Ferry rides, and Charlottetown fantastic

After Mo’s final breeding, early on July 2nd, we got back in the bus, ate a quick breakfast, and headed north again towards Northumberland Strait, to catch the ferry to PEI. By early afternoon we had made it to Caribou, the ferry terminal on the Nova Scotia shore, and got into the line-up with the motorhomes. The ticket man told us they took 4 big trucks and as many motorhomes as they could fit onto the lower decks, along with all the cars on the top deck. We didn’t make it on to the next ferry so we had about an hour’s wait, during which time the kids and I wandered along the docks and observed the fishing boats tied alongside piles and piles of lobster traps, and watched the ferry as it left and the next one approached.




We made it onto the 3:30pm ferry. The day was sunny but a bit windy over the water. Still it was nice enough that we spent the bulk of the crossing above-deck, watching the land slip away, the gulls fly past, and the waves as they rolled off the boat’s keel.



After an hour’s sailing we reached the PEI shore. Then into the bus for the drive to Charlottetown where we met up with friend Burke and his new wife Lane. We’d gotten to know Burke and his first wife out west, back when I was a teen. We arrived at their house around 6pm and ate a hearty barbecue supper, with the fare provided by both house/busholds.

After supper we were in for a treat! We’d missed the Canada Day celebrations in Charlottetown (we’d taken in the fireworks in Liverpool the previous night, which weren’t bad for a small community), but festivities were continuing all weekend so we had the chance to enjoy a special performance that night by none other than the Cirque du Soleil. Tickets were a lot less expensive than for a regular Cirque show, but the performance was no less thrilling. As usual, the costumes were extravagant and wild, the acrobatics amazing, and the novelty stunning. The show ended with a “water performance” – somehow they used lights and (I think) fabric to create a sense of rippling, running water through which the circus performers danced, jumped, twirled, and spun. It was pretty awesome!