Canadian Maritimes Vacation

Day 19 -20 (June 5 & 6)

We ate supper at Captain Dan's Restaurant at Pointe du Cheine wharf, which is the hot spot of Shediac in high tourist season. The restaurant opened on June 5 and we had a great meal of deep fried seafood including scallops, shrimp and whole belly clams. All very delicious out on the upper deck overlooking the harbor as the sun sank lower in the sky. Afterward, we sat and watched the people cruise around the wharf on motorcycles and cars. It's a beautiful night and it was fun to 'people-watch.'

Leaving Shediac on Friday, we continued along the Acadian coast following Rte 11, which is a much better road than we experienced further south on Rte 15. Very little traffic and our first stop was a Bouctouche, the birthplace and hometown of the K.C. Irving, founder and owners of the Irving Oil Company dynasty.

Irving is the most prevalent service station seen in N.B., N.S. and P.E.I. They are becoming more frequent in northern Maine. Bouctouche is also famous for the sand dune that juts into the sea (land owned by Irving family) as one of the finest examples of such a natural formation in North America. The Irving family has built a 10 foot wide, 2 km. long boardwalk out on the spit and it's a very popular place for people to walk or jog. We chatted with folks from Vancouver and also a local gal who was walking for her health, having been in the hospital recently under doctor's orders to exercise. The weather was beautiful and it wasn't windy.

This is Francophone country. French is the school primary language , but most everyone we have connected with also speaks English well, sometimes accented. As we go further up the Acadian Peninsula, French becomes more dominant. Many signs are no longer in both French and English.

Lunch in the RV, then off again stopping only for fuel in Marimichi ( I spilled some diesel on my shoes and the smell was overpowering, so the shoes and socks went into a sealed compartment outside the living space along with a wipe rag that I keep in the door.

We stayed the night at Tracadie-Sheila rather than driving through to Caraquet where we are tonight. Carol was little dismayed because we were in pretty close quarters with several seasonal units, most of which seemed to have dogs that ran free, usually a no-no in an RV park. I put up the dog pen and along with the bark collars, our 'dales did OK.

Off again on Saturday morning further out on the Peninsule acadienne stopping at Shippagan, beautiful town and major fishing port, the largest we've seen on the trip. Most of the boats look to be Grand Banks fishing vessels and this is a spacious working harbor. We went to a very fine acquarium and spent over an hour two-on-one with Gilbert, one of the staff, who was a former scallop, mackerel and lobster fisherman. He told us more about lobstering than we ever knew and showed us the various traps, the life cycle of lobster larvae and the famous rare blue lobster in the acquarium. We now know the difference between male and female lobsters and to ask for males, if dealing with a knowledgeable seller, because they have more meat than females.

He explained how he and his pals years ago reconstructed a lobstering seabed that had been destroyed by scalloperswho had dragged the bottom 'clean' resulting in greatly reduced catches. He and his pals hauled large stones to the lobster grounds and dumped them overboard to provide hiding places for lobsters and after a number of years, the harvest improved substantially. (I have to wonder if the rocks also served to discourage the scallopers, too!). He lso showed us the baby harbor seal born two days ago and described all the care and feeding he provides for the few seals in the acquarium.

We drove a few miles out to Lameque, part of the Acadian Isles, for lunch, decided we'd have lobsters for supper and bought two at $6.00/lb at a harborside fish market then headed toward Caraquet, hoping to visit the large Acadian Village about 10 mile out of town. We arrived to find that it opens for the season tomorrow at 10:00 am. It seems we have advantageously timed several facilities openings. (RV park Louisbourg, N.S., Dan's Restaurant in Shediac, and now the Acadian Village).


Tonight we are one of only 7 rigs in this large seaside RV park (Caraquet Campground opened a week ago) relaxing after those scrumtious lobsters. It has been windy this afternoon, then it grew dark and ominous just before sunset and a nasty thunder storm and squall is in progress. The winds are playing rock and roll with the RV and the downpour is severe. There's a pup tent set up not too far from us and I 'm glad I am not not in it during this squall!

Carol's closing the blinds in the RV, so I know it's close to bed time. The dogs are settled in for the night. So I'll take the laptop back to my bed and work a bit longer. Tomorrow promises to be a great day.