Antigonish is what the Scots say instead of Atissue…. kidding… it’s the main town that services Cape Breton. There’s a definite move away from the Acadian and more into the Tartan of New Scotland. Basing ourselves there for a couple of nights we wandered the town and noted how the Scots and Irish clearly formed business partnerships. More fabulous architecture, like the Town Hall. We do wish outdoor sculptures had signs at times. My reckoning is this is early settlers coming ashore off a boat with their bags. Antigonish has a lot of churches, likely as we’ve found elsewhere due to the numerous religions of the early inhabitants. St James is a lovely one, a log church, dating back to 1805, the current 1861, has the 10 original stained glass windows. Shame it was locked.
Ballantyne’s Cove, not of Scotch Whisky fame, is actually known for Blue Fin Tuna and the interpretative centre that explains the history of the Tuna trade and quite shockingly, how they are line caught. Did you know that when they are hooked, the tuna, being really strong and large fish, then drags the boat around for miles until it’s so exhausted they can reel it in. All that for c. $30k, each boat can only catch 5 per season. The harbour was pretty though! Locally, we loved the colourful post boxes.
Cape George Lighthouse stands prominent, 360ft above sea level with super views across to Cape Breton over The Northumberland Strait and over to PEI in the other direction. The first lighthouse was built in 1861, this is the 3rd and is looked after by the local community. Sadly, no ice cream at this one! Instead we headed to Arisaig Beach and lighthouse come ice cream parlour, what a fab idea! The St Margaret of Scotland Catholic Church has stood proud since 1793.
Antigonish has a relatively small but stunning wildlife area.Wandering around spotting lots of Heron and a belting Belted Kingfisher, we admired the waters and the views. A lovely peaceful spot. We had a good bird count that day including 4 baldies 😀 From there it was back to a final game of Cornhole before watching the meteor showers.
On our way back to Halifax, a route that took us directly south, we stumbled across a load of old boats at Marie Joseph Harbour. Difficult to find out why they were abandoned and withering away but they made for a good photo. Afterwards, we stopped in for coffee with pals from Mushaboom that we’d met at Salton Sea, many moons ago. Great to see them and catch up where we left off, another couple that we just click with and hope to see next year in London or at Stonehenge. From there back to ‘base’ and the clean up crew. Side note, where are the Elf ‘n Safety Elf’s on Canadas roads? We’d have had cones for miles or actually the road would be closed for 6 months 😀
We took some time out from being Sally Scrubber and Simon Sorterouter to see some more Halifax area sights and to take in our rain checked Whale Watching back out at Digby Neck. We had a great day, numerous humpbacks and a couple coming over to the boat to pectoral fin splash everyone on the lower section. It was serene, watching them so close and very calming. Some humpbacks were asleep at the surface, it’s known as logging, as they just float there. We could see the barnacles who’d made the skin their home and the blows with the by product aroma. We could never tire of this.
Halifax Citadel National Historic Site had been on the must see list. A physical reminder of the city’s transition from colony to nation, it was a British Empire Naval Station, founded in 1749. The current fortifications, vital to the defence against the French, Americans and Germans, were completed in 1856. A shot wasn’t ever fired though. The barrels in the gun powder store reflected they’d have put up a good fight though. After the British departure in 1906 it still played its part through the subsequent wars. It does a great job of explaining the detailed history plus the role Canadian troops at the D Day landings at Normandy.
Back down to the waterfront, we enjoyed the Acadian Festival Grou Tyme and live music, with, you guessed it, ice cream. The duo from PEI were fabulous, singing in both languages. The whole waterfront area looks very different in the sunshine! Tiki boats up and down the water. We visited the Titanic Graves Site at Fairview Lawn Cemetery. We hadn’t ever thought about where the bodies were taken but Halifax was the closest port and The White Star Line commissioned 3 boats plus 1 from St John to search for bodies. Of 328 recovered, 150 are buried here. Interestingly, the ship hit the iceberg on April 14th but the graves are dated 15th as the coroner at the time said that’s the date they’d have passed. A somber place to visit.
Another area with a surprise was The Dingle. A small waterside park area, part of which, 95 acres, was donated to the city by Sir Sandford Fleming…. Who’s he you may ask… he’s the very gifted guy who brought about Universal Standard Time, our time zones we use today to give us jet lag. Not only that, he designed the first Canadian adhesive postage stamp. At the 150th anniversary in 1908, of Nova Scotia’s legislature (the first in Canada) he conceived and donated the land for the commemorative Dingle Tower. A lovely waterside walk looking at the oversized houses opposite and the yachts out along the water. The weather over the ever present dock cranes was spectacular. As the sun set and we sat waterside watching seals, a different but fab view.
We stumbled across a giant, 12ft tall, concrete moose at Cows Bay. Noting a slight style resemblance to the Shediac Lobster from over a year ago we discovered it was the same sculptor. Long gone are the sculptures on the beach that were ‘Animaland’, built in 1959, all lost to the ocean. The moose was saved from extinction in 2006 and removed to a car park 😀
And that was that… the van, shiny as the day we got it, was taken to the docks and handed over for its trip home on The Atlantic Sea, that’s the name of the boat, which will also travel across The Atlantic Sea…. See you soon! The van is travelling with its friends, we reflect on so many new ones made.
The Curious Adventures of the Cat in the Camper Van 