A whale tale/tail
A pilot whale flips us the tail in ChéticampDay 12: Chéticamp ~ North Sydney (369km)
There’s nothing like waking up to a home-cooked breakfast, especially when it includes blueberry muffins cooked fresh the same morning. This is what our spirited B&B host promised us upon check-in, and she delivered in style with the delicious muffins and a great breakfast (I went for the French toast). The people in the Maritimes are so incredibly friendly and hospitable and you often also meet a lot of other travellers at the breakfast table, and hear some interesting stories.
After breakfast, we checked out and headed straight for Captain Zodiac, the outfitter where we had booked our whale watching tour. The zodiacs are great for getting right up close to the whales and Captain Zodiac was offering guaranteed encounters or money back, so we couldn’t go wrong. There was only one other pair on the trip this morning so it was nice and small. We donned big red jumpsuits to protect us from the wind and the spray and riding the big waves like cowboys we zoomed out to meet the whales at one of their favourite spots. It was a beautiful morning and it didn’t take long to spot a pod of pilot whales. Cap’n Zodiac spotted a pair of dolphins at the same time, so we chased them first for a little while before losing them and heading back to the whales.
It was so nice to be out there without a crowd of people or a crowd of other boats all trying to go for the same whales. We spent the next 30 minutes or so slowly moving about here and there to where the whales were feeding. Often they swam right up alongside or under the boat, arching their backs and giving off a puff of spray as their heads broke the surface. It was amazing to see these graceful creatures close enough that we could have leaned over and touched them. That said, they don’t care to pause for photos, so it was tricky getting a decent shot, as they often broke the surface for just a few seconds and you weren’t quite sure where and when it would be. The result: I snapped about 90 shots, of which perhaps 5 are any good.
As if they knew we had to head back, a small group of the whales came right up to the boat to say goodbye, and one even flipped us a tail (whether that was a goodbye or an “f-off and let us eat,” we’ll never know). Of the various types of whales that migrate through the area at different points of the year, we only got to see the pilot whales, but it was an up-close and unforgettable experience.
Back on shore, we bid farewell to the good Captain and continued our drive along the Cabot Trail, entering Cape Breton Highlands National Park. Just as you see on all the travel commercials for Nova Scotia, the roads wend their way up and down along the coast offering stunning views of the red and green highlands juxtaposed against the blue sea.
Somewhere near Pleasant Bay we stopped at ‘Mike’s Place’ for lunch. Why? Three words: Fifty-cent hot dogs. You can’t even get that at a convenience store anymore! Sure, they were just the little wieners and the little buns, but three of those made for the cheapest lunch of the trip so far, all with an ocean view.
As the afternoon wore on we wound our way around the north tip of Cape Breton Island, stopping here and there and eventually making our way to North Sydney to catch the ferry to Newfoundland. Arriving early and finding zilch in the town (this seems to be a common occurrence in the Maritimes), we headed a little further on to Sydney, which seems to have a lot of hotels for no very good reason.
There wasn’t much more in Sydney (is this really the number two city in the province?), so when we stopped to top up at an Esso station, I asked the young guys on duty where we might find a bite. They gave us a few suggestions, but went even further to offer us rags and cleaning spray to clean the rims of the BMW, which were in sore need of it. So we shined up the rims and I was just returning the rags when the one guy shoves a piece of paper into my hand and says “Here’s a free car wash, since you’ve come a long way.” You gotta love the people here! We do, and so does Andrew’s BMW, which headed off to the ferry looking brand new. (Side note: for lack of a better option, we ended up eating at the local Swiss Chalet, whose bathroom had two paper towel dispensers affixed to the wall….right next to a biohazard box half-filled with used needles. This region has either a lot of diabetics, or such a serious drug problem that people are shooting up Swiss Chalet bathrooms. Weird.)
We got one last nice surprise from Nova Scotia. Pulling into the ferry docks, we drove up to the booth to fill our reservation and pay the remaining amount. I gave my reservation number to the friendly woman in the booth, who then shocked me with the following question: “Gravel! So is Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan named after you?”
After picking my tongue up off the floor of the car, I laughed out loud and shocked her back by saying that yes, indeed it was, and for the next 5 minutes we sat chatting and laughing, simply amazed at the crazy coincidence. I’ve never met anyone who knew about Gravelbourg without me having told them. Turns out she was originally from a town called Weyburn, just down the road from Gravelbourg. Small country.
A last big smile and a great send-off from Nova Scotia.
After breakfast, we checked out and headed straight for Captain Zodiac, the outfitter where we had booked our whale watching tour. The zodiacs are great for getting right up close to the whales and Captain Zodiac was offering guaranteed encounters or money back, so we couldn’t go wrong. There was only one other pair on the trip this morning so it was nice and small. We donned big red jumpsuits to protect us from the wind and the spray and riding the big waves like cowboys we zoomed out to meet the whales at one of their favourite spots. It was a beautiful morning and it didn’t take long to spot a pod of pilot whales. Cap’n Zodiac spotted a pair of dolphins at the same time, so we chased them first for a little while before losing them and heading back to the whales.
It was so nice to be out there without a crowd of people or a crowd of other boats all trying to go for the same whales. We spent the next 30 minutes or so slowly moving about here and there to where the whales were feeding. Often they swam right up alongside or under the boat, arching their backs and giving off a puff of spray as their heads broke the surface. It was amazing to see these graceful creatures close enough that we could have leaned over and touched them. That said, they don’t care to pause for photos, so it was tricky getting a decent shot, as they often broke the surface for just a few seconds and you weren’t quite sure where and when it would be. The result: I snapped about 90 shots, of which perhaps 5 are any good.
As if they knew we had to head back, a small group of the whales came right up to the boat to say goodbye, and one even flipped us a tail (whether that was a goodbye or an “f-off and let us eat,” we’ll never know). Of the various types of whales that migrate through the area at different points of the year, we only got to see the pilot whales, but it was an up-close and unforgettable experience.
Back on shore, we bid farewell to the good Captain and continued our drive along the Cabot Trail, entering Cape Breton Highlands National Park. Just as you see on all the travel commercials for Nova Scotia, the roads wend their way up and down along the coast offering stunning views of the red and green highlands juxtaposed against the blue sea.
Somewhere near Pleasant Bay we stopped at ‘Mike’s Place’ for lunch. Why? Three words: Fifty-cent hot dogs. You can’t even get that at a convenience store anymore! Sure, they were just the little wieners and the little buns, but three of those made for the cheapest lunch of the trip so far, all with an ocean view.
As the afternoon wore on we wound our way around the north tip of Cape Breton Island, stopping here and there and eventually making our way to North Sydney to catch the ferry to Newfoundland. Arriving early and finding zilch in the town (this seems to be a common occurrence in the Maritimes), we headed a little further on to Sydney, which seems to have a lot of hotels for no very good reason.
There wasn’t much more in Sydney (is this really the number two city in the province?), so when we stopped to top up at an Esso station, I asked the young guys on duty where we might find a bite. They gave us a few suggestions, but went even further to offer us rags and cleaning spray to clean the rims of the BMW, which were in sore need of it. So we shined up the rims and I was just returning the rags when the one guy shoves a piece of paper into my hand and says “Here’s a free car wash, since you’ve come a long way.” You gotta love the people here! We do, and so does Andrew’s BMW, which headed off to the ferry looking brand new. (Side note: for lack of a better option, we ended up eating at the local Swiss Chalet, whose bathroom had two paper towel dispensers affixed to the wall….right next to a biohazard box half-filled with used needles. This region has either a lot of diabetics, or such a serious drug problem that people are shooting up Swiss Chalet bathrooms. Weird.)
We got one last nice surprise from Nova Scotia. Pulling into the ferry docks, we drove up to the booth to fill our reservation and pay the remaining amount. I gave my reservation number to the friendly woman in the booth, who then shocked me with the following question: “Gravel! So is Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan named after you?”
After picking my tongue up off the floor of the car, I laughed out loud and shocked her back by saying that yes, indeed it was, and for the next 5 minutes we sat chatting and laughing, simply amazed at the crazy coincidence. I’ve never met anyone who knew about Gravelbourg without me having told them. Turns out she was originally from a town called Weyburn, just down the road from Gravelbourg. Small country.
A last big smile and a great send-off from Nova Scotia.
posted by CHRIS at 9:58 p.m.
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