Updated - March 2015 26 Where, when, and how to discover the best photography in America Published since 1989 Along the rugged Atlantic Coast of Nova Scotia, hundreds of small villages and tiny harbors support a fishing fleet that still harvests a living from the sea. From Yarmouth to the northern tip of Cape Breton, every bay, cove, and harbor along the Atlantic Coast of Nova Scotia is a home port to working fishermen. Photographers looking for images should travel the coast of this Canadian Maritime Province. In addition to wildlife preserves and national parks that protect large wilderness areas, the contributions of settlers from many lands can be seen in the Nova Scotia of today. Some of the best lighthouse photography can be found here. Visitors will discover isolated beaches and seascapes free of any trace of man, as well as busy harbor scenes packed with colorful lobster boats and trawlers anchored in protected coves. At day's end when the fleet returns, lobster traps and brightly colored bouys are piled on wharves, nets are hung to dry, and workers are busy cleaning and boxing fish for delivery to market. Photographers, always searching for the best light, may discover these scenes enveloped in morning fog as a rising sun paints reflections of brightly colored boats on the surface of calm coves. Every season shows a different face of coastal Nova Scotia. Plan your visit soon and enjoy some great photography. The Coast of Nova Scotia
issue 26 - page 2 The Coast of Nova Scotia There are 4,600 miles of coastline surrounding this Canadian province about the size of West Virginia. It would take years to explore every beach, harbor, cove, bay, inlet, and headland on Nova Scotia. This newsletter should get you pointed in the right direction and offers recommendations and suggestions for your visit and your photographic explorations of this beautiful part of Canada s Maritime Provinces. There is a small airport near Bar Harbor, Maine, which has regularly-scheduled flights from Boston, Massachusetts. The city of Bangor, Maine, is nearby and it has a major airport with all the major car-rental offices. Pick up a rental car at the Bangor Airport and reach the Bar Harbor ferry to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in a two-hour trip. Make your ferry reservations well in advance to be sure of getting on board. You can exchange your American dollars for Canadian currency at any bank in Nova Scotia or at the Tourist Information Centers located in Amhurst for those driving into the province and in Yarmouth for visitors arriving by ferry. On the Bar Harbor-to-Yarmouth ferry route, there are more sailings each week during the summer season. Call the tollfree number and request a ferry schedule to plan your arrival and departure days. Arrive at least one hour before departure time. Dramamine or your favorite seasick remedy should be included in your camera bag for this voyage. Pack a warm sweater. You will not be allowed to return to your car during the voyage unless you are accompanied by a member of the crew. The Bar Harbor ferry terminal is west of town and a few miles east of the Acadia National Park Visitor Center. The ferry sails to Nova Scotia every morning of the week in summer months. During the autumn, the ferry only sails on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. During winter months the schedule is reduced or stopped completely. Prince of Fundy Cruises Limited operates the ferry between Portland, Maine and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. This overnight cruise takes eleven hours. An auto ferry runs from Saint John, New Brunswick, to Digby, Nova Scotia, which sails more frequently and may be more convenient for you. The six-hour ferry cruise from Bar Harbor arrives in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, at about 3:00 pm Atlantic Time. Start your visit with a stop at the Nova Scotia Visitor Center. When you drive off the ferry, follow the traffic up the hill and you ll see it on your right. You will find a good selection of books about Nova Scotia. Buy a good map and maybe a few books on your favorite subjects, like lighthouses, whale watching, or old sailing ships. Leaving Yarmouth, follow the signs through town, pointing out the Lighthouse Route. This coastal route follows Highway 3, staying close to the shore of the southern, Atlantic side of Nova Scotia. If you were to follow the entire Lighthouse Route from its beginning in Yarmouth all the way to Halifax, it would take you several days without stopping. Drive only as far as the town of Shelburne the first day you arrive and spend the night there. Almost every village and town of Nova Scotia has at least one bed and breakfast establishment. I recommend larger motels because there is a better chance that rooms will be available whether you phone in advance or arrive without reservations. Plan ahead and book the locations you want well in advance. Get an early start the next day. You will probably find Shelburne Harbor enveloped in morning fog. Follow the main street of Shelburne to the old docks at the far end of town. Drive another three miles out the peninsula to a small red and white lighthouse in the bay. It s a fifteen-mile drive out and around the point to Jordan Bay, Jordan Ferry, and Jordan Falls. Each time you leave the high-speed Highway 103 to follow the Lighthouse Route (Route 3) out around a peninsula, it may take you an extra hour. You will discover some interesting little fishing villages or an isolated lighthouse. Mark your map with the best places, the places you really must see. Then skip some parts of the Lighthouse Route, or at least save those sections for your return trip along this coast back to Yarmouth.
issue 26 - page 3 If you love to explore isolated, wilderness beaches, watch for the sign pointing out the left turn to Port Joli and the four-mile dirt road out to Kejimkujik National Seaside Park. At the parking lot at the end of the road, a path leads through a forest of alders to a rocky headland above a wide sandy beach. Turn left and follow the beach to photograph harbor seals, sandpipers, and plovers. Follow the Lighthouse Route all the way along this coast. The scenery gets particularly interesting when you reach Liverpool. If you are following the Lighthouse Route and reach the mouth of the LaHave River, a small auto ferry, which sails every hour, will take you across for a fee. You will not have to drive all the way (about 12 miles) inland to the town of Bridgewater to cross the river. Along the Lighthouse Route, don t miss: LUNENBURG BLUE ROCKS PEGGY S COVE PROSPECT If you have the time, visit these places: KEJIMKUJIK National Seaside Park LOCKPORT INGOMAR If you are driving Highway 103, watch for exit 11 and head down to the coast. Do not miss the seaside town of Lunenburg. Sea captains of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries built elegant Victorian homes on the hills above this bay. European settlers made this harbor the center of Nova Scotia s shipbuilding and fishing industry. German was the language of Lunenburg well into the 1800s. Lunenburg has been designated a national historic district. Down on the harbor, below the old commercial district, is the Fisheries Museum of the
issue 26 - page 4 Atlantic. Visit the museum and walk the docks where you can easily spend several hours photographing a restored sailing schooner, a trawler, and a Digby scallop boat. Colorful dories are tied to the dock. Visiting sailing ships and restored windjammers are often seen here. This is a good place to be on a sunny day. The museum and all the warehouses and wooden shipyard workshops are painted bright red. Stay off Highway 3 and follow Lincoln Street through Lunenburg. Turn right on Paradise Street and drive out to the fishing village called Blue Rocks. This is another don t-miss location. An old weathered lobster shack is perched on a rock in the middle of a small cove. The best angle from the side of the road is especially good after sunset, when the shack is silhouetted in the reflection of the sky. Continue a short way farther down the road and turn right at the small sign that says THE POINT. The road climbs to a high spot where you can set up your tripod and shoot down on a beautiful little harbor protected by a rocky ledge. Like most of this part of Nova Scotia, these smooth granite shorelines were formed by glacial movement of past ice ages. Drive all the way to the end of the peninsula for more colorful fishing boats reflecting in calm, protected harbors. There is no end of weathered boat houses and lobster shacks along these shores. You will have to turn around, it s a dead end road. Watch for those No exit signs if you are trying to follow the Lighthouse Route. The town of Mahone Bay was founded in 1750 by New England settlers who wanted to make Nova Scotia the fourteenth colony. On a calm day, look out across the bay to see the reflection of three churches in the water. Morning light is especially good here. Chester is a nice little town. It looks like a restored New England seacoast community. The marina is full of modern sailboats and the main street is lined with shops and art galleries. It will take you an hour to drive from Chester to Peggy s Cove on Highway 3. Those last few miles will be faster if you take Highway 103. Get off the highway at exit 5 and follow the signs to Route 333, the road to Peggy s Cove. Peggy s Cove A visit to Peggy s Cove means watching for exit 5 on the highspeed highway. Drive past the Industrial Park and head south past the new mini-mall. Make that turn at Upper Tantallon and follow the shoreline road around the head of St. Margaret s Bay. From the exit off the highway, it is 25 km out to Peggy s Cove. The most scenic views begin when you reach Hackett s Cove. From there to Indian Harbour, you will see photographic compositions all along the road. Watch for Middle Point Road in Indian Harbour. In this small cove is one of my favorite locations along this coast. When the fishing boats are unloading, gulls fill the air, swooping and diving for scraps. Move up the road a bit for some different angles and then ask the owners if you can shoot from the end of their pier. Lobster traps, drying nets, and colorful floats cover the dock and brightly painted dories are lying about on the shore and bobbing at anchor. Lodgings are very scarce around Peggy s Cove. Most visitors to Peggy s Cove make day trips from Halifax, an hour away. From Indian Harbour, the road rises to a high spot where you ll see a lighthouse in the distance on the point near Peggy s Cove. A sign along the road points out that you are entering an area of restricted development and
issue 26 - page 5 preservation. When you make the turn and drive through the village of Peggy s Cove, you will spot the two large paved visitor s parking lots. There is a good reason that this is one of the most photographed scenes in Canada. Start with the small harbor. Look for the best angles. There are only a few accessible spots where you can set up your tripod to frame the boats and exclude the clutter and the gift shops. Pick a high spot and shoot down to crop off the power lines above the village. All kinds of light will work; so don t give up if you arrive on an overcast day. A dense fog will hide any power poles, satellite dishes, and pickup trucks parked across the narrow harbor. Move around, experiment with different focal lengths, and think about using your filters to improve or change the scene. Warming filters may help on an overcast day. A polarizer can cut the glare on the water and darken a light blue sky. It can be very humid on a warm day along this coast. Pack a container of silica gel in with your camera gear to absorb the extra moisture in your bag. The lighthouse at Peggy s Cove draws everyone who visits. This means that you might have to wait a while if you want to avoid people in your photographs. Everyone wants to pose at the base of the lighthouse and have their picture taken. Move out onto the rocks for a different angle or wait until much later in the day when most of the visitors are gone. My favorite photograph of the Peggy s Cove lighthouse was taken just after sunset when the afterglow illuminating the white tower was reflecting in the tide pools below. This only works when the tide is out. Remember to wait for the rotating green beacon in the lighthouse to appear. The best spot for a sunset photo of the lighthouse is on the rocks on the Indian Harbour side of the lighthouse. The colors of the setting sun will make a much better photograph than shooting during the middle of the day when the white tower blends into the white clouds of an overcast sky. The rocks at the edge of the bay are slippery. The occasional sneaker wave can soak you and your camera. Be careful. A sign above the parking lot claims that the name Peggy s Cove is just a shortened version of St. Margaret s Bay. After leaving Peggy s Cove, turn right and continue along Route 333. This loop road follows the coast and will take you into Halifax without returning to the main highway. A few miles down the road, a sign points out the turn to West Dover. Like many of these side roads that lead to small harbors, this dirt road ends on a long wooden pier. Drive out to the end of the pier for good views in both directions of more old fishing shacks and more brightly painted boats. This harbor, like East Dover just across the bay, and all the other small harbors along this coast are going to reveal their secrets and help you create good photographs only if you take the time to stop, look, and explore the areas. Just beyond Shad Bay, watch for the sign pointing out the turn to Prospect. Prospect is three miles out on a peninsula between Shad Bay and Prospect Bay. I ve found
issue 26 - page 6 some great images around this small village. A few weathered old shacks are crumbling and a few old hulls are rotting away along the shore. There are some new homes and a new government pier. Try shooting the boats in the harbor from the end of the new pier. On your way back to the highway, stop and shoot the village of Prospect from the top of the hill. I once crested this hill at sunrise and discovered the beautiful scene of clear morning light striking the village. More than likely, you will be rained on sometime during your visit to Nova Scotia. Pack a good rain coat for this trip. Pack a plastic rain coat for your camera too. The new electronic cameras can be ruined by a few drops of moisture. Even a day of humid weather can freeze up an electronic camera. I always carry a large plastic bag to cover my camera gear. Stay at least one night on this part of the coast to be able to photograph a sunrise and a sunset on Peggy s Cove. Explore Prospect and the other small fishing harbors in this area. Any map of Nova Scotia shows a circular route around the southern part of the province. The road loops up the south (Atlantic) side to Halifax, crosses northward to the Bay of Fundy and curves back to Yarmouth in the southwest along the coastal Evangeline Trail. Nowhere are there tides as extreme as in the Bay of Fundy, rising and falling as much as fifty-five feet every six hours. Half the time the view from this northern coastline is of mud flats. Boats along the Bay of Fundy go out in search of scallops instead of lobster. This coastline is flatter, and there are more orchards and farms than along the Atlantic Coast. For exciting subjects to photograph, return to Yarmouth along the Atlantic Coast or, better yet, stay at least another week and drive the coast all the way to the tip of Cape Breton. Halifax and Dartmouth An hour s drive beyond Peggy s Cove is the largest city in Nova Scotia. Halifax is on one side and Dartmouth is on the other side of this huge natural harbor. My favorite reason for spending time in the Halifax area is the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. It is located down on the docks below the center of the downtown area on Lower Water Street. Follow any of the main streets of Dartmouth eastward, away from the harbor, to Highway 111, which circles the east side of the city. From here, watch for the signs directing you to Highway 7 and the Marine Trail. From Dartmouth to the Canso Causeway at the entrance to Cape Breton is 250 km via the scenic road. The coastal route is called the Marine Drive. Allow two or more days for this slow and windy trip. Fifteen miles east, watch for the sign to Musquodoboit Harbour. It s a ten-minute drive out along the Petpeswick Inlet to Martinique Beach. At three miles, it s the longest sandy beach on the Marine Trail. You can walk for hours along the beach and then head inland from the beach to a wildlife sanctuary that teems with migratory birds in the fall. Seven miles farther up the Marine Trail, watch for the Fisherman s Life Museum at Jeddore Oyster Pond. For more natural scenery, head south of Spry Bay to Taylor Head. At the end of the
issue 26 - page 7 road, follow the boardwalk across the sand dunes to another beautiful long beach with spectacular views. Sheet Harbour is the largest community along the Marine Trail. If you are looking for lunch or gasoline, this is the best place to find it. Entering the town, you cross a bridge over a cascade of small waterfalls dropping into the harbor. Stop at the picnic grounds on the west shore and explore the possibilities before spreading out your picnic lunch. In many places along this drive, your view of the Atlantic will be hidden by small islands. Some are barely large enough to support a single tree. With a good map, you can find the side roads to small villages and harbors with names like Moosehead, Necum Teuch, and Ecum Secum. Buy a good map with detail fine enough to show you the names of the small villages, the rivers, the bays, and the highway numbers. You will find maps in tourist offices. Stay overnight near Sherbrooke, an ongoing restoration project preserving one of the area s first outposts. Established as a French fur-trading post in 1655, Sherbrooke boomed in 1861 when gold was discovered. Thirty buildings and homes have been restored to form a living museum of the period. The locals are dressed in authentic clothing and will guide you around the village explaining how people lived in 19th century Nova Scotia. The working water-wheel powering the old sawmill is worth exploring for a different angle. In the spring, wildflowers grow on the banks of the stream beside the mill. In many places along this coastline of Nova Scotia, you will be driving single-lane roads. A photographer driving slowly and looking for something to shoot can sometimes block traffic. Watch your mirror, pull over occasionally and let other cars pass. From Sherbrooke drive north on Route 7 to Antigonish where you can merge with 104, a fast, multi-lane highway that will get you to Cape Breton quickly. Or stay on the coast and follow the scenic route out to Fisherman s Harbour and across Mowatte Nose to Country Harbour. Along this coast are many small inlets and bays. The Marine Trail twists and turns, following the edge of the Atlantic where possible. Save a little time by taking the auto ferry across Country Harbour. If you don t want to wait for the ferry, you can make the forty-minute drive all the way around Country Harbor. During most of the year, the boat leaves the west side (for those driving from Halifax) every hour on the hour. The return voyage leaves every hour on the half-hour. If Nova Scotia is really New Scotland, then Cape Breton must be the Highlands of Scotland. From a distance, an approaching visitor first sees wooded mountains above steep and rocky headlands that drop into the sea. Cape Breton is actually an island separated from the rest of Nova Scotia by the narrow Strait of Canso. The straits were bridged with a causeway in the 1950s. These northern shores, the home of the native Mi kmaq Indians, were well known to European fishermen and sailors as early as 1497 when John Cabot landed here. France gained possession of Cape Breton and named it Isle Royal in 1712. Isolated fishing villages, like Ingonish, were outposts that supplied the Fortress of Louisbourg. After the British captured Louisbourg in 1758, English, Irish, and Scottish immigration began to settle many more coastal villages. The expulsion of the Acadians from mainland Nova Scotia brought some French settlers to areas such as Chéticamp Island, but the majority of French immigrants came following the French Revolution of 1789. Today their ancestors
issue 26 - page 8 preserve their language and heritage in communities along the west coast of Cape Breton from Petit Etang to Belle Cote. A short distance after crossing the causeway across the Strait of Canso, stop in Port Hastings at the Visitor Information Office on the right. Pick up maps and brochures on just about every restaurant and lodging in Cape Breton. Lodging reservations for any motel, hotel, inn, or bed-andbreakfast establishment can be made at this office. By computer and phone, the clerks in this office will book your lodgings. You can circle Cape Breton in a clockwise or a counter-clockwise direction. By traveling counter-clockwise, you will almost always be on the ocean side of the road and will not have to turn left into oncoming traffic to reach the marked scenic view points. Here they are called look-offs. Morning light is best on the east coast. Drive the Ceilidh Trail down the west coast in the afternoon to watch the setting sun cast long shadows across the fishing villages from Inverness to Creignish. Drive the faster Highway 105 or the slower, more scenic Highway 4 to Sydney. Ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee) is the Gaelic term for a stomping good time. Scotians predominate along this part of the coast and have preserved their heritage and Gaelic language with pride. Plan to stay a minimum of three days here on Cape Breton, with one night in the Sydney area and one night on the west coast. Spend two nights in Sydney to allow time to visit and photograph the Fortress of Louisbourg and the fishing villages along the Marconi Trail. Allow for at least one overnight stop along your route around the northern tip of the Cape. It s an hour-and-a-half drive from the causeway to Sydney, with no stops. The first part of the trip, on Highway 104, is not very scenic. From St. Peters northward on Highway 4, along Bras D or Lake, is a very pleasant drive. Bras D or is a huge inland salt water lake, actually a small sea, open to the Atlantic in a few channels. One of the most scenic spots is the large Sacred Heart church reflecting in the small harbor near Red Islands. On my last visit, a few small boats were anchored in the calm bay and added several spots of color to the reflection of the tall white steeple. Looking at the map of Cape Breton, you ll see that there are only a few roads that will take you down to a couple of headlands and bays on the southeastern side of Cape Breton. Most of them are rough, unpaved, and involve long drives through forests with no views of anything but the tree-lined roads. You will find better photography in other parts of the island. Highway 4 leads northward, directly into Sydney along King s Road, the main street where you will find most of the business and motels. Sydney is a steel town, a coal mining center, and unlike most of Cape Breton, is not very picturesque. There are a few glass office towers in the center of the city. You will find a good selection of lodgings and Sydney is centrally located for day trips to different parts of this far end of Cape Breton. Sydney is the largest city on Cape Breton. It is located on one of Canada s finest natural harbors. Today a few cruise ships and the auto ferries to Newfoundland occupy a few wharves in North Sydney. During the five years of World War Two, this was one of the world s busiest ports. When you visit Cape Breton, visit the Fortress of Louisbourg, located on the Atlantic coast, thirty-minutes southeast of Sydney. This place is always at the top of Nova Scotia s list of tourist destinations, and there is a good reason. This is Canada s largest national historic park. In 1713, Nova Scotia, with the exception of Cape Breton, was ceded by treaty to the English. The French soon made the most of Cape Breton s strategic location at the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The massive stone Fortress of Louisbourg was constructed to control the French interests in Canada. In 1745, a band of New England volunteers captured Louisbourg. The British gave it back to France but ten years later reclaimed it and ordered its total destruction. The fortress has been restored on the site where construction began in 1719. This very ambitious restoration project has provided more than enough parking space, a modern visitor center, and a fleet of buses to transport visitors about one mile out to the fortress. Multi-lingual guides in authentic costumes explain why the Fortress of Louisbourg is such a large and important part of the history of Cape Breton and Nova Scotia. It is difficult to find an angle for a good photo composition of the entire fortress. The place is large
issue 26 - page 9 and the walls face the harbor. You can find a few good vantage points at sea level for photographs through the openings for the cannons along the seawall. Facing northward, toward the harbor, the fortress is backlit, and the fronts of all the main buildings are in shadow. On a bright and sunny day, there is a considerable glare off the roofs of the shops and houses in the village as well as the slate roof of the impressive King s Bastion, the building with the tall clock tower. A cloudy and overcast day will solve some of the lighting problems. Much of the character of the buildings is a result of the rough textures of the stone, wood, and wrought iron used in the reconstruction of Louisbourg. These textures will be lost without direct sunlight. On a cloudy day, concentrate on the many smaller details in places like the stables and the interiors of many of the restored homes. Across Louisbourg Harbour, you will see a tall, white lighthouse. After driving back through the modern town of Louisbourg, watch for the sign marking the side road out to the lighthouse. There are some interesting fishing village scenes along the road to the point. The Louisbourg Lighthouse stands well back from the edge of the harbor mouth on a rocky hillside. It s an easy lighthouse to photograph, but you won t find a good background. The fortress is too far across the bay to be seen in a photograph. When you are ready to move on, return to Route 255 in Louisbourg and make the right turn northward. In a half mile, you will see a sign marking the Marconi Trail. This is the scenic route to Glace Bay, around the eastern-most tip of Nova Scotia, and worth the extra time. Along the coastal road, you will find several more fishing villages. Port Morien on Morien Bay (some maps call this Cow Bay) has a harbor that has been created with large concrete blocks. There are several good viewpoints of the fishing boats at anchor from along the edge of the road. In the middle of the village, turn off Route 255 and drive down to the edge of the harbor where you can move in for some closeups of the lobster fleet. Depending on the time of day and the direction of the light, you can find several good compositions here. Like many of the harbors along the Atlantic coast, the low light of the rising sun is best here for photography. In the late afternoon, the harbor lies in the shadow of the small town on the hill. I ve photographed Port Morien on a sunny day and in the fog. I like the results with both kinds of light. Watch for the signs for the turn, and follow Route 255, the shortcut to Glace Bay. Follow the coast road that leads all the way out to Wreck Point, land s end on Northern Head. It won t matter if the pavement ends and the road gets a little rough for the last mile. If you enjoy photographing windswept promontories, this is one of the best but not in midwinter. Back on the pavement, head west through Donkin and Port Caledonia. As you enter the town of Glace Bay on Broadside Street, follow the traffic and make the left turn onto Main Street. Look to your right as you cross the bridge. This is one of my favorite harbor scenes on Cape Breton. Park your car and walk back to find a good angle from the middle of the bridge. An 85mm or longer lens will fill your viewfinder with long rows of colorful fishing boats tied up along both sides of the harbor. Even in the middle of a sunny day, you will find some nice reflections here in the harbor of Glace Bay. Follow the road along the river to move in closer to the boats in the harbor. Cape Breton National Park Shorten your drive northward by taking the ferry across St. Ann s Harbor at Englishtown. The shore road is much more interesting, especially the views from the high points in the morning or late on the day when the sun sets down the long, narrow St. Ann Bay. Watch for the lighthouse below the bridge over Great Bras D or Channel. The drive north to Ingonish is very scenic with plenty of lookoffs above long beaches and small, rocky coves. North of Ingonish the road enters Cape Breton National Park, follows the coast for a few miles and then turns inland and climbs steeply into the mountains. The highest point here is 900 feet above sea level. The landscapes are beautiful. Take the short drive out to a classic fishing harbor scene at Neil s Harbour. Morning light works
issue 26 - page 10 well here. My best photos here were made as the sun was rising through the fog. The warm light from the rising sun was diffused by the fog and a soft yellow glow opened all the shadows with a golden light that is rarely seen. Cape Breton Highlands National Park is a wilderness of spruce and hardwood forests, deep river valleys, and steep cliffs that drop to rocky shores and a few sandy coves. The highway, the Cabot Trail, circles the park on the west, north, and east sides. There is an entry fee if you want to use any of the park s facilities, spend the night in a campground, hike the trails, or if you just want to stop at the look-offs along the road. In the fishing village at St. Lawrence Bay, I found my favorite seascape on Cape Breton. From the top of a hill, I was able to frame the village and a white-steepled church reflected in the small bay with several fishing boats lying at anchor. A wide-angle lens included the mouth of the harbor and a long stretch of the beach beyond. Anchored in the bay was a replica of Joshua Slocum s Spray, the small wooden sailboat the retired seaman sailed around the world solo. He was the first person to do this around 1895. The lower river valleys of the northern areas of the park are a great place to search for roadside wildflowers in the spring and for autumn color in early October. A few miles east of Pleasant Bay is a sign along the road pointing the way to Lone Shieling. This thatched-roofed stone shelter sits in a grove of large birch and maples. Autumn color covers the banks of the Grande Anse River flowing past the grove and all the surrounding hills. Watch for the bridge over the Macintosh Brook where you can set up your tripod for the upstream view of autumn color in the hardwood forests. I stopped along the road to photograph a bull moose in French Lake. Moose were reintroduced to Cape Breton after being wiped out several hundred years ago. They seem to be making a successful comeback in the wilderness of the park. The edge of the lake was very boggy and the dense undergrowth made it impossible to move closer to the moose. A 300mm telephoto lens was barely long enough for a reasonable-sized moose image. The dark, peat-stained water did not reflect the colors of the blue sky or the outline of the moose. The moose paused and looked at me each time it pulled a mouthful of reeds from the lake bottom. One of the largest concentrations of bald eagles is found in Cape Breton, especially along the shores of Bras D or Lake. You can often see them soaring below from the look-offs along the higher roads through this park. With a 300mm telephoto, I was able to tightly frame two bald eagles soaring together above the west coast near Cap Rouge. At Pleasant Bay, the highway leaves the park for a few miles before turning south, down the western coast of Cape Breton. Take the side road toward Red River and drive down to the bright red lobster trap storage sheds on the edge of the Pleasant Bay Harbour. Just outside the small fishing harbor is a long beach covered with large white stones the size of cannonballs. They call these cobble beaches. There are some beautiful overlooks of the Gulf of St. Lawrence from the high points along the Cabot Trail before the road descends steeply to follow the rocky shoreline. Pillar Rock is easy to spot. The rocky cove nearby is worth exploring. A few miles farther south you will reach the park boundary and the park information center. Here is another center where you can find a large selection of guide books and maps of the area. The park rangers can answer your questions and point you toward the best locations for wildflowers, waterfalls, wild creatures, and the best places to photograph autumn color. Grand Etang is another colorful fishing harbor with an Acadian flair. South of there, you pass through villages with names like Cap Le Moyne and Belle Cote. As soon as you cross the Margaree River, the first village you ll see is called Scotch Hill. The next few villages along the Cabot Trail are called Kiltarlity, Pipers Glen, and Scotsville.
issue 26 - page 11 For the best scenery along the western edge of Cape Breton, follow Route 19 along the coast all the way back to Port Hastings where you ll cross the Canso Causeway. After you return to mainland Nova Scotia, you have several choices of routes. You can return back to the ferry at Yarmouth along the same route, back down the Atlantic Coast. You can drive west and return home by driving through New Brunswick. At Antigonish, you can follow the Sunrise Trail west along the northwestern coast of Nova Scotia. Pugwash and Tatamagouche are a couple of the interesting small towns along the Sunrise Trail. This part of Nova Scotia s coastline is rural with lots of apple orchards and a few fishing villages along the Northumberland Strait. Catch the auto ferry to Prince Edward Island from Caribou, near New Glasgow. If you want to drive back to the ferry at Yarmouth and sail back to Bar Harbor or Portland, Maine, follow the coastline along the Bay of Fundy all the way back where you started this trip. You can drive only as far south as Digby and catch the auto ferry which crosses the Bay of Fundy to Saint John, New Brunswick. This ferry sails more frequently than the Yarmouth/Bar Harbor ferry. When you return to Yarmouth, drive back through town to the ferry terminal and pick up your return ticket for the ferry ride back to Bar Harbor, Maine. You should make reservations well in advance for your return trip. Arrive at the office in the ferry terminal at least one-hour before departure to check in and pay for your ticket. If you have the time, give yourself several extra hours for an exploration of Forchu Point. As you sailed into Yarmouth Harbor, you should have seen the tall red and white lighthouse off the port side of the ferry boat perched up on the tip of Forchu Point. When you return to Yarmouth for the cruise back to Bar Harbor, plan to check out this other side of Yarmouth Sound. Drive north on Route 1, toward the Evangeline Trail. Turn left on Route 304, three blocks north of Yarmouth. Follow the signs pointing the way to Route 304 South and drive all the way to the end of the road. Out near the lighthouse is a small fishing village and some very interesting old hulls on the banks of the harbor. At low tide, here at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy, all the lobster boats, scallop boats, and trawlers are resting on the mud flats, and are healed over on their sides. Returning from the lighthouse, watch for the small, sandy cove at the corner of Lobster Pound Road. Stop there, climb up on the grassy dunes and you ll find still another classic Nova Scotia seascape. Have a great trip.
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. This island is named for Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (1767-1820), the father of Queen Victoria. Photographers looking for new images will discover 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. Newsletter #131 has the information you ll need to plan your trip to PEI. My life-long career in photography began at San Jose State University in 1957. 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 94948-0086 1-415-898-9677 www.photographamerica.com All contents of this newsletter copyright 1989-2016 Robert Hitchman Please don t make copies for your friends. This is a violation of Federal copyright laws. This newsletter survives on subscriptions.