New England Trip

Wicket woke us up at 5:40 a.m., with the sun pouring in the windows, and it was actually a pleasure to take him out on the lawn by the beach in the early morning. It was cool and sunny, and the water was a deep blue. Gulls were crying overhead, and a seal raised his head out of the water about a hundred yards off the beach.

Our ferry departure was scheduled for 1:00 p.m., with check-in at noon. Since we were ready to go, we left the campground around 10:00 a.m., and stopped in Annapolis Royal for some provisions. At the local hardware store we bought some bug spray in hopes of getting rid of the bugs that keep biting us, especially Margaret. There are some large gnats and mosquitoes that we have seen, but we aren’t sure what is causing the large, very itchy and long-lasting bites. We need to find a way to get Pumpkin and Wicket out of the motor home with us for a while so that we can give it a good spraying, and hope to find a way to do that in Bar Harbor, our next destination where we will stay for several days.

Annapolis Royal is a beautiful little town, with a public park right on the Bay of Fundy, and lots of stately old homes, many of which have been made into Bed and Breakfast Inns. There is also a public Historic Garden with huge rose bushes covered with blooms. As we were leaving, some sort of town festival was going on, with tents set up near the water, and the narrow roads lined with parked cars. We wanted to stop and take some pictures of the old homes, but couldn’t find a place to stop and park our enormous rig.

Towing the car has made it possible to go places that the motor home can’t go, and we are glad for the times we can unhook and take the car alone for sight-seeing. It has been a special pleasure to drive the Acura on mountain roads, and the contrast between its quick steering and the clumsy handling of the motor home has made us appreciate it even more.

We arrived at the ferry dock in plenty of time, and were the first vehicle to board, owing to our early arrival and size. They parked us all the way at the bow end of the car deck, so we were nearly the first off at the unloading. We enjoyed the 3-hour ferry ride again, but were disappointed that again we didn’t see any whales. The captain had seen two pilot whales the day before, but they were not there for us today. We had another interpreter doing educational talks on deck during the ride, and she reminded Margaret very much of Maria Smith, one of our Hart County Humane Society founders who has since moved to North Carolina. She had Maria’s buoyant enthusiasm and friendliness. We learned from her the reason for the lack of very large, old-growth trees in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. It seems that the port of St. John on New Brunswick was once a major ship-building site, taking advantage of the many Tamarack trees in the area with the strength and flexibility of wood to build strong ships. The large old trees that once grew there were all cut down, either to build ships or to sell the lumber around the world.

We also learned about the Marco Polo, a 3-masted clipper ship built in St. John that in 1841 held the world speed record for the round trip between Liverpool, England and Port Phillips Head, Australia, in 5 months, 21 days. The ship’s grounding in the mud during her attempted launch, and again soon after, reportedly affected the shape of her keel, which is thought to have improved her speed. It took the record tides in the Bay of Fundy to get her refloated. After many years of use, she developed a leak, and was deliberately grounded off Prince Edward Island to save the crew and the cargo.

Our campsite at New River Beach was only about a half-hour away from the ferry dock, so we were settled in camp by 6:00 p.m. This is the same campground where we stayed on our first night in Canada just a week ago, and it’s where we were when we called Blue Cross for information about doctors and hospitals for Steve when he was so sick last week. We are so grateful that he got steadily better beginning the morning we left here. Although we have learned from people here that the Canadian health care system is well-funded, affordable and accessible to all, we are glad not to have had to visit hospitals for a first-hand experience with it during our stay.

We had dinner tonight at a restaurant on the bay, just down the road, that was recommended by the campground staff. The food was great. The beer and wine were weak, but they had rice pudding for dessert!

This is about the halfway point of our trip, the eighteenth of thirty-seven days. Tomorrow we head south for Bar Harbor, Maine.

A picture from the Bay of Fundy Ferry is attached.