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

Bridgewater, Nova Scotia

I was a bit alarmed to hear rain on the roof again last night. When dawn came, dark and overcast I was even more alarmed. Then the weather quickly cleared and we had a beautiful day. Helen and I decided to go to a small town called Chester, where they have a ferry service that goes to a small off shore island. Unfortunately, we got there so late that they only had one more trip to the island and we would not have time to get off and explore. No problem, we went back to Mahone Bay and visited the cafe we last saw three or four years ago. I had the usual, half a lobster sandwich and a bowl of fish chowder. As usual, it was perfect!

From Bridgewater

From Bridgewater

These are a couple of views of Mahone Bay. It's noted for the three churches you can see in one of the pictures.

From Bridgewater

This is a picture of the dogs having a swim in La Harve River in Bridgewater,Nova Scotia. The ships in the background are being prepared to be used as offshore reefs as is done in Florida. Locals consider the ships and dock to be an eyesore, but we see it as being scenic and having character.

Tomorrow, weather permitting and if we get up in time, we'll try to get the ferry from Chester again.

Labrador Retrievers and Toilet Paper

No, not at the same time, but a bit about Jodie and Coco and then a short treatise on toilet paper.

Helen and I went out for supper last night leaving the dogs in charge of the motorhome. Earlier in the day we went shopping and Helen bought a package of lemon tarts for her and raspberry pastries for me. Foolishly, we did not put them out of the dogs' reach when we went out. Returning later in the evening we found the box and papers associated with the lemon tarts on the kitchen area floor. The box was shredded in a million pieces and the tarts were gone! Jodie was cowering in her bed, under the table, looking as guilty as a dog could be. We didn't even think of the raspberry pastries. This morning, I crawled under the table to straighten out the blankets that make up the bed. Lo and behold, there was the remains of the raspberry pastry box. Again, shredded into a million pieces. Did Jodie do this by herself? Did Coco help or share in the bounty? We have no way to be certain. Neither dog got sick or displayed any evidence that would point to one or the other. Needless to say, nothing will be left out again.

As for my issue with toilet paper, here are my thoughts. I'm almost 66 years old and have been using essentially the same size toilet paper all my life. Now I've noticed that things are changing. The toilet paper of the past is 4 1/2 inches wide and come on a roll about 5 inches in diameter. At rest areas and at our current campground, the paper is 3 1/2 inches wide and the roll is about 9 inches in diameter. I've seen rolls at least 12 or 14 inches in diameter. Tonight we had to replenish our paper supply and were surprised to find that the newly bought product is only 3 3/4 inches wide. Soon toilet tissue as we know it will be gone, replaced by a product called toilet ribbon on rolls feet in diameter. Eventually, we will only have toilet floss, miles and miles of it on gigantic rolls.

Another Job Completed

Today I finally took care of the leaking coolant tank on the Journey. It was a bit of a job as the Winnebago motorhome was assembled around the Freightliner chassis. Some of the bolts that were so easy to install some years ago were nearly impossible. However, I did get it done and I did not utter a single cuss word. My arms are a bit cut up, so I hope I don't get in a situation where Helen might be accused of spouse abuse.

From Maintenence

This is the original tank after I "gooped" it up the second time. It mostly held, just oozing a bit of antifreeze.

From Maintenence

This is the new tank. Actually, I lost so little coolant that there is no need to add any to bring it up to a proper level.

A little celebration is in order, so Helen's taking me out to McDonald's.

Some of my "friends" have voiced the opinion that I have not posted enough blog material. Believe me, it hurts me more than it hurts you. The lack of new blogs means that we're doing the same thing day after day after day, hanging around the campground because there is so little to do on the Gaspe Peninsula when one doesn't speak French. Especially when the weather is so consistently lousy. For so many days we've been greeted with fog and 56 degrees in the morning, going to 56 degrees and fog in the afternoon and 56 degrees and fog at night. Throw in a little rain from time to time and you can understand why we have not done too much.

Today we are in the Berry Patch Campground near Bathurst, New Brunswick. English is the spoken language here and the weather is SUPPOSED to change.

Showers and fog and wind, Oh My!

I guess we're not in Kansas anymore, or Florida either. The constant dreariness of the fog, wind, and rain is starting to get to me. On the TV, we get two channels in French, which is not acceptable. The good books that I brought to read have already been read because I never thought I'd get that much time to read. Helen hid all the sharp objects a couple of days ago and today she took away my belt and shoe laces. UGH.

All that talk about the north coast of Gaspe being French and the south coast being English is just that, all talk. If you check out the specs on Carleton, you will find that 3800+ people speak only French. 80 speak only English and 30 are bilingual. That's not a good score for us English speaking folks. In the local stores, they actually speak less English than they do on the north coast, but I have to admit that the people are a lot nicer and really try to understand what I'm saying.

When we arrived in Carleton today it was relatively calm and a lot brighter that we've seen in days, but we could see that the clouds hid the tops of the hills or mountains to the north. Later on, the wind picked up, the temperature dropped and the fog and rain moved in. Oh, joy!!! I really feel bad about complaining too much. We have a motorhome and we have heat. There are lots of people in these campgrounds in tents. Families in tents. Couples in tents. The other night Helen went to the laundry and found a number of tenters in there getting warm and dry.

The coolant tank that I ordered last week is not at the dealer's yet. The guy I talked with checked the order and found that although he placed the order with the parts depot in Toronto on the 26th, they didn't ship it until the 29th. It normally takes two days to make the trip, but tomorrow is Canada Day and everything shuts down. I may see it Thursday.

In the meantime, the weather we're having is supposed to continue for at least another week. Again, I complain, but the merchants in the area who depend on the three months of tourism are hurting badly. The campgrounds are only about 10 to 15 % filled. When we go into a restaurant there are so many empty tables, and this is the peak of their season. If you heard my thoughts about the bleakness of the Sonoran Dessert, forget it.

Still at Perce, Part Trois

Today dawned with the best visibility we've had in days. We can easily see Perce Rock as well as the village off to the left. It was going to be the day we took the boat over to Bonaventure Island to hike around and see the gannet rookery. Alas, it was not to be. The boats are not running today due to the weather. Northeast winds to 40 knots, gusting to 60. All the boats have been removed from the area and we found that they have been moved to a sheltered port a few miles down the coast.

From Perce

Helen and I chose to walk around the town, particularly the waterfront, meet some people and get some pics.

From Perce

Here was are at the end of the wharf with Perce Rock behind us. As we sat there, the waves were booming against the wharf sounding almost like thunder. We stopped at a dive shop and chatted with the guys running the operation. They claim to dive in 7 mm wet suits and are plenty warm enough. Odd, I think, as that's about what I need when the water temperature drops below 80 in Florida. One fellow was specially friendly and we swapped our stories of meetings with wildlife. He told of diving off Bonaventure Island with his girlfriend when along came a seal. Without thinking, he put his hand in the seal's mouth, as he does playing with his girlfriend's dog. The seal closed his mouth without cutting him or drawing blood, then quickly opened his mouth and let him go. Next, the seal stayed with them wanting to play. Amazing!

I told him about the time Helen and I were diving along the Gulf Stream and a 20 foot great white approached to get Helen. I swam over and kicked him two or three times in the gut and chased him away. Just a regular day diving in Florida.

From Perce

This is a picture sitting in one of the Gannet chairs along the boardwalk. They have the ones painted like two gannets and others painted like seal heads.

We have learned a lot about the relationship between the Quebecois and people from other areas. There is a great deal of strife in Quebec due to the contention between those who want Quebec to break with Canada and those who want to stay a part of Canada. What we hear is that 30% of the people want to secede, 30% wants to stay, and 40% doesn't care enough to vote on it. There seems to be a special area of hostility on the Quebec-Ontario border. In Quebec, they refuse to recognize anything but French and across the border the people in Ontario will not recognize anything but English. One of our dive friends told us how they treat him when he goes to Ontario, they keep asking him over and over to explain himself, even when he's positive they understand his meaning. Helen and I found his English to be easily understood.

Checking with the locals, we find that there is really nothing of note to see on the rest of the south coast of Gaspesie until we get to Carleton. Therefore, tomorrow we will drive the 118 miles to Carleton, stopping off in New Richmond on the way to pick up the coolant tank for the motorhome.

This last picture is of the break in the end of Perce Rock.

From Perce

Still at Perce

Yup, we're still at Perce and we're still all fogged up. This is our view of the Rock from our motorhome.

From June 28

Now this is what we are supposed to see. This picture was taken from a post card.

From June 28

For almost all of the last two days, visibility has been about 200 feet. At 6:45 this evening I went out of the motorhome and was startled, STARTLED to actually see the Rock off in the distance.

From June 28

It just makes it all worthwhile!