Scallops and Waves in Nova Scotia

Leaving the Halifax area, we drove Route 103 around the eastern portion of Nova Scotia. This route was good for the truck and trailer but because it was a bit inland, the scenery was very monotonous – mostly just forested hills with pines and spruce. As we had already seen a number of lighthouses and the coastal bays, we decided not to try to take the truck and trailer on Route 3 which was very narrow and curvy.

As we wandered along, we passed by ancient Acadian villages where the tricolor flag (blue, white, and red stripes with a gold star in the upper left hand corner – almost looks like the Texas flag) of the Acadian Nation greeted us. The major center at this end of the province, is Yarmouth. Yarmouth was settled in 1761 and the town’s proximity to the ports of New England and lucrative trade with the West Indies brought a prosperity to this fishing village that remains today. One of Yarmouth’s most scenic drives (which we didn’t take since we had the trailer tagging along behind us), leads to one of Nova Scotia’s most dramatic and historically significant lighthouses, Cape Forchu. The original lighthouse built in 1839 was replaced by the current structure in the 1960’s. Rising 75 feet in the air, the lighthouse’s two-million-candlepower beam can be seen over 30 nautical miles out at sea.

As we left Yarmouth, we began traveling on the Evangeline Trail, along the awesome Fundy shoreline and over the fields of the Annapolis Valley. Our destination was Digby, which just by chance, was having their annual Digby Scallop Days festival. We had trouble finding a campground but were finally able to talk the owner of Fundy Spray Campground in Smith Cove (about 10 minutes from Digby) to let us drycamp for two nights. As soon as we were set up, we headed over to Digby to try out the world famous Digby scallops. We had gotten a referral from the campground manager and we had to admit that the scallops were the best we had ever eaten. They were so tender they almost melted in your mouth. George had a seafood lasagna and it was delicious also, and loaded with seafood. George even got a free piece of lemon pie with his dinner. The Captain’s Cabin was a great place to eat, wonderful service and very reasonably priced.

Digby was founded in 1783 by Loyalists from the New England colonies led by Admiral Robert Digby. The town overlooks the magnificent Annapolis Basin and the Digby Gut,

which opens out into the Bay of Fundy. Digby is home port to one of North America’s
largest scallop fleets. The historic waterfront is lined with shops, cafes and restaurants. At the end of the boardwalk a restored 92 foot scallop dragger, the Lady Vanessa, has been made into a private museum highlighting the local fishery and scallop–dragging.

After walking around the town, and looking over some of the vendor’s wares, we noticed a group of people doing Tai Chai on the waterfront. It looked so peaceful and refreshing with the harbor in the background, that I almost wanted to join in. In fact, if we keep eating our way across Canada, I’m going to have to do something!! Anyway, there was a music concert at 7:00 with Blueberry Grunt as the musicians. They are a local group of four guys and a girl who do a pretty decent job of playing a variety of music and instruments. As we looked around, we noticed that the majority of the crowd was in their 50’s and older. It was starting to cool down and with the wind coming off the harbor, we decided to head back to the trailer.

Once we arrived back at the trailer, we found our refrigerator was not working properly again. The check light kept coming on. We had had the same problem a couple of weeks ago and George had cleaned it and it started working again. We decided to buy a new thermocoupler at that time so we’d have it if it started misbehaving again. So, at 9:00 p.m., George was out putting in a new thermocoupler. That didn’t seem to fix it either. The next morning we drove into Digby and talked with a guy who knew something about RV refrigerators and he gave us some ideas. Finally George thought he had figured out what was wrong and the refrigerator worked until we got ready to leave the next morning. Then the check light came on again. More about that later.

We had planned on spending the day at Bear River, which according to the tourist guide, was the “Switzerland of Nova Scotia.” I have to say, if this is what Switzerland looks like, we haven’t missed much. The town was about two blocks long with most of the buildings falling down, being torn down, or just empty. The pictures in the literature showed a colorful town and stated that the village is “best known for its many outstanding artists and craftspeople with their attractive shops and studios.” The few that were open, didn’t offer a lot and we were through in less than an hour. This was a major disappointment but we realize that each of these little villages and towns have to try to bring in tourists by offering something different from the neighboring towns. Several of their buildings were built on wooden stilts, as stated in the literature, to keep them above the dramatic high tides from the Fundy Bay.

Fortunately, the next morning, George was able to reach the owner of the nearest RV repair shop and he said he’d take a look at the refrigerator if we’d drive about 35 miles back toward Yarmouth. We did and after 30 minutes of trying different things, Dave finally decided it was the reigniter. We replaced that and were on our way once again.

After the Bear River fiasco, we decided to head straight over to Truro where we’ll spend the night and hopefully get to experience the tidal bore. If anything peaks our interest as we’re heading over there, we’ll stop and give it a look, but we are not going out of our way based on the information in the tourist guide.

We arrived at Truro around 4:30 and found our way to the Wal-Mart. I went in to ask permission to drop our trailer while we drove down to see the tidal bore and to see if we could spend the night there as there were signs indicating there was “no overnight parking”. The manager was very nice and told me that we could surely leave the trailer there and spend the night as well. The city evidently put up the signs, but the manager said he’d never heard of them enforcing it. We ate and headed over to the Salmon River to watch the tidal bore. For those of you unfamiliar with a Tidal Bore, it is an amazing phenomenon seen in very few parts of the world. The Bay of Fundy is particularly noted for having the highest tides in the world. Twice daily, a wave of water rushes from the Minas Basin to fill the channel of the Salmon River in a matter of minutes. As the tide passes toward the head of the bay, it is in effect squeezed by the ever-narrowing sides and by the constant shallowing of the bottom. As it reaches the very head of the bay, the advancing tide becomes a wave varying from just a ripple to several feet in height, and this wave, called a “tidal bore”, continues up the rivers which empty into the bay. Thus, we have the phenomenon of a river changing its flow before our very eyes as the bore rushes in over the outgoing river. The height of the tidal bore increases with the range of the tide, which in turn, varies with the phases of the moon. The best time to view the tidal bore is during a full moon or a new moon. Equally interesting as the wave itself is the time it takes for the river to fill to high tide – just over one hour from the arrival of the tidal bore, as compared to the conventional six hours to reach high tide along coastal waters.

Okay, now you know what we are looking for! We took our lawn chairs and went early as Mother Nature does not wear a wristwatch. Of course, she had to add a little drama to the situation by pricking one of the clouds directly over us, so it slowly showered down on our heads. Luckily, there was a porch where we could await the arrival! Finally, we saw some disturbance in the waves around the bend and sure enough, we saw the water slowly making its way toward us. McKenzie was wondering what in the world we were supposed to be looking for? The waves were definitely not high by any stretch of the imagination, but as they crawled toward us and forced the river to start flowing in the opposite direction, the small hairs on the back of our necks raised to let us know that we were witnessing a miracle of nature! Within just a few minutes, the water had almost covered the bed of the river and would continue to fill it.

There were other things to see in Truro, such as the Victoria Park in the center of town. It is comprised of 1,000 acres of trees, winding paths, and waterfalls. Today, with a population of about 12,000 Truro is an important center of transportation, manufacturing, agriculture, trade and education. Its central location has a direct bearing on its climate. It is located just 15 miles north of the halfway point between the Equator and the North Pole and therefore escapes the extremes in temperature and weather conditions often experienced in other areas.

Tomorrow will find us winding our way over to the Northumberland Shore area of Nova Scotia, traveling the Sunrise Trail. Gently rolling farmlands create a quilt of emerald green fields that meets the sparkling blue waters of the Northumberland Strait. Our destination will be Golden Arms RV Park outside North Sydney, where we will spend a few days sightseeing and then getting ready for our trip across the water to New Foundland!