The wireless internet seems to come and go around here. I am sitting in the lounge area listening to Nova Scotia music (I think it's the Rankin family right now) and enjoying an Alexander Keith's red.
Oh, there was a break in the action while I Skyped John. He came on line and we chatted for a while. It's something to have all this technology while travelling. We can share stuff like we usually do each evening and this way I can carry my computer around and show him where I am at the time of him calling.
Today was my Zodiac tour day. I had seen a flyer for this in the Atlantic room and thought it would be a cool thing to do. Now this tour place does not guarantee a whale sighting but it does offer a fun ride and some things to see that a regular boat wouldn't show you because it's smaller and can get closer to the cliffs and landscape.
Suited up in my bright orange survival suit I, along with a family from Manitoba and Sydney ventured out. The pilot, McKinnon, was a hoot telling us what we might see and just a hoot in general.
They had seen dolphins and a whale earlier in the morning. Maybe we would too!
The waves were small but still fun to play in and McKinnon took us really close to the shore of the Middle Head land that I had been hiking on the day before. This was AWESOME.
We saw Lion's Mane Jelly fish the size of garbage can lids and with tentacles that were 20 feet long. This was the weird part. Jelly fish look very alien! I found out that leather back turtles eat jelly fish. We didn't see any turtles but lots of food for them. The cove where this picture was taken had hundreds of them floating around. They are safe to touch on the top but not to go near the tentacles. They give you a sting much like a mosquito but lasts longer. You have to rub the sting with sand to get the little barbed thingy out of your skin. EWWW. The more I learn about these things the more I am fascinated by them. They are so relaxing to watch. Big burgandy blobs of jelly moving soundlessly through the sea. Very neat.
The Zodiac was 18 feet long and had two 100 horsepower motors on the back. McKinnon didn't open it up as there were some pre-teens on the boad and he didn't want to fly them over the side. Their parents didn't seem to mind! But he was cautious! We made good time going about 5 miles out into the see to find the whales and dolphins that had been seen earlier. After searching for a while McKinnon decided that we shouldn't be disappointed and see something so we went closer to the shoreline, or should I say cliffline, and see some seals. There we weren't disappointed. I couldn't get my camera out fast enough to grab a picture of the seals but their heads were bobbing along in the sea and we got within 6 feet of one who found us most curious before disappearing below the surface. SOOO cute!
The coast line is really cliff into the sea. That's it. No beach no nothing. Just rock then water.
I can only imagine what it would be like to see this land for the first time. Wow!
After 3 hours on the water, covered in a salty spray and my hair looking like it had been spiked on it's end, we headed in to shore. Along the way we went around Ingonish Island and there saw at least a dozen bald eagles. The birds are HUGE! So easy to pick out with their very white heads and tails. I can see how majestic they are in the trees. No wonder they are used as a national symbol to the States.
The local gentlemen (brothers and brothers in law of the owner of the Zodiac tours) gave me the local gossip on what to see and where to eat. One old timer did have to repeat himself for me as I had NO idea what he was saying with his thick Nova Scotia accent. I LOVED listening to them.
So, I needed to go to the Chowder House in Port Nelson up the road and I needed to go to the Seagull for their seafood lingune. When they found out I'm here for another day they said I could do both with no problem.
I also got directions to go to the complete northern tip of Cape Breton. Not to be missed.
"Have to drive it. Must do. Don't not now because I'll know," my new friend Mason said, "I'll know your truck and I have friends that will keep and eye for ya". Oh what a hoot. I better go.
"Sit for a while", I'm told, "there will be whales and all ya get to see is the blow. The what? I asked. "The blow. The spout of water they blow up when they come to grab more air before going down again. If I'm lucky I'll see a tail go up in the air. Gotta make a wish then."
Right, I now have my marching orders.
Oh I was having fun by this point.
These two guys have grown up in this area and wouldn't live anywhere else in the world.
So, heeding their advice I went to the Seagull for lunch.
It's lunches like these that I'll remember while I'm chomping on my egg salad sandwich from the St. Mike's cafeteria.
Seafood, Soooo awesome. And so fresh.
I decided to stay another night at the Keltic lodge. What the hell. I'm only going around once.
I was supposed to check out tomorrow but I still have things to investigate! There is the beach shore, the freshwater lake (created by years of stones being organized by the tides to cut off a bay and it became desalinated, the other short hiking trail and the "beanery" down the road that roasts it's own special coffee beans.
I'm not ready to go. I could get so used to this lifestyle here and really I seem so at home here and everyone is so nice. This is what it's all about. Hmmm it's nearly 5:30 pm here and it might be time to spend on a nice chair overlooking the ocean for a while. Or I might just stay in this lovely lounge, with the local music playing and have another Alexander Keith's.
This is the life. So great!
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