We arose around 9:00 a.m., had a coffee, did some reading, and then Paul made breakfast—fried eggs and toast. Then we drove into town to get some groceries and check out an art gallery. We stopped at a nice looking building and went in and talked with the artist, an elderly man who was about 80, and his wife. He had a number of pretty water colours and prints on display but I didn’t think them very distinctive. Most of them were priced in the $250 range. We left and went to the Omni food store where we picked up basic groceries for the next few days. Helen forgot the ice so we stopped at Dino’s for that and then returned to our campsite. We had hot dogs for lunch and then drove to a trail for Warren Lake. We walked this trail which was very flat and didn’t require too much strain, until we came to a little inlet where Paul and Christopher decided to swim. After about a half hour, we continued our walk until we had entirely circled the lake. The lake was very pretty, the water was clear but had a brownish tinge that we noticed on many bodies of water here, and, indeed, in similar small lakes in Ontario. I don’t think it means the water is dirty: it’s probably just an effect of the combination of sunlight and sediment.

On the way back, we decided to drive up to Mary Ann’s Falls. This is a primitive gravel road which wound it’s way up higher and higher affording one brief, spectacular view of the bay and the island off shore. We arrived at the falls and found the road to the parking lot blocked by a white Cavalier. Three boys from Sydney were trying to open the windows, having locked their keys inside. We talked to them for a while and then gave them one of our hot dog roasting forks. Then we walked down a little path to a location below the falls.

The falls itself was very beautiful, cascading over rocks and moss down a distance of about 30 or 40 feet. Two young boys with brush-cuts and an older, heavily built woman were swimming there. The boys were climbing up the rocks and jumping in from twenty or thirty feet. Then the woman also climbed up the rocks and jumped in. I took a picture of the boy in mid-air. The kids wanted to get their swim suits and come back but we vaguely decided not to, probably because it looked a little dangerous, and not really very private, because it was at the end of a road, rather than a trail.

We drove back to the main highway, the Cabot Trail, and headed into town to find a restaurant for a lobster dinner. We stopped at the Seagull first, but they advised us that they did not serve lobster. A very nice woman told us that the Atlantic, down the road about 2 kilometres, did serve lobster. She thought it would be $13 or $14 a plate, but it turned out to be about $20.00. After some miscommunication, we ended up ordering a cheeseburger for Christopher, a haddock platter for Helen and I, a sailor’s platter for Paul, comprised of mussels, clam, scallops, and halibut, and pork chops for Danielle. The total cost was about $70.00. I had thought we were going to order a lobster or two so we could at least try it, on the logic that if we are going to spend that much for dinner, we might as well at least do partly what we intended. Service was very good (no glasses of water spilled on my lap) and the view of the bay was delightful. We enjoyed the meal except for the mussels, which tasted faintly of oxydol, then set off for camp for a coffee and pudding cup for desert.

We returned to camp about 8:00 and the kids wanted to go to the waterfall again, but we decided not to. Danielle and I read for a while and then we started the fire. Paul became nauseous—we suspect from the seafood platter he had. Then we got out the map and planned for tomorrow’s drive around the coast of Cape Breton Island, then south to the Louisburg area, tentatively planning to camp at a place called Mira’s River, which is a provincial park.

This was one our quietest, least interesting days of the trip. The trail was nice and we saw lots of deer droppings but no wildlife, other than garter snakes. We inquired about whale watching but were told that the water was too rough today for it, but that if we did go in this area, we were likely to see pilot whales. We may consider that option tomorrow.

The weather was, once again, clear and sunny with a few isolated cloudy periods. We had three sites all to ourselves but this evening a couple from Quebec moved into one of the sites. Christopher built the fire but it died shortly afterwards and I had to revive it. Christopher took a shower. Yes, it was that kind of a day.