Jul 21, 2023 – The Sea Bound Coast

Having been in Canada for 34 days and parked mostly within national parks, Halifax (the most populous city in Nova Scotia) would be the beginning of the end of our Canadian Maritimes tour. In another week, we would be back in the states and saying goodbye to our travel companions Spencer and Lorraine.

Before we arrived in Halifax, every place we visited was on the Bay of Fundy or the Gulf of St Lawrence. Now, our tour of Canada’s Maritimes brings us to the Atlantic Ocean and later will end where we began, on the Bay of Fundy.

Canadian cities are clean, casual, vibrant, international and present a fine balance of modernity and history. Halifax is one of those waterfront cities that has a long standing relationship with the Atlantic Ocean. Among its popular attractions is the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, which provides an immersive display of Nova Scotia’s maritime traditions including the prosperous fishing and ship building industries as well as the tragic events surrounding all that. There are plenty of stories to tell, hurricanes, an ammunition ship explosion and the one that stands out the most and likely attracts the most visitors – the event that shocked the world on April 15, 1902.

The sinking of the RMS Titanic is a well known story and kept alive by a blockbuster film and the traveling Titanic Exhibition. But for Halifax, it is a personal story that will never be forgotten and to this day resonates a certain among of grief upon the city. As a major seaport only 700 nautical miles from the sinking location, Halifax became the base for the search and rescue ships. 209 of the 338 bodies found were brought back to Halifax. Among them, 59 were claimed by families and shipped to their home communities. The remaining bodies were buried in three cemeteries located in Halifax.

But tragedy is not what you feel when you visit Nova Scotia’s Atlantic coast because the seaside villages and lighthouses are so picturesque and cheery, and Canadians want you to come visit them. This is especially so with the popular Lunenberg and Peggy’s Cove. Lunenburg is a photographer’s dream with its brightly colored buildings that suggest homes or business owners came to the agreement that adjacent buildings will not be painted the same color.

Also noteworthy is that Lunenburg is designated as a World Heritage Site as it is considered the best example of a planned British colonial settlement in North America. Built on a steep hillside, the town was laid out in a grid pattern of rectangular lots along narrow streets without regard to the topography. Good luck to the owner of a plot on a 45 degree slope!

Between Lunenburg and Halifax is another small community, Peggy’s Cove. We arrived there to see the famous Lighthouse with the same name. Canada’s coast has many lighthouses, but Peggy’s Cove is one of its most popular tourist spots and the most photographed Canadian lighthouse. This was obvious when we arrived a couple hours before sunset as hundreds of people swarmed the rocky outcropping where the handsome red and white lighthouse casts its shadow over selfie-taking tourists. Indeed, it is the most photographed lighthouse in Canada with the setting sun behind it.

After a few days, we found ourselves again on the Bay of Fundy – this time on the Nova Scotia side. I can’t think of a better way to end our time in Canada than in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley, famous for its wine. A few days gave us time to visit Digby, another seaport well known for its scallops, search out and find a Highland cow, and spend an afternoon wine tasting that seamlessly continued with a beer tasting and a cider tasting. On our final evening, we drove to the bay to eat one last lobster meal at the Halls Harbour Lobster Pound where we watched the lobster boats return on the final day of lobster season. It was a bittersweet ending to our tour of the seabound coast.

Now we are ready to get back to the states, but yet not too far from Canada. Stayed tuned as we explore some of Maine’s coast and visit the ‘The Great White North’ one more time.