DAYS 82-87

After arriving in Maine, our plan was to travel along the coast headed South to keep away from Winter. But, alas, the joy of this trip is meeting people and not really having a firm plan. We met a few folks in a campground who said Nova Scotia was amazing. And we’ve learned to trust what fellow travelers say. We discussed amongst ourselves – We are this close… I doubt any of us will ever get here again if we don’t go now… Breton will actually get to ‘Cape Breton”… What do you guys think?… Let’s do it.” So we bought a $1,300 one-way ferry ticket for our very large RV. Yup, that’s a lot of money for a one-way ticket. And at the time of booking, there were no return sailings available… gulp. Embrace the unexpected (and drink more wine)… I keep telling myself.

Nova Scotia was absolutely epic! This place currently sits in my top three locations to-date… (Newfoundland is my top, so don’t miss that post)

Ferry: Bar Harbor, Maine to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia

It is a tight fit for our RV on the ferry. But Rob of course handles it like a champ and backs it aboard while everyone watches!

The trip was only 4 hours on a high-speed ferry.

Yarmouth, NS

We landed in Yarmouth – the Southern tip of NS. Everything was so colorful and genuine. We grabbed some morning coffee and made a quick trip out to the tip to view the lighthouse and hike the rocks. The tides in this area can change up to 12 feet in a 12 hour period. This mile post sign had a direction arrow for Vashon Island (although I can’t remember how far it was). 🙂

We stopped at this collection of buoys on the side of the road near a marina. Even their garbage seems to be pretty here. 🙂 

Cape Breton Kayaking and Hiking

We had to go to Cape Breton, of course! We hiked out to catch the epic views of Cape Breton Provincial Park and did some sea kayaking along it’s shores.

More pretty garbage. 🙂

Here is beautiful Breton on the beautiful coast of Cape Breton!

Post hike refreshments in her honor. I wish my dad was here to share one of these cold ones – Cheers to you dad!

Tidal Bore Rafting

Honestly, there are no pictures that do it justice. For all of us, this is probably our top activity adventure to-date! Unfortunately, we still haven’t received photos from the tidal bore company. And you absolutely could not take a camera on the raft because you were holding on for dear life and were completely submerged at time. But let me give it a go…

Tidal bore rafting is where you get in a rubber motorized raft and ride the waves of a tide. Sounds straight forward, except that in the Bay of Fundy the tide changes 35-50 feet. So you go out to mouth of the inlet and stand on the sand bank. I asked the guide, “when do you want us to come back” and he replied “Oh, you’ll for sure know when to come back.” As we walked on the sand, we looked out in front of us and could see a 2 inch wave rolling across the sand towards us. Within a minute, the water level was at our shins and rising fast. We ran as fast as we could for the boat. (below are pictures from our Canadian friends, Steph and Pat that were in our boat. They were lovely people.)

The water was to our guide’s waist by the time he jumped in the boat. Once in the boat, we sat in amazement for just a few moments as the tide rushed in. The tide rush creates 8-12 feet waves in the center of the channel. The motorized boat rides these rapids just like you would a normal river, except that the height and falls of these waves are epic. There were moments at the bottom of a wave that we were 100% submerged as the next wave crashed over us – I thought the boat would never surface again. After riding a wave set, the boat would exit to the edge of the channel and ride back upstream to catch it again. We did this over and over again, then all of a sudden the wave set would be gone as the water where we were at had gotten too deep. So we would power the boat up the channel to catch up with the head of the tide again and ride more waves. It was thrilling, scary and unlike anything we’d ever done before. So cool. (and that is coming from someone who doesn’t like water.) We also got to do some epic mud sliding on the banks. The kids loved it!

Here’s some pictures from the website – just for perspective.  At least we have our own memories.

Nova Scotia will need more than one post!