The Day “Andrea” Dropped By

We had us a windy and rainy day over here. Tropical storm “Andrea” was dropping by. She arrived in the wee hours and was pretty much gone by 1:00p. However, the rain continued off and on for the rest of the day and we were just so lucky that Andrea waited with all this until today. It would have been a sad performance under yesterday’s boat launch. The Captain  dropped by our house today, and we consumed a few tarts with strawberries and whipped cream. Nice stuff on a stormy day! Worked a while on a new poster today. Looks like the weather is clearing up for tomorrow. Guess, we’ll have a boat ride across the bay. Need to make sure everything is functioning according to the book. Tired now, so I’ll keep it brief.

The Blessing

Today, Friday June 7 was the day when the “Island Discovery” was ready to meet her right element the cold waters of the Bay of Fundy. It was a great event, many people showed up for it. The Flynn family’s minister did the blessing and we all cheered when she finally was floating in Head Harbour. The ship is not new. It has a past as a lobster boat, but has been sitting ashore for several years as she was in need for major repairs. When the need for a passenger vessel occurred she met a new future. Hopefully, she will be bringing thousands of new visitors to this island and be the pride of our very own tourism industry – homemade on Campobello Island. May she always have water under her keel and provide a safe journey for everyone aboard!         The Captain and his son      Floating in Head Harbour      An osprey was watching over the ceremony

A Quiet Walk Through Eagle Hill Bog

What we hadn’t done in a long time was doing a walk through the bog. The bog walk is a feature of the Roosevelt Park Natural Area. The park has built a wonderful boardwalk so nobody gets wet feet. Of course April 22 was too early to see all those wonderful flowers one can see in July and August, but with yesterday’s cold wind it offers nice protection from the nasty cold. The sun was standing low in the west, but was still shining over top of the trees in the bog. There are nice moss patches and rare plants like the pitcher plant, which wasn’t really so far out as the picture below to the left shows. Pitcher Plant                               …and just breaking through..                                                   The trees show that the bog has a lack of nutrients. A bog is a mire that accumulates peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses, and in a majority of cases, Sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, quagmire and muskeg. Frequently, as the illustration on the right shows, they are covered in Ericaceous shrubs rooted in the Sphagnum moss and peat. Bogs occur where the water at the ground surface is acidic and low in nutrients. In some cases, the water is derived entirely from precipitation, in which case they are termed ombrotrophic (rain-fed). Water flowing out of bogs has a characteristic brown colour, which comes from dissolved peat tannins. In general the low fertility and cool climate results in relatively slow plant growth, but decay is even slower owing to the saturated soil. Hence peat accumulates. Informative panels are helping the visitor understand the biodiversity of the Eagle Hill Bog. Nice solid wooden benches invite to sit down and relax. It’s a pure pleasure to walk the bog. Afterwards we went a bit farther down the road to the beach. But it was cold out there so we didn’t stay long. Just long enough for a few shots.   Thanks for stopping by!

PEACE

There isn't really much to say about this Sunday morning other than it was frosty and that the wind had stopped. Ah…a morning without wind. Peace! I loaded Molly into the Jeep and went to Herring Cove. There is no better place on Campobello to enjoy a morning walk in the rising sun, and it is only 3 minutes from our home. The tide was down but had started to return. The sand was still wet providing a hard surface to walk on. While I strolled along the waters edge, Molly preferred to prowl along the upper edge where the yellow grass begins. We walked on and on and almost reached the edge of the Roosevelt Park border, before we turned around. Sun was glittering on the calm sea. The only sound being the rhythmic splash of the waves rolling onto the sandy beach. I noticed that the beach was incredibly clean. There was very little debris along the flotsam. Seemed like the winter storms had done a great job cleaning up the beach. At least no damage here at Herring Cove. Walking back to the car I noticed a growing cloud cover moving in. Already the light had changed.  Actually it was a great light for taking more pictures. Old  dried up trees are standing here close to the beach. They probably died decades ago. Behind the beach lies Lake Glensevern. It is home to beavers and many water fowls. Once it was the swimming pool for the Roosevelt family who had a dock here. It is the only water body where water temperatures reach above 68F in the summer. The water is brackish as the storms occasionally push sea water over top of the beach and into the lake.                                                          Lake Glensevern The tide was coming up fast now. My foot prints along the waters edge were already covered and under water. What a great walk this was. Thanks for visiting!

Like A Wild River

We are back to the cold Northerner which is also called the “Quebec Express”. When I got outside it was soooo cold…. If it would be possible to bring the cold through the internet, your screen would freeze over! Here’s what i found at Mulholland Lighthouse. The tide, beaten up by the wind, was rushing out at sea at record breaking speed. It was more resembling a wild river than a narrow strait. The Bay of Fundy is known to have the highest tides in the world. Campobello has 28ft. tides and it’s falling/rising at 5ft/hr. That’s an awful lot of water being moved back and forth. It’s also the reason why the waters contain very high oxygen and are the feeding grounds for Atlantic whales. During the summer, scores of seals can be observed along the tidal current. All they have to do is wait until fish are drawn along with the current. Seals are having real feasts here every day.      Looking across “The Narrows” at Lubec, ME            Tide running out under F.D.R. International Bridge                                   I went on to see the damage caused by the winter storms. The view platform at Liberty Point is in need of major repair.                                                                      Liberty Point w. view to Grand Manan Then there is the damage to the cliffs. Those trees are gone for ever. An act of nature. Already repaired: The stairway down to Raccoon beach. Left: This is where the stairs at Pt.Robinson went down to the beach. We used to serve breakfast here for our guests last summer. There is sure lots of work in store for the park workers this spring.      View across Friars Bay to Eastport,ME

Season is over

A busy Campobello season is over. We are proud to say that every one of our visitors being on the sightseeing tour has left the tour as a very happy traveler. We thank you all for coming. Come again and bring your friends. And don’t forget: Campobello Sightseeing is on Tripadvisor and you may leave your comment there. For the 2013 season Campobello Sightseeing is going to partner with a Campobello Boat Operator. We have developed a new very exciting tour alternative for Campobello visitors. First of all there will be a daily boat transport between Campobello Island and the City of St.Andrews on the Canadian Mainland. There will be a tour in the morning and one for the afternoon. Both tours will offer lunch in one of our restaurants as an option. People who already stay on Campobello, will have the opportunity to  travel by boat to St.Andrews to spend the day in “Canada’s most beautiful town”. Every tour to Campobello will include options to see the Roosevelt Campobello International Park, the Head Harbour Light Station and the most beautiful view points from our coast. In fact we are very excited about this new tour alternative and can hardly wait until next seasons start. We have a couple of nice new photo shots of the island and hope you can enjoy them. Have a great winter and check back here again for updates.