Prince Edward Island. Where, when, and how to discover the best photography in America

Transcription

1 July Where, when, and how to discover the best photography in America Published since 1989 Russell lupine grows almost everywhere on the island Prince Edward Island Located to the west of Nova Scotia s Cape Bretton Island and northeast of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island is Canada s smallest province; only the states of Rhode Island and Delaware are smaller. This island is named for Prince Edward, Duke of Kent ( ), the father of Queen Victoria. Photographers looking for new images will discover many lighthouses, working lobster harbors (or harbours as they spell it here), red sand beaches, and fascinating historic villages. All of the island s railroad tracks have been replaced with hiking and biking trails. You ll find wildflowers scattered everywhere in the spring. Your favorite autumn colors paint the forests in early October. Seafood lovers will never want to leave. Here is the information you ll need to plan your trip to PEI.

2 North Cape Light Cape Wolf West Point Light Seacow Pond Harbour Northport Light Malpeque Harbour Bayside Prince Edward Island North Rustico Harbour Thunder and Light Cove Cavendish NP Summerside French River Charlottetown Greenwich NP The Dunes Trail Brackley Delvay NP Naufrage Harbour and Light Montague Basin Head Souris Launching Harbour East Point Light Georgetown Panmure Island Graham Pond Cape Bear Light N Confederation Bridge to New Brunswick Victoria Harbour Prim Point Light Wood Islands Light and Ferry to Nova Scotia Built in 1997, the eight-mile-long Confederation Bridge connects PEI with New Brunswick. With this new bridge, visitors to the island now have a choice between the bridge or the ferry. The Wood Islands Car Ferry takes 75 minutes for the trip from Nova Scotia to PEI. Many roads on the island are unpaved, graded gravel, or red sand. Back in 1989, the Prince Edward Railway was abandoned, and 470 kilometres of railroad tracks were removed from this island. These routes have been converted to hiking and biking trails and named the Confederation Trails. Miles of trails are covered by overhanging forests and lined with lupine in June and July. Snowmobiles use them in the winter. Stop at any island visitor center and pick up a free map of Prince Edward Island. This long and narrow crescent-shaped island is 139 miles (224 kilometres) from tip to tip with a shoreline measuring 1,600 kilometres. Prince Edward Island has three scenic loop drives: Points East Coastal Drive (295 miles/475 kilometres), Central Coastal Drive (157 miles/253 kilometres) and the North Cape Coastal Drive (217 miles/350 kilometres). The island s soil and the red sand beaches are the color of red bricks and make a striking contrast with the island s green pastures and forests. A few miles inland, herds of dairy cattle graze the rolling hills across the island. No point on this province is more than ten miles from the sea. The highest point is 466 feet (152 meters) above sea level. Plan your overnight stops in several different areas or stay in one motel, hotel, or cottage in one centrally-located town like Charlottetown or Summerside. I stayed in Charlottetown for seven nights. Summerside, the other large town on the south shore of PEI, has a good selection of lodgings but lacks the scenic walks through Charlottetown s historic district. With my plan to include as many lighthouses as possible, I started my counter-clockwise tour of the island with a drive out to Prim Point to photograph the province s oldest lighthouse. Point Prim Lighthouse It s a 30-minute drive from Charlottetown s tourist office on the edge of the waterfront. I drove east on Water Street and crossed the Hillsborough Bridge following Highway 1, the TransCanada. When I reached Lord Selkirk Provincial Park, I turned right onto Route 209 and drove to the end of Point Prim where an eighty-foot round masonry tower stands at the opening into Hillsborough Bay.

3 issue page 3 Point Prim Lighthouse on Hillsborough Bay Nova Scotia Ferry at Wood Islands Harbour Prim Point was an extreme navigation hazard for early 19th century sea trade between Canada and Europe. Shipwrecks and disasters along the Northumberland Strait grew as shipping traffic into Charlottetown Harbour increased. In the early 1800s, merchants and ship owners demanded a lighthouse be built on Point Prim. The first lighthouse was activated in 1845 This tapered cylinder of masonry is a rarity on this island. Traditional PEI lighthouses are four, six or eight-sided wooden towers. Prim is the oldest lighthouse on PEI and one of only a few brick lighthouses on this island. Next to the lighthouse is the Chowder House serving chowder, biscuits and pie. Wood Islands Lighthouse Fifteen miles east, near the terminal pier for the Northumberland Car Ferry to Nova Scotia, is Wood Islands Lighthouse, a four-sided wooden tower. Follow the direction signs to the ferry terminal on Highway 1. Stay to the left and take the last left turn onto an unpaved frontage road that leads out to the lighthouse, visible on a hill in the distance. Park on the huge lawn and cross the road to the opening in the fence around the lighthouse and the attached keepers quarters. There is plenty of room on the west side to back off hundreds of yards for a tight telephoto shot late in the day when the white tower turns red at dusk. You can stand very close to the breakwater, where the ferry enters the harbour, to shoot the lighthouse from a distance or look the other way and capture the ferry passing through the narrow harbour entrance. You ll need your most extreme wide-angle lens to frame the whole length of the ferry. Cape Bear Light on red cliffs Cape Bear Lighthouse Out on the southeast tip of PEI sits Cape Bear Lighthouse. Shoot from the edge of the parking lot to include red cliffs or move in closer with a wide-angle lens to frame just the lighthouse. This old lighthouse was moved back, away from the eroding cliffs, several times. The remains of the old Marconi Telegraph Station, now demolished, stands nearby out on Bear Point where the first SOS message from the Titanic was received in Canada on April 15, A new replacement lighthouse on steel poles stands on the edge of the parking lot with a solar panel to power a yellow lamp. Graham Pond A large lobster fleet fills a wide harbour called Graham Pond, located midway between Georgetown and Murray River, two miles south of Gaspereaux. The best tripod spot here is on the north side of the harbour where you ll

4 issue page 4 Graham Pond lobster boats find a morning light view of lobster boats against a background of lobster shacks. Piles of colorful floats are scattered along the wharf. Rain, fog or sunshine is acceptable weather for photographing lobster harbours and any lens will work. Walk around, pick the best angles, and try to find some new compositions. Panmure Island Climb the steep and narrow stairway to the top of an observation tower for a view of the ocean side of the long sand spit, the causeway and the road that connects Panmure Island to Prince Edward Island. The ocean side of the spit has white sand and cold water. Pink sand and warmer water are found on the St. Mary s Bay side. In the distance is the Panmure Lighthouse. Panmure Island Lighthouse Drive to the edge of the fence around the lighthouse and move in close with a wide-angle lens or drive back down the road to find a path through the dunes for a telephoto shot from the beach. Try both and pick your favorite later. Three very friendly draft horses were grazing on a meadow next to the Panmure Lighthouse. The six-sided shingled wooden tower is the oldest wooden lighthouse (1853) in the province of PEI. Spend a few moments inside each of the lighthouses you ll visit and you ll pick up more history and some details for your photo captions. The town of Montague climbs both sides of a deep river valley with streets that lead down to a historic harbour as well as modern shopping malls and fast-food outlets in the other direction. The east end of Prince Edward Island has a dozen deep natural harbours. The coast road follows the edge of all of them. If you have the time, you can drive out to the tip of each promontory and circle each bay. At the end of the day, I headed back to Charlottetown by taking a shortcut across the interior of the island. Even the unpaved roads are well-graded and easy to drive. Georgetown At the end of the road through Georgetown, a long, inclined boat ramp leads down to the water s edge where I photographed anchored fishing boats and their reflections in the harbour. Two blocks south of the harbour is the eastern end of one of the island s spurs of the Confederation Trails. It begins as a wooden boardwalk that follows the water s edge for a half mile before entering the woods. I spent an hour photographing patterns in the shallows during a low tide and images of spreading trees framing the shoreline across the bay. Wild foxes are common in the hedgerows along narrow farm roads. They slowed down and watched me approach for a photo and then dove into the woods too quickly to get a photograph. Launching Harbour In the middle of the eastern end of the island is Launching Harbour located near Boughton Bay. A long inlet leads into a long and narrow harbour, just wide enough for an entering lobster boat. I found good tripod spots on both sides of the harbour for views to the left or right or straight across the harbour.

5 issue page 5 Lobster traps were stacked everywhere. Piles of colorful floats stood out against gray, weathered shacks. On Saturday afternoon, the harbour was full of boats. Only a few fishermen were cleaning up and refueling. a narrow channel where the bay meets the sea. Cross the footbridge over the inlet and walk toward the surf before looking back toward the fishing shacks (that face the morning sun if you arrive early enough). Lobster floats After an hour of exploring the best viewpoints, two old Volkswagen vans pulled up to the marina loaded with a bride and groom, bride s maids and best men in tuxedos. Their officient followed the group of twelve out to the end of the causeway and lined them up on the rocky point on the edge of the bay for a simple ceremony except for the long white bridal gown and all the tuxedos. It would have made a great photo but I was on the other side of the harbour. Souris East Lighthouse On a hill above the ferry terminal where you can catch a five-hour cruise to the Iles De La Madeleine, out in the middle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, is the Souris (surrey) Lighthouse. Built in 1880, this four-sided wooden structure stands 14.3 meters. A gift shop and cafe are separated from the tower and you can photograph them together or separately. Basin Head Along the Atlantic side of Prince Edward Island, almost to the tip of the island and the end of the road, is an interesting photo location called Basin Head where the restoration of an old fishing village is in progress. Check your map for the paved road, halfway between the town of Souris and East Point. Drive to the parking area at the end of the road and walk through the gate. Then follow the path on the left side of the main building, a Museum of the PEI Fishing Industry. The path leads through a line of restored fishing shacks on the edge of Fishing shack at Basin Head Morning light is best on the bridge over the inlet at Basin Head. I was there early on a Sunday morning and had the place all to myself. I explored the length of the beach where they say that the sand sings when you walk on it. The dry sand definitely makes a squeaking sound beneath your feet. The damp sand closer to the water s edge is silent. The tide was coming in during my morning visit. The trail to Singing Beach Warm summer days lure crowds of beach people who enjoy diving from the footbridge over the inlet and being swept into or out of the inlet, depending on the tide, then grabbing onto ladders securely-fastened to the sides of the inlet and climbing out to do it again. Photographers can catch multiple divers with each exposure.

6 issue page 6 my elevated position, I photographed this large fishing harbour, looking in both directions. There were hundreds of lobster boats in the harbour on a Sunday morning. East Point At the extreme northeastern tip of Prince Edward Island is East Point Lighthouse. The edge of the parking lot drops to the surf. You can climb a series of ladders to the top after photographing the exterior. This was my second early morning lighthouse of the day. Morning light works fine here. If you are staying in Charlottetown, allow 90 minutes for the drive out to East Point where you can have breakfast in the Light House Café. Along Route 16 on the north shore of the Points East Coastal drive, I counted twenty giant windmills lining the edge of potato fields. Many of the forests on PEI have been cleared and planted with potatoes. PEI grows 25% of Canada s potatoes. Potato farm near East Point East Point Lighthouse Eight kilometres west of the lighthouse, an old bridge over the Harbour at North Lake has been permanently closed with a barricade. I parked and walked to the middle of the bridge. From Shipwreck Point Naufrage Lighthouse is visible from Route 20. Weeds covered the side road marked Lighthouse Street. I parked and walked to the six-sided masonry tower. A sign on the locked door called this tower the Shipwreck Point Light Station. Restaurants are few along the road to East Point. In the village of St. Peters, at the east end of St. Peters Bay is a fish and chips shop that also serves lobster rolls. There is a new Visitor Information Center near the bridge in the village of St. Peters where Highway 2 meets Route 313. These centers are marked with a yellow question mark on the tourist maps. The Greenwich Dunes Trail From the middle of St. Peters, drive northwest on Route 313 to the largest area of sand dunes on the island at Greenwich, an eastern extension of the Prince Edward Island National Park. Stop at the visitor center for information on boardwalk trails through the dunes before continuing the drive to the end of Route 313. Sand dune photography is always better at dawn and dusk. If you are staying nearby, be sure to hike through this fascinating landscape of beach grass and red sand dunes. Plan your trip to Prince Edward Island in late September for their autumn color and you ll avoid their early summer mosquitos, found mostly in the woods along the north shore of the island. Pack a spray repellent with Deet and bring a hat with an insect net to be comfortable on the trails. If you plan to stay in Charlottetown, the Central Coastal Drive will be most convenient to the three Prince Edward Island National Parks on the north shore. These long and narrow strips of wooded forestland abut the edge of red sand beaches. Campgrounds are numerous here and summer rental cottages are booked up long before summer arrives.

7 issue page 7 Morning light on North Rustico Lighthouse French River Harbour from the overlook It takes a whole day to explore and photograph the north shore of the Central Coastal Drive from Tracadie Bay to Malpeque Bay. Lighthouses marked on maps of the island protect six small bays dotted with working fishing boat harbours. The coast road winds inland to circle the bays. Symbols on the tourist maps (available everywhere along the coastal roads) point out the boat slips, harbours, marinas, and lighthouses. North Rustico Lighthouse In the village of North Rustico Harbour, an old lighthouse sits on the edge of a jumble of rotting shacks overlooking the entrance to the harbour. This lighthouse was built in 1876 with a 34-foot tall square wooden tower and a yellow lamp that is still operational. If you need more authenticlooking lighthouse images, arrive here during a heavy rain in a windstorm. French River Harbour Thirty kilometers west of the North Rustico Lighthouse is a wide scenic viewpoint at the top of a hill. Pull off the road and you ll see a spectacular view of the French River Harbour stretched out in the distance. My best photograph from this spot was made on a sunny morning with a 70 mm lens. Driving west from the scenic overlook, I took the next right turn at the bottom of the hill where River Road follows the stream to the edge of French River Harbour. I stopped at the marina and made a quick search for better camera angles. The telephoto view from the top of the hill was still my favorite, so I drove past the marina to the top of the hill, turned right onto Cape Road and drove east, to the end, where the New London lighthouse is visible in the distance. Turn right at the last junction on Cape Road and drive a quarter mile south to a parking area at a turnaround for the best lighthouse view across New London Bay. Balancing rock framed in arch at Thunder Cove Thunder Cove Ten kilometres west of French River Harbour or 5.5 kilometres east of the village of Malpeque, watch for Lower Darnley Road on Route 20. Turn north and drive until you see a sign at the junction of Thunder Cove Road. A couple minutes on this gravel road will take you to the edge of the cliffs above Thunder Cove. Park in the middle of a large curve in the road and you ll find a narrow trail leading 20 meters down the cliffs to the beach. Down on the sand, walk 15 minutes west to find some bizarre geological formations carved by storm-driven waves blowing in from the north. Arrive during a high tide and you ll have trouble getting around the points extending farther into the ocean. A lower tide will expose more

8 issue page 8 Malpeque Harbour in the fog of the strange formations and reveal reflecting pools that mirror the images you ll want to photograph. Depending on which way you ll be shooting, these formations will work for you in morning or afternoon light. A thick fog will add drama to the scenes. A sky full of clouds will be better than a bald, blank sky. If you will be passing through here just once, photograph what you find and work with it later. Allow at least an hour for the beach hike and a thorough photo session. Avoid summer weekends here when this beach is covered with tourists and all the parking spaces are full. Three days later, I returned to Darnley Basin late on a clear afternoon. The harbour was full of lobster boats. After walking all the way around the harbour and exploring all the viewpoints, I returned to my favorite spot on the far side of the harbour and shot seven images that I stitched later into a panorama (below). It s a long drive around Malpeque Bay to the west end of the island. Head south on Route 20 from Malpeque to Kensington and follow Highway 2 westward. All the paved roads that follow the edge of the many bays along the north shore on the west end of PEI have different route numbers. Stay on #12 and check your map for the numbers of the many loop roads that lead out to the edge of the bays where you ll find the boats and lighthouses. Malpeque Harbour Two miles north of the village of Malpeque on King Street is an authentic fishing village at Royalty Point where I saw no fancy yachts. I arrived on a foggy morning and all the boats were still in the harbour on the edge of Darnley Basin. The best view was from the end of an old driveway across the harbour with a 200 mm lens. Each boat has one of the shacks lined up along the wharf where they keep their nets and fishing gear. Some boat owners have painted the shacks in bright colors and others are faded and weathering away. St. Patrick s Roman Catholic Church, Bayside PEI St. Patrick s in the fields At the village of Bayside, along Route 12, I spotted the tall spires of St. Patrick s Roman Catholic Church with potato fields in the foreground and Malpeque Bay in the distance. Malpeque Harbour pano

9 issue page 9 On Route 12 to Birch Hill The lobster fleet at Seacow Pond Russell Lupine One of the first things I photographed the day I arrived on PEI was a large patch of Russell lupine, growing wild. I saw this image (above) on the edge of Malpeque Bay as I was driving the North Cape Coastal Loop Russell lupine at Birch Hill on Route 12. Every day, along all the roads through PEI, these tall blossoms of blue and pink flowers appeared. It grows everywhere except wet and boggy lands. I was looking for the perfect composition that included more than just colorful flowers. When I m motoring along country lanes and come upon a great composition, I check my mirrors, hit the brakes, and make a U-turn as quickly as possible. On the lee side of the North Cape, there are many small bays where working boat harbours can be photographed in protective coves on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Seacow Pond is just south of the tip of North Cape. Judes Point and North Point are fishing boat harbours and marinas worth visiting with your camera. North Cape Lighthouse At the northernmost tip of Prince Edward Island, the North Cape Lighthouse is located in the middle of a narrow spit of land sitting back 200 feet from the shorelines on each side. Next to the lighthouse is a tall communication tower. A chain link fence surrounds the base of the tower and the lighthouse. From the parking area, walk around to the back of the lighthouse to find the best angle for a photograph without including the tower in your composition. A restaurant and a tourist information office are at the end of Route 12 where trails lead down from the parking lot to a rocky beach covered with seaweed. North Cape Lighthouse Cape Wolfe The west or windward side of the North Cape Coastal Drive along Route 14 has very few protected coves and harbours. When I reached Cape Wolfe, one of the westernmost points on PEI, I stopped at the intersection with Route 147 and turned right. Heading west is a steep dirt road that leads a hundred meters down the hill to an old one-room schoolhouse. On the side of this remote gray-shingled building was a sign with the name Greenhill School No. 39. Old schoolhouse on the western tip of PEI

10 issue page 10 In the Région Evangéline around the school house, I counted over fifty giant windmills across an area of western PEI covered with potato fields. The windward side of North Cape is lined with dozens of immense threebladed windmills. Alternative energy is a major employer on this side of the island. The west side of PEI is La Region Evangéline, with a predominantly French-speaking Acadian culture dating back to Visit the Acadian Museum in the village of Miscouche or tour the Canadian Potato Museum in the town of O Leary on Route 142. Both are good rainy day destinations. Potato Power West Point Built in 1875, the black-and-white striped wooden lighthouse on the southwest corner of PEI is the only lighthouse on this island with lodgings an attached nine-room inn with a restaurant. Shoot from the south side and set up your tripod down on the beach to block your view of the additional rooms added to this landmark The tower will block the view of the inn. Summerside is the second-largest town on PEI. With a good selection of hotels and a warmer beach on the Northumberland Strait, this is the destination of many summer visitors. My research on the eastern shoreline West Point Lighthouse made me choose Charlottetown as the most convenient hub for photography of the more scenic eastern parts of the island. Seacow Lighthouse Located south of Summerside, this deactivated navigational aid is still guarding the entrance into Bedeque Bay. Only half the roads in this area are paved. The maze of roads to the lighthouse connect the villages of North Bedeque, Lower Bedeque, Central Bedeque and Bedeque. With a little patience, I found the light at the end of a dirt road marked Lighthouse Road, just south of Ferndale. It stands near the edge of red cliffs and glows nicely in the setting sun. The faux light tower atop a nearby house was once part of an amusement park called Lobster Land in Kensington. Steller s seacow, a relative of the manatee, was wiped out by sailors, seal hunters, and fur traders. By 1768, Steller s seacow was extinct. The Confederation Bridge With a little searching, I found a moody, rainy day vantage point for a photograph of the north end of the Confederation Bridge. When driving south, stay to the left and follow the signs to the Visitor Information Center near the toll station on the approach to the bridge. Drive through the parking lot and continue a few blocks south to the end of the road where there is a lighthouse on a grassy knoll at the edge of the bridge. The far end of the bridge disappeared in the rain and mists blowing through the Northumberland Strait. The near end of the bridge revealed the massive size The Confederation Bridge looking south

11 issue page 11 of the structure built to withstand crushing winter ice flows driven by extreme tides. Stop at the Visitor Information Center near the toll plaza and pick up a free map of the island. It has enough detail to help you find all the roads, lighthouses, and harbours you will want to photograph on Prince Edward Island, including a close-up map of Charlottetown s city streets. scene. Park and walk along the waterfront. Then walk into the village to sample the homemade sweets at Island Chocolates. Walk the length of the village to photograph gardens surrounding colorful Victorian cottages. Confederation Bridge with a 180 mm lens To get a wide-angle view of the Confederation Bridge from a higher elevation, drive west on Route 10 to St. Peter s Roman Catholic Church in North Carleton. Get a shot of one of the world s longest bridges from the edge of their parking lot at the top of the hill. The harbour at Victoria Stay off TransCanada Highway 1 and drive the more scenic route from the Confederation Bridge to Charlottetown eastward on Route 10. Twenty kilometres east of the bridge is the historic village of Victoria where you ll find a lighthouse near the fishing harbour. An old wooden dory is weathering away in the grass while adding a picturesque foreground to the Victoria Harbour Lighthouse PEI s second oldest I drove all the oceanside roads, completely around PEI and many of the cross roads, the interior routes that zigzag across the island. I visited and photographed all the major lighthouses, including the four lighthouses in the corners. I photographed many harbours and lobster boats. For my last day on the island, I returned to a few locations for better light and searched for scenes that are unique to Prince Edward Island, like the beautiful Russell lupine that grows almost everywhere on the island. All roads heading east along the south side of the island lead to Charlottetown. If you are packing a GPS satellite navigation unit, type in the name of your lodgings and follow the directions to your hotel.

12 John Brown s Grille on Victorian Row St. Dunston s Basilica on Sydney Street Charlottetown claims to be just the right size for a livable capitol city. Before packing my bags, I spent a few hours exploring the heart of Charlottetown. I walked the streets of Old Charlottetown, just before sunset, the night before I left the island. Victorian Row is a pedestrian-only street between Queen Street and Richmond Street, lined with trendy restaurants, shops, and galleries. This is where I started. One block north is the Confederation of the Arts, a museum with a courtyard of monumentalsized sculpture. Within a few blocks in every direction through Old Town are fascinating examples of Victorian architecture and treelined streets that probably look as they did a hundred years ago. The harbour is two blocks south and worth more hours of explorations to photograph Peake s Wharf where sidewalk vendors offer local lobster rolls and PEI mussels. The light got better and better until the sun dropped into the bay. The next morning I returned to the airport in Halifax, Nova Scotia, for my flight home. Have a great trip and send me an !! My life-long career in photography began at San Jose State University in After college, I enlisted in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, serving as a photographer and darkroom technician. In Germany, my skills and experience with equipment and lab work were developed and polished. I took the opportunity to photograph the beauty of nature in the Black Forest. Returning to California in 1965, I produced industrial and military training films for Raytheon Electronics and began showing my color nature prints. From 1969 through 1981, my photography was exhibited and sold in West Coast galleries. During the early 1980 s, I taught color darkroom workshops, then expanded to include field trips. Former customers, who had purchased my framed photographs, wanted to learn photography. My Pacific Image Photography Workshops offered adventures to the Pacific Coast, the Southwest deserts, national parks, Hawaii, New England, Canada, England, and the South Pacific. The workshops evolved into writing and sharing my adventures with others. Photograph America Newsletter provides information on where, when, and how to discover the best nature photography in North America. Photograph America Newsletter is published quarterly (four issues/year) by Robert Hitchman assisted by technical associate/wife, Katherine Post Office Box 86, Novato, CA All contents of this newsletter copyright Robert Hitchman Please don t make copies for your friends. This is a violation of Federal copyright laws. This newsletter survives on subscriptions.