Friday, July 10, 2009

Tancook Island

Hello All,

Tancook Island is a small island outside Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. We were heading there Monday, but got to the ferry much too late. Tuesday we planned a lot better. Tancook has a population of 110 people in the winter, but it balloons to 210 in the summer. The other 100 people are generally past residents who return home for awhile. Most of the people on the ferry were day-trippers, like Helen and me. We take an early ferry across, spend a couple of hours on the island, then return to the mainland. It was quite an experience. The normal ferry is out of service, so they were using a make-shift one for the time being. This one didn't have the boom and crane of the normal ferry, so they had a truck-mounted crane aboard to load and unload cargo. It took up a great deal of the ferry. There were pipes and cables everywhere.

We got there early and the crew told us that we could go aboard anytime we wanted and sit anywhere we chose. In the states, there would be a boarding time a few minutes before departure and we would not be allowed on early for legal reasons. In Canada, other than Quebec, they are more laid back. Eventually all came aboard and we sailed for the island. Much like the conductor on old trains, a crewmember came around to collect fares. $5.00 for us day trippers and a ticket for the regulars. Tickets cost $2.00 each when bought in book form, so its quite a savings.

There were two sisters and a daughter with us and they were a riot. We laughed all the way over and most of the way back. There was also a mechanic aboard whose only function was to use the crane. Thus he was busy for about two minutes before we left the mainland and two minutes when we got to the island. These are the two sisters and their friend on the island.

From Tancook


There is one diner on the island, Carolyn's. The food was good and so reasonable. Helen had fish and chips. I had fish chowder (mostly lobster) coffee and wild blueberry pie. YUM!!! Helen also bought a painted jar for $4.35, and the total bill came to just over $20.00.

Helen and Carolyn

From Tancook


Adjacent to the pier is "Fossil Beach" and Helen and I had to investigate. We only found one fossil and this is it.

From Tancook


From Tancook


From Tancook


From Tancook


From Tancook

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