I woke up at 6 o’clock this morning to the sound of thunder.  For almost two hours, the lightning flashed, the thunder crashed and the rain poured. I could feel our whale watching excursion slipping away.  Then, shortly before 8 o’clock, the rain stopped and the sky began to clear.  We got up and got ready to go.  

The sun began to shine as we drove down the long, narrow peninsula known as Digby Neck.  We arrived a bit early at Tiverton, home of Ocean Explorations Zodiac Whale Cruises, so we walked to nearby Boar’s Head lighthouse.  On our way, the fog rolled in.  When we got back, cruise operator, Tom Goodwin, told us that the conditions were “challenging”, that he couldn’t guarantee that we’d see any whales and that we could cancel if we wanted to.    

We had chosen Ocean Explorations because it was recommended by my sister and because we’d be riding in a zodiac that would allow us to see the whales from water level.  If I had to do it over again, I’d choose a different company.  Some of them offer a money back guarantee if no whales are spotted. I’m betting that none of those ones went out today.  I really think that the operator, with his knowledge of local conditions, should make the decision whether or not to go out rather than leaving it to the tourists who have little or no experience to base such a decision on.  A few people, who live close enough to come again another day, chose not to go out today but the rest of us decided to take our chances.  We weren’t out on the water very long when it became clear that the chance of seeing a whale was slim to nil.  If we’d been told this up front, we wouldn’t have gone.  The zodiac ride was fun but it certainly wasn’t worth what we paid for it.

Most of the time, we couldn’t see anymore than 100 feet in any direction. With the exception of a few seals and a variety of seabirds, including some young puffins, we saw nothing but water and fog. Once, when we stopped to listen for whales, we heard another boat pass by so close to us that we were rocked by the waves of its wake but we never even saw it!  The rest of the time, we heard nothing but the water slapping on the bottom of our boat.

After searching for whales for three hours, we returned to Tiverton.  Before coming back to camp, we did a short hike to Balancing Rock.  The hiking trail is a combination of gravel trail, boardwalks across areas of bog and a flight of 235 stairs.  That’s a lot of stairs all at once but not as many as we did on an average day in Japan!  Balancing Rock is an interesting formation; a huge basalt pillar that appears ready to topple from its base at any moment.

Today’s good news is that Richard’s antibiotic has clearly started to take effect.  After peaking late last night, his pain has started to subside.

The toothache that Richard has been enduring for the past few days has reached the point where it could no longer be ignored.  Until last night, he was convinced that it wasn’t an abscess and that he would probably be able to handle the discomfort until we got home.  Not so!  It kept him awake most of the night last night and by this morning, it was obvious that finding a dentist had become priority #1.  

We had a whale watching cruise booked for today but I called and they kindly agreed to allow us to postpone until tomorrow.  We’re camped at Smith’s Cove, just outside Digby, Nova Scotia.  The campground host recommended a dentist in Digby and when Richard called, they told him to come right in.  He does indeed have an abscessed tooth and is now on antibiotics and painkillers.  In spite of the fact that x-rays were taken and the dentist took the time to prepare a letter to Richard’s dentist back in Camrose, there was no charge!  

Rich will be on the antibiotics for ten days and then, according to the dentist, he has a two week window during which he should have a root canal done.  He’ll call his dentist back home to set up an appointment toward the end of that time.  That should give us enough time to do all that we had hoped before heading for home.  We’ll be here for two more nights and then on the road again.

We said good-bye to Myrna and her family last night and are moving on today.  The weather hasn’t been as nice as we hoped it would be so we didn’t do the golfing and hiking that we might have done while we were here but life is about people, not weather.  It’s about making memories and oh, have we made some good ones this week!  Meeting Myrna has been so much more than we could ever have imagined or hoped for.  Not only did we meet a long term pen friend but we found ourselves wholeheartedly accepted by an entire family.

We enjoyed a quiet dinner with Ronnie and Myrna last night followed by a family gathering around the giant fire pit in their back yard.  The evening wrapped up with another feast of steamed mussels!  

Saying good-bye was difficult.  We often talk about how small the world has become but driving across this enormous nation of ours has once again made us realize how great the distances are that separate us.  I don’t know when we’ll see one another again but I certainly hope we do!  

Ronnie and Myrna

After meeting with the newspaper reporter in the nearby town of Bridgewater yesterday, we made a quick trip back to Indian Point and spent about an hour and a half out on Lindy’s boat!  The sun wasn’t shining but visibility was good.  There are a total of 365 islands in the twin bays of St. Margaret’s Bay and Mahone Bay, one for every day of the year.  We explored around a few of them and into some quiet coves.  It was great to get out on the water and to see some of the places we’ve been walking and driving from an entirely different perspective.  I was even able to get a much better photo of the three famous churches of Mahone Bay than I’d been able to get from land.  

The crackling of a campfire, the sound of water flowing, good wine and great company – all the makings of a delightful evening! Ron, Myrna and Lindy joined us at the campground last night where we enjoyed a wonderful visit around the fire.  Richard and Lindy shared many hilarious stories of their boyhood adventures. We continue to marvel at the many similarities between the two families, one living on the Alberta prairie and the other on the Maritime coast.  It’s no wonder that mother and Myrna enjoyed corresponding with one another for so many years.  

This afternoon, we’re meeting with a reporter from the local newspaper. When Myrna’s daughter, Patsy, heard the reason for our visit and learned more about the long term penpal relationship between her mom and Richard’s, she decided it would make a good human interest story. With our permission, she contacted the local paper.

On a completely different note, as of this morning, there have been 9 999 visits to my blog, not counting my own!  Unless people leave comments, I can’t tell who’s been here but I do see how many visit each day.  I know that many are regular readers while others are strangers who come across it in a variety of ways.  I hope they find it interesting. I love writing it and like any writer, I enjoy the fact that someone reads it!

It looks like we’ll be staying around Mahone Bay a little longer than we’d originally planned.  Not only are we having a wonderful time but we’ve also decided that delaying our entry into the States until after July 4th might make finding campgrounds easier.  

We spent several hours on Friday browsing through the many little shops in Mahone Bay.  Most interesting was Amos Pewter where we not only saw the beautiful finished products but were also shown how the molten pewter is cast into jewelry, sculptures and other collectibles. That evening, Ronnie and Myrna took us to their favourite seaside restaurant for a delicious seafood supper. After dinner, we enjoyed a leisurely drive to the end of Second Peninsula which lies between Mahone Bay and Lunenburg.  

Yesterday, we went to Lunenburg where we toured the very interesting Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic.  Downtown Lunenburg has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and we enjoyed strolling it’s streets and visiting a few shops. We were also able to walk around the deck of the Bluenose II which is in Lunenburg harbour until July 1. The Bluenose II is an exact replica of the famous racing schooner that is pictured on the back of the Canadian dime.  I’m glad we hadn’t planned on going out on one of her cruises yesterday as fog at sea prevented her from leaving the harbour. Unfortunately, it’s also prevented us from going out on Lindy’s boat. Perhaps by staying a little longer, we’ll still have an opportunity.  

This morning, we met Myrna for church.  Later in the day, we were back at the house for a fantastic dinner of seafood chowder.  Myrna had gathered as much of the family as possible together so, in addition to those we’d already met, we had the opportunity to get to know her son, Ian, and daughers, Roxanne and Patsy.  What fun we had as ten of us gathered around the table together.

Late this morning, the clouds rolled away and the fog burned off leaving us in beautiful sunshine. We decided to take the scenic coastal drive to Peggy’s Cove. When we arrived, the famous lighthouse and the rocky point were shrouded in mist but the scene was, nevertheless, quite awesome.  We stood on the point and watched the waves emerge from the fog and thunder onto the rocks below us. Breathtaking!

As much as we enjoyed watching the crashing of the waves, we were angered by the foolishness of some of the people around us.  In spite of warnings posted everywhere, including on the lighthouse itself, many people fail to recognize the ocean’s power and every year some are swept into the water by rogue waves.  As recently as the day before yesterday, a 30-year-old woman from Montreal was rescued from the water. Many are not so fortunate.  We could easily have witnessed a disaster today. One young woman, who sat far too close to the water’s edge, was doused by an unexpected wave and walked away laughing.  I doubt she even realized how close she came to being washed away. We also watched a young man walking over rock that was obviously wet. Minutes later a powerful wave swept over the very spot where he had been.

As well as being one of Canada’s most photographed tourist destinations, Peggy’s Cove is also a small fishing village.  Here’s my favourite photo of the day, taken after we left the rocky point.

Sometimes life requires creativity and improvisation.  On Saturday morning we left PEI on the Woods Island Ferry to Nova Scotia.  As we set up camp near Baddeck on Cape Breton Island, a cable on the tent trailer broke leaving one corner of the roof sagging.  What to do?  We managed to raise the fallen corner manually but had to find something to hold it up.  Looking around at what we had on hand, we decided to try the broom handle.  It worked!  After considering our options concerning repairs and putting the trailer up and down successfully without having any done, we’ve decided to manage this way until we get home and can drop the trailer off at an RV place for however long is necessary.  Today we’ll check out a building supply place and try to come up with something a little sturdier and longer than the broom handle.

It wasn’t raining when we set up camp but sprinkled a bit during the night and the rain began in earnest shortly before we got up the following morning.  It clearly wasn’t a day for the Cabot Trail so we set off for the Fortress of Louisbourg, about an hour and a half away.  Arriving at noon, we spent several hours touring Canada’s largest historical reconstruction.  The 18th century French fortress lay in ruins for many years before the area was excavated and part of the military fort and surrounding village were reconstructed on the original foundations.  Interpretive staff in period costumes played their roles extremely well adding to the feeling that we’d stepped back in time.  At lunch, we were served a warm, hearty meal with only a large spoon to eat with.  Apparently, that was how the soldiers of Louisbourg ate!  It was a cool, wet day but we spent much of it indoors and with umbrellas in hand, we didn’t get too wet walking between the buildings.

One of the challenges of living in a tent trailer is keeping dry.  The canvas portions of the trailer are laminated with a heavy plastic and don’t leak but, for reasons that I don’t understand, anything that rubs up against the canvas gets wet.  The section where we sleep is wide enough that our bedding doesn’t touch the canvas but it isn’t very long and the foot of our bed touches it.  How to keep the bedding dry?  Again, the need to improvise.  Unfolding one of our rain capes into a large rectangle of plastic and using a few clothespins, I managed to create a plastic envelope around the end of our bedding that has been keeping it dry through some pretty rainy nights.  I just don’t know why I didn’t think of this years ago!

By Monday morning, the rain had stopped.  It was still heavily overcast but we decided to give the Cabot Trail a try.  We drove it in the sunshine 18 years ago but this time, the mood was different.  As we headed up the west coast, it wasn’t raining but the wind was howling.  As we climbed across the north end of the trail, we drove through patches of heavy fog and it rained most of the way down the eastern coast.  Some of the views were obscured but there’s majesty and power in a stormy sea.  At times, it was spectacular as it crashed on the rocky shore.  

It was still raining the next morning as we broke camp and prepared to head south.  Ours was a lovely campsite but it was in a low spot that had, by that time, gathered a lot of water!  In addition to our sandals, which we haven’t had a lot of use for yet, we only brought one pair of shoes each. We didn’t even think of packing our rubber boots!  I used to carry several pairs of shoes everywhere we went but I guess I got used to packing light on our treks around Asia!  How would we keep our shoes dry while we packed up in the middle of the large puddles?  That wasn’t difficult. We simply wrapped our feet in grocery bags!  It might not have been stylish but it worked!  Fortunately, Atlantic Coop grocery bags are much sturdier than the ones we get at the Sedgewick Coop!

On December 7, 1928 two little girls were born; Myrna in Nova Scotia and Lorraine in Alberta. Eleven years later, they became penpals when one of them responded to an advertisement placed by the other.  They met once in 1985 when Myrna and her husband, Ron, were in Alberta visiting a son who was living there.  The two women continued to correspond until Lorraine’s sudden death in 1994.  

Lorraine was my mother-in-law and though none of us knew much about her penpal, we knew that someone needed to write and tell her the sad news.  I volunteered.  We searched through mother’s things and found an address.  I wrote the letter and thought that that would be the end of the story. Not so!  I received a very kind and thoughtful reply from Myrna mentioning that she would love to continue hearing about Lorraine’s family.  I had inherited a penpal!

Myrna is 80 years old now.  She and Ron live at Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia and we will be meeting them on Tuesday!  We plan to stay for a week at a campground just a few miles from their place. When we talked on the phone for the first time a few weeks ago, Myrna told me that she wanted us to stay there because we’d be “close enough to run back and forth”! She told me that she’s as excited as a little girl at Christmas!  I think I am too.