So east we went towards the world’s longest bridge – 12km across the Northumberland Strait from PEI to NB. Along the way we stopped in Victoria-by-the-Sea, a small town filled with artisans (mostly people “from away” who have settled on the Island). I had hoped to find there some craft to purchase as my personal memento from the trip, but we had insufficient time to spend looking about and so I just picked up a few chocolates from a chocolaterie – in which we also had morning coffee break and spent some time watching the chocolate makers at their work through the viewing window. There we also found the largest tree on the Island, which the kids attempted to scale without much success as there were no lower branches to give them purchase.
The town is the setting of a novel we had read earlier in the year called Tango, which chronicles the adventures of a small ship-wrecked dog and the girl who finds him. Told primarily from the dog’s perspective, it is an interesting and heart-warming tale filled with treacherous cats, sneaky rats, and a mysterious fox. (I recommend it for ages 6 to 110.)
The drive over the bridge was an uneventful adventure, in the sense that one is conscious of being “alone” on this narrow ribbon of bridge surrounded by water on all sides. It was somewhat foggy so the view was limited, but being high up in the bus we did at least have a view over the side barriers, which would not have been the case in a car.
After a quick lunch on the NB side, we continued our route south. In mid-afternoon we arrived at the Hopewell Rocks, also known as the Flowerpot Rocks – a grouping of large columns of rock and earth near the coast topped by trees and grasses (hence the name “Flowerpot”) which become islands when the Bay of Fundy’s prodigious tides come in but around which one can walk when the tides go out. We arrived at mid-point between low and high tides, giving us about two hours in which to walk along the ocean floor.
A long metal and wooden staircase takes one down the cliff edge towards the ocean floor. As soon as one reaches the bottom one is greeted by the view of these huge looming columns, some small and round, some long and skinny, reaching skywards. I had expected to see more sealife on the bottom – starfish, mussels, crabs, clams, kelp, and so on – so was surprised when not much was in view. Perhaps the tides are too vigorous for them to take hold in that area, or perhaps they are swept out with the retreating tides.
The ground was mostly gravelly and sand, with some muddy areas and a few spots where seaweed grew. The kids had grand fun slipping and sliding in the muddy spots, getting almost totally covered in mud! We walked along investigating the rock formations, searching for ocean life, and generally enjoying the afternoon. MoMo was allowed to come down with us along as she was kept on a short leash.
Certain spots along the cliff edge were blocked off owing to danger from falling rocks or cave-ins, and ocean floor monitors patrolled the area to ensure everyone vacated the area in advance of the incoming tides. We made it back up in plenty of time, washed off at the tap & spray nozzle on the cliff-top, and browsed the gift store and museum displays for a short time before supper. (The kids each bought a lovely necklace with a small vial of some precious or semi-precious stone: Turquoise for Mustang and Obsidian for Button. We decided we’ll have to name two of the puppies with those names in honour of their coastal paternal heritage.)
We might have spent the night in the parking lot there but the management shooed us off the lot so we headed down the highway another half-hour before finding a pull-off at which to spend the night.
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