here, but we realized that it was freshwater, so we put him (or her) into salt water 

Dad checking on his fish after he had put in better water, he repored that it was starting to move a bit now that it had some oxygen in his lungs 

                                                   A rocky area of Alma Beach at low tide


On June 4 we visited the town of Alma, home of the largest tides in the world. As we were walking along the beach at low tide we came across many freshwater streams crossing our path on their way to the Atlantic. We had had enough sense to wear our sandals, so we rolled up our pants and waded across them, they were quite cold. After we had walked through some mud flats (areas of soft, sticky, mud) we were happy to find that there were pools of water that had collected in dips in large rocks throughout the beach were we could wash our feet. As I was walking I nearly stepped on what I thought was an odd rock. Further inspection startled me thouroughly; it was not a rock but a dead fish. Dad, curious, also inspected it and said it was a cod of some sort, and it was alive! So Dad put it on a piece of wood we found and carried it to the water. Continuing our walk we found yet another beached cod, so we rescued that one as well. We found many scallop, snail and mussel shells on the beach as well as an odd sort of plant call "knotted wrack" a type of weed that grows on rocks and has little pockets of air on its leaves that help it float upwards in the water at high tide to get it closer to the sun.

Happy Father's Day

Happy belated Father's Day all!

St-Jean-Port-Joli

                                                   Erica and I in the St. Lawrence river  

                Me getting draged down, Erica had already gotten out safely, her arm is in the picture

After Montreal, we went up the St. Lawrence river to St-Jean-Port-Joli for two nights. It was another hot day, so we sat on some rocks near the shore and let the waves wash over us. At first the water lapped up to our shins, and a while later, we were getting VERY wet. This part of the river, being so wide and close to the ocean, has tides. As we were getting out, (we were getting water all up our backs) a huge wave hit me and nearly dragged me down, as i was scrambling out, I cut my ankle on a rock.