Whale-o-rama

We packed up The Whale and drove out to the end of Digby neck to Whale Cove Campground, so that we would be close to whale watching, and it was all good:

The campground is small and many of the sites are nothing special, but we got a gem, up above the others, looking out over Saint Mary's Bay, and with a very private yard. It's our favorite, or second favorite campsite so far, depending on whether we count the electric and water hookups, which the Hatteras campground did not have.

The firepits are so clever: each is bolted to the chassis of a push lawnmower! It's great, as it can be easily moved where-ever you want. Usually campgrounds specifically request that fire-rings are never moved, so it's nice to be able to account for camp layout or wind direction.

We took a nice walk down to Whale Cove, and on the way came across this little guy on the road:

It's been very foggy here: dense banks of fog have been always been drifting around, usually creeping inland at night, like the one I am watching as I write this, and then receding out to sea during the day. We took the ferry from Digby Neck to Long Island, 1/4 mile across Petit Passage, and the fog was so dense you felt as if you were lost at sea. Along the island we stopped to take a walk down to the shore where this standing stone is a popular attraction:

Then we continued, took another ferry over to Brier Island, where we drove out to this lighthouse, walked the shoreline, and saw the only known location where seagulls nest in trees.


and saw this awesome halo in the fog:


Then, today, we went for a whale watching cruise. We piled onto a 42 foot lobster boat with 29 others and headed out into the Bay of Fundy. Along the way we saw schools of harbor porpoise, and many seabirds like Gannets, Storm Petrels and Shearwaters. Then, we saw the spouts of humpback whales, and the captain maneuvered alongside a mother and her calf. For at least 1/2 hour we idled along next to the massive pair. The calf came up for air two or three times as often as it's mother, who was enormous. The water was clear enough that you could see the white flippers as turquoise auras under the surface. A few times the whales came up quite close, maybe twenty feet away, which was a thrill:

Mother and calf:

Later they started diving deeper and longer, which gave us the opportunity to see their flukes:


It was great to see these magnificent beasts. On the ride back to camp I picked up a lobster, and made lobster rolls for dinner - saute'd the meat in butter, tossed with a little mayo and black pepper, and spooned into buttered, toasted hot dog rolls. Washed down with fresh mojitos for an awesome finish to a great day!