Day 10-11 (May 26-27)
During the night of May 25, ("it was a dark and stormy night" as Snoopy would write) a strong wind arose at the SeaBreeze Campground (aptly named) accompanied by rain. Morning dawned bright and clear but the wind was ~30 kts and the temperature 45 degrees. Walking Jesse and Scuffer was a cold affair, but they didn't mind it a bit on the beach.
We decided to follow the Eastern Shore route to Halifax. We had the road to ourselves and 10-15 minutes would pass between cars. This is certainly a less popular part of Nova Scotia, but the scenery on this bright crisp day was beautiful as we wound around dozens of coves and through tiny villages with names like Mooshead, Ecum Secum and Tangier.
The economy in this part of the province is glum. The only bright spot is Goldboro which is the terminus of a 160 mile pipeline south to Sable Island where natural gas was discovered in the 1970s but only recently with increased gas prices has the find become commercially viable. Plans are underway for construction of a gas liquification facility for shipping gas via ship to other places. However, heavy equipment in the harbor was idle on a work day. Perhaps the recession prices and a temporary gas glut have delayed the plans.
Traffic slowly increased as we approached the greater Halifax area and was downright mean in Halifax proper at rush hour. We managed with the help of my two navigators, Carol and 'Jill' (our Garmin GPS), to find our way through downtown Halifax and to Peggy's Cove. Very few people, mostly photographers taking advantage of the late day sun for pictures of the lighthouse and the snug harbor where a few lobster and fishing boats and paraphernalia were in the harbor. I have to wonder whether these are mostly props for the cameras!? Took several pictures while the sun was perfect and the day clear with no wind.
We decided to eat at the Sou'wester, the large restaurant and gift shop dominating the highest point on Peegy's Cove bluff. Food was typical tourist food, although Carol's lobster was quite good, better than most we've had.
A campground 5 miles from Peggy's Cove was our home for the night and the proprietor was fond of the "Sound of Music" and had visited Stowe and the Von Trapp lodge twice. He showed me the brochure, which was right at hand and he had clipped the story in his local paper when Werner Von Trapp, a friend of ours, recently died at 91. As it happened another couple from Bethel, VT was at the park and we introduced ourselves in the morning.
Traffic was light into Halifax on Rte 333 and we had decided to go directly to the waterfront to take the Harbour Hopper which had been recommended by someone we had met earlier on the trip. These vehicles are refurbished Viet Nam era amphibious landing craft which are used in Boston and other harbor cities for land and harbor sightseeing cruises. It was a fun experience but cold as a stiff breeze on the water chilled us through. Ashley, the young tour guide was a non-stop talking machine about all the sights and history of Halifax Harbor. We were delayed about 15 minutes entering the water because clearance for each vessel is required from the Coast Guard and a Canadian naval frigate was entering the harbor passing in front of us. They maintain tight control and no craft can approach within 200 meters of a naval vessel. The trip was worthwhile and I would recommend it if your a Halifax tourist. (Coincidentally, the Vermont couple was also on our Harbour Hopper.) We found a great parking spot right on the dock for the RV with 200' of the Harbour Hopper boarding place. That was a concern for me, but because we are so early in the season, things are mush less stressful.
Our loquacious tour guide told us the story of the Great Halifax Explosion of 1917, which I was unaware of until now. It was the worst accidental explosion in the history of the world, on the order of 1/4 the power of the A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima. A terrible tragedy in Halifax harbor as a munitions ship collided with another vessel. Cause: human error.
We ate lunch on the waterfront and had a good meal with some delicious sweet potato fries, fish chowder, smoked salmon and rib eye steak (ordered medium rare, arrived medium well, sent back and a new one was delivered as ordered.) [Now that I have been to the Harbour Hopper website, I see that Murphy seems to have a large part of the waterfront and tour/restaurant business well controlled. At least a half dozen tours, restaurants and other tourist amenities are under 'Murphy' control.]
Tonight we're at a KOA campground, Halifax West and a nice shower (for Carol and I) settles us in for the evening. Tomorrow, we may take in Mahone Bay and Lunenburg, returning to this KOA park for another night, then head toward the Northumberland coast for a day or two before crossing into New Brunswick and taking the Confederation Bridge to PEI.
A slight change in plans this morning...we decided to stay here for the day and do laundry because it rained last night and today is overcast and threatening. This may be a 'break' dayrather than a sightseeing day.
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