Deer Island, Fundy Trail and Fundy National Park.
Posted on July 19, 2012 by Angelo Hulshout
Today, July 17th, is the fourth in a row in coastal nature areas. We started on Deer Island, after crossing the Canadian border again at Lubec. We were lucky to find the ferry point the or so it seemed – it was a bit smaller than we expected. Still, we got onto the ferry from Campbell Island to Deer Island. There we drove straight onto the campground, about a hundred meters from Old Sow, one of the largest tidal whirlpools in the world.
Ferry to Deer Island. Hmmmm...
Old Sow, not at it's best
A sailing boat passing by at Old Sow
Old Sow was not as spectacular as we had expected, it appears you have to be there at exactly the right moment, and really high tide coming in to be really spectacular. Still, it is a nice view, and a good place to see seals playing in the waves.
After spending the night at the Deer Island campground we moved on, but not before we took a tour around the Island. The best thing we saw was the fishing harbour of Leonardville, and where the water was so clear we could see fish and shell fish about 6 meters below the surface – and some jelly fish as well. This harbour is used mainly for lobster fishing, pity we were there early in the morning, too early for a lobster lunch.
Lobster traps at Leonardville
The boats taking the traps in and out of the harbour
The ferry from Deer Island to Black's Harbour was our next move. This is a free, government operated ferry, which was a good thing for us. We Because neither the commercial ferry that got us to the island, nor the campground accepted credit cards, we were out of cash. This got a bit worrying on our way to Saint Martins, and because none of the smaller places we crossed had an ATM and we had no guarantee that the campgrounds in Saint Martins would take credit cards. In the end, the we found an ATM in Sai t Martins itself, which decided to go 'out-of-order' after providing us with the much desired cash. The cash was not really necessary for the campground we had in mind, because this turned out to be full. Reason was the yearly Old Town festival. So, we move further east, to towards the Fundy Trail, and where a campground called Tobi's Hideaway might be able to take us. This turned out to be no problem: the site is so new that it's not even finished yet and mainly has customers at the end of July and in August. The result was that we had the entire campground to ourselves for one night. So, we had a camp fire, and made friends with a giant rabbit that refused to appear in photographs.
Hiding around the corner from the entrance of Tobi's
The next morning we went to see the Fundy Trail, a Unesco project that creates a nature park along the coast from Saint Martins to Fundy National Park. This is to open to the public, and preserve at the same time, in the last piece of undeveloped coast in North America. Being right at the entrance, and Tobi's will surely benefit when the trail is completed.
At the trail, we visited the the Big Salmon River, where the Atlantic salmon come to breed annually. I was quite happy to sit down and cool my feet in the river, between the baby salmon. My ankles were hurting, because the midges had feasted on them the night before. After cooling of in the river, the itch was gone. Who needs chemicals?
Besides enjoying the river, we spent time walking along the beautiful coast, before leaving the trail and moving on to Fundy National Park itself.
Baby salmon
Fundy Trail coast line
Waterfall at Fundy trail
The Fundy National Park is not all natural, and but rather an attempt to restore nature after the damages done by extensive lumbering in the 19th century. This is most visible at Wolfe Point, at the mouth of Wolfe River, where a restored covered bridge, a piece of a dam and poles remaining from a lumber harbour can still be seen. The dam used to block the river completely, until it was broken down in 1980 as part of the nature recovery project. The dam helped the lumber industry to collect lumber sent down stream, but (together with dumped saw dust), it also destroyed a large part of the fish population, which was already reported by local fishermen in the 1880s.
Remnants of Wolfe Point dam, built once by lumberers
Covered bridge at Wolfe Point. According to a Canadian these bridges are meant for kissing...
Poles reminding of Wolfe Point lumber harbour
Water snails, new life at Wolfe Point
Small waterfall near Wolfe Point
At the exit of Fundy National National Park, the small fishing village Alma is located. With a general store and a fish market right at the park exit, entry it's a good place to go for park visitors. We On our way past, we enjoyed a breakfast with fluffy pancakes, scrambled eggs and sausages, and and lobster lunch omelet at the local coffee shop. After that we visited the harbour and fish market, buying fresh haddock and coquilles 'for the road'. The haddock ended up on the barbecue the same evening, the coquilles entered the RV freezer for a few days.
That barbecue took place in Moncton, our last stop before a full day of driving to Trois Pistoles in Quebec, where we will take the ferry across the Lawrence River.
Lobster boats at Alma - quite a bit bigger than those at Leonardville
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