We awoke bright and early—for the second time this vacation, I was the first one up. We packed up in bright sunny weather, and headed off for Wood Island, hoping to make the 10:30 ferry for Nova Scotia.

The previous night, I made the acquaintance of our neighbor, an American from Pittsburgh named Dennis. He was travelling through with his wife and children. He had been through PEI many years before and had arranged to meet his girlfriend here (whom he eventually married) and wanted to come one last time before the bridge changed the character of the island for ever.

We made reasonably good time through hwy #6 to #13 to #2 to #1. However, a wrong turn at the east end of Charlottetown cost us about ten minutes and we realized that we would be late for the Ferry. We arrived at the Ferry dock at about 11:00—meaning we would have been late anyway—and drove up to the ferry. I assumed it was loading for the 12:00 run, and looked forward to grabbing lunch and tourist information at the Nova Scotia information kiosk at the dock. However, to my astonishment, they closed the gates and the Ferry left. It turns out we were just on time.

Cape Breton, along the Cabot Trail.

The day was sunny and the skies were clear. Paul and Danielle saw dolphins swimming alongside the ferry as we left the island but the rest of us were too late. The seas were smooth and we observed something like seaweed on the surface of the water, which we later gathered to be the infamous jelly fish. We arrived in Nova Scotia shortly after 12:00 and decided to find a place for lunch and gas, and settled on New Glasgow, which looked like a nice sized town. We found a Wendy’s combined with a Tim Horton’s and filled ourselves up. Then we went looking for a gas station. Surprisingly, there were none on the main drag and we had to drive a ways into town to find an Ultramar that was open. The attendant noticed our plates and asked us which part of Ontario we were from. It turns out his mother lives on Homer Watson in Kitchener!

We hit the road again and settled in for a drive that was much longer than expected. The road was winding and sometimes rough, and often made sharp, unexpected turns. Driving required careful attention and vigilance. The scenery was beautiful as it has been throughout our excursion, but not as spectacular as we expected. Following advice, we took the Cabot Trail along the east side—so we were in the east lane of the highway, but our view was obscured by trees for much of the time. There was one place in particular where the road wound up an incredible height in a short period of time, in a very winding, hair-pin curved route. Helen nearly went dizzy from the sudden height as we reached the cliffs. We stopped for a moment and took a few pictures.

We did not arrive in Cape Breton Highlands National Park until about 5:00. We inquired about campgrounds and were told that the Ingonish was in an open field but allowed campfires, whereas Broad Cape had more private sites, but all of the sites with fire pits were taken. We decided to take our chances on Broad Cape. Once there, we drove through the campgrounds looking for a good site. We did find one with a pit that wasn’t being used. When we went back to the gate, the girl admitted that she had forgotten about that one and it was, indeed available, so we took it.

The site wasn’t particularly good in any other way. It was in between two campground roads, but it was near a bathroom and shaded. We took it, set up camp, had supper, and then I took my laptop to the main gate and asked if they could recharge it for me. The girl was quite willing. Then we went to the beach. The beach is pretty, with a very hard, grainy sand. There is, adjacent to it, a freshwater pond in which some people were fishing. Paul tried to swim but the water was too cold.

We walked back to the camp site. Then I picked up the laptop and we had a nice fire. The kids made "smores". Tomorrow we plan to take it easy, and maybe explore one of the trails. We understand that there are moose in the park and other wildlife.

One the way, we figured out the lyrics to "Farewell to Nova Scotia". They are as follows:

The sun is setting in the west

da da da da da da da da da

Fare well to Nova Scotia

de de de de de de de de

The kids then fought about iced tea down someone’s sleeve. We dried out our tents and sleeping bags. The forecast is for sunny, clear weather for the next three or four days.

We thought Cape Breton Highlands National Park would be more like Fundy. It might be, but the area along the Cabot Trail was more hard scrabble and mean than New Brunswick or PEI. There were many small wooden homes and cottages and stores. Along the shore, we saw many signs advertising whale watching. We are not sure whether to wait until we are in the south to do the whale watching, or to take our chances on one of these tours. The park is fairly rough, but the campgrounds are not as rustic as Pinery or MacGregor’s Point. They are rather open to each other and close in. The staff are friendly. Tomorrow, we will explore more.