Mermaid’s Tears

mermaids  012mermaids  016Okay, we admit it, we’ve become addicted to sea glass hunting.  As Hector says “the ocean coughs up jewels for you to pick up on the beach”.  It’s kind of magical how the ocean takes garbage – broken glass – and carves it into beautiful “gems”.

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Whales in the Fog

whales 15digby 20Something  I was looking forward to when in this area was taking a unique whale watching tour that uses zodiac boats and goes out of nearby Tiverton, Long Island.  Ocean Explorations is run by a biologist who’s been guiding whale watching tours for 20+ years.  We signed up to go out on the first day that showed a clear weather forecast.

Getting to Tiverton meant about an hour and fifteen-minute drive past Digby, down the length of Digby Neck, plus a four-minute ferry to cross over to Long Island.  The ferry is available only on the half hour so we had to time it appropriately.

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Digby and the Acadian Shore

digby 7digby 21digby 3digby 16Traveling further down the Fundy Coast, we explored Digby, on the shore of the Annapolis River near where it meets the Bay of Fundy.  It’s a considerably larger town than all others we’d visited in the area, with over 2,000 residents.

In 1783, Admiral Digby brought 1,500 United Empire Loyalists from the New England States to Digby aboard the H.M.S. Atalanta.  Many of these pioneers are buried in the old Loyalist Cemetery.

Digby is also home to one of the world’s largest scallop fleets.  The cold temperature of the waters here doesn’t vary more than a few degrees from summer to winter, which creates conditions most favorable for the survival of the scallops.  And least favorable for my ever taking a dip here :).

It has a well-established business district, with some of the buildings  actually resting on pilings over the Annapolis Basin.  It’s also another good place to appreciate the tides of the Bay of Fundy.

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