New England/Canada Cruise

We had arranged for a cruise from Boston to Montreal over a year ago. So we headed to downtown Boston on Saturday, September 16 to pick up Ken and Barbara A. from California for our week cruise. Our friends, Liz and Charlie B, from Texas joined us. We departed in the afternoon for Bar Harbor, Maine. The weather was beautiful and it was a lovely sail up the New England coast. It was ironic that we had just been in Bar Harbor the previous week. So we were the tour guides for a walk and shopping around quaint Bar Harbor.

We were off that afternoon for parts north and Halifax, Nova Scotia. The six of us took a bus tour around the town of Halifax. Our tour included a drive around town, a visit to a fort above the town that had never been seiged, and to a cemetery where people from the Titanic are buried. The weather had been a surprise for us. We packed clothes expecting cold, rainy weather and it was sunny and in the 70’s and lower 80’s. No complaints, however.

The Maasdam (Holland America) sailed out of Halifax that afternoon for our next port-Sydney, Nova Scotia. We arrived the next morning and took a walking tour of the small town that included a very old church and quaint restored houses. We returned to the ship after a few hours since the town had very little to offer in the way of tourist attractions or local sites. Anyone considering this trip should opt for the bus tour of Cape Breton instead of exploring the town.

We had another afternoon sailing for Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. We arrived in the morning and took a double decker bus tour of the downtown and surrounding area. The ship docked very close to town and we wished we had just taken a walking tour by ourselves. We did see beautiful waterfront property with lovely homes and parks and we shopped in the downtown area. We were back to the ship for another afternoon sailing.

The next destination was up the Saguenay Fjord. The glaciers had carved a deep river running between forested mountains. The leaves on the trees were turning bright red, orange, and yellow making for a gorgeous sail.

The next stop was Quebec City. This was by far our favorite city. We walked the narrow cobblestone streets with their quaint restaurants and shops. The majority of people speak French but we had no trouble finding people in the city who spoke English. We did take a tour of the countryside and stopped at a maple sugar farm that had been run for generations by the same family. We also toured one of the first established houses in the province of Quebec.

We had to sail early from Quebec City in order to hit the tide at the correct time so as to clear a bridge outside of the city. It was exciting to stand at the front of the ship on the upper deck, and face into a 40 mph wind and watch as the top of the cruise ship cleared the bottom of the bridge by about 2 feet. It was then on to Montreal and disembarkation on Sat morning.

The six of us booked a hotel right on the edge of Old Town Montreal and we spent two days walking around the old town exploring restaurants, shops and local historical sites.

Our first attempt to visit Notre Dame Cathedral (an exact copy of the one in Paris) was stymied because of a wedding that was attended by the head of Afganistan-Karzi. We did succeed in seeing the cathedral the next day.

The weather turned cool and we had some rain in Montreal. It was the only rain that we experienced and we thanked our companions, Liz and Charlie who guaranteed us nice weather.

Liz and Charlie flew back to Dallas and Ken, Barbara, Pris and John headed out in their rental car for the drive back to Boston. It was a lovely drive through Quebec, Vermont and New Hampshire because of the spectacular color of the changing leaves.

Aborted Plans, East Coast of Maine

We got up the Saturday after Labor Day weekend intending to head south along the Maine coast. John checked the tire pressure, as he does every time we move, and found that we had a flat tire. A call to Coach Net (our motor home emergency roadside service) and they sent out a truck to change the tire. It was a bit complicated but it was done at no cost to us.

We were then on our way, but with a change of plans. It seems that there are very few places that work on/repair RV & truck tires in this part of the country. After calling around, we headed for Sullivan Tire in Hooksett New Hampshire. It turns out we wanted to be heading this way anyway. So we limped along slowly, since we didn’t have any spare now. Saturday night we were in Scarborough Maine in a very nice RV park called Wild Duck. It was in a marshy area with you guessed it, a large flock of Mallards.

Sunday we traveled to Circle 9 campground, one of those close to Sullivan tire.

About this time, the plot thickens. On Sunday night our water pump (fresh water in the RV) failed. So on Monday I called the Lazy Daze factory and was rerouted to Shurflo, the pump manufacturer. After a few questions, the rep said they would send a new pump since it was still under warranty and also pay for its installation. We found an RV shop (Bill’s RV) 2 miles from our campground and told Shurflo to UPS it there for installation on Wednesday. They said ok, and it was done.

We then went to Sullivan tire to have them inspect the flat tire to see if it could be repaired. The flat was caused by a granite chip, used for gravel. It was knife shaped, about 1.5 inches across and driven up between the treads, shredding the steel belts. You could see the “knife” sticking into the tire from the inside! So it could not be repaired. We needed a new tire. Since this is a dual tire application, we decided to get two new tires for a matched pair. They had the tires at a nearby warehouse and could have them there by mid day Tuesday. So they installed the two new tires on Tuesday.

On Wednesday we pulled up our jacks and headed to Bill’s RV for the new water pump and also a much needed oil change. Walt (of Bill’s RV) had just finished the oil change when the UPS truck showed up with the water pump, actually two since Bill needed one for another job. Great timing!

Walt installed the pump in just 10 minutes and we fired it up to see how it worked. And guess what, it didn’t!!! A quick call to Shurflo confirmed the following:

-our two pumps were from a new run of pumps, 125 of which went to Lazy Daze.

-They were all shipped out on Monday.

-On Tuesday, Lazy Daze called Shurflo to say the pumps they received didn’t work. Ours were on the UPS plane at that point.

So now what to do? Shurflo apologized and volunteered to send a “fixed” pump on the next plane. We needed to hit the road on Wednesday afternoon and couldn’t wait. Fortunately Bills RV had a smaller Shurflo pump in stock and Shurflo authorized them to install it at no cost to us and to send a good pump to us at a future place of our chosing. Then we could have it installed by some other RV place. Shurflo agreed to pick up the cost of this. So Walt quickly installed the smaller pump and it did work. Great.

We made it onto the road by 3PM and made it to our next stop.

What next?

Bar Harbor 2, Maine

Acadia National Park is located outside and surrounding Bar Harbor, Maine. Getting to the Blackwoods Campground was a bit of a challenge because they routed us right through downtown Bar Harbor. (There are streets that skirt the downtown area but we understand that the residents don’t want traffic going through their areas-silly people.) The streets were very narrow and even though it was a Thursday, there were lots of tourists around. It was a challenge, but John is getting pretty good at maneuvering the motorhome. Bar Harbor does provide motorhome parking on the outskirts of town, but there is no parking allowed in the surrounding residential streets.

We loved the scenery in Nova Scotia but Acadia NP surpasses anything we saw in Canada. The rocky coastline with its crashing waves and small harbors was spectacular. There is a loop drive that goes around the NP and takes you along the coast, inland through lakes and forest areas and gives you access to many hiking trails. A golden age passport gets you in free to the NP and you only pay half price for the camping. It certainly pays for itself.

The campground was situated outside of town in a forested area with a short walk down to the coastline. It was about a 10 minute drive to the town of Bar Harbor with its lovely shops and many upscale restaurants. We did have to taste the clam chowder, mussels and lobster here-just for comparison sake. There was an early morning fog that burned off and gave us a lovely sunny day in the 70’s.

We were particularly impressed that the city had free WiFi spots located in several areas of town. We had to go to the chamber of commerce to find this out-it was not publicized. Perhaps the coffee shop that offered WiFi for $2.50 for 15 min. and 15 cents a minute after that had something to do with this.

Bar Harbor, Maine

On Thursday September 7, we headed into Yarmouth to catch the “Cat” ferry to Bar Harbor Maine. It is an impressive vehicle, a catamaran of 320 feet long. It can hold up to 14 trucks/RVs, 220 cars and up to 750 people. On our crossing, it had 220 people, about a hundred cars and 3 RVs. The RVs were loaded first, since we had to go in nose first, turn around and come back nose first to the back of the boat. We were the small one and the third to board. The photo shows us next to one of those big guys.

The trip to Bar Harbor is 100 miles and takes only 3 hours. This is due to the Cats ability to do 50 MPH in open water. The ride is very smooth and uneventful. We had fog most of the way across, so we didn’t see much.

The sun broke out when we got about 10 miles off the coast of Maine. What impressed me most was the incredible number of lobster trap floats in the water, there were thousands of them going out to about 10 miles.

Southeastern Coast, Nova Scotia

We left Caribou PP on Labor Day, having spent 11 delightful nights there. We got all hooked up before it started to rain and were rained on all day until we arrived at Thomas Raddall Provincial Park. The roads are good here and it was easy to do the speed limit (100KPH) with our rig.

Thomas Raddall is located on the south east coast of NS. This coast is rugged, with many harbors and lighthouses. Every harbor seems to have its own lobster fleet and brewery, so we like it fine. On our first night at Thomas Riddall, we had only one other camper in the place. It has 82 camp sites.

We spent our free day driving the coast trail, with its many quaint villages and light houses. We had sunshine the entire day, which is getting increasingly rare. Tuesday night it rained off and on.

On Wednesday we took off for Yarmouth, the largest town on the south coast of Nova Scotia. We stayed in a nice private campground just north of the town. The road in front of the campground was being worked on and provided some challenging driving. There was no more than 1 foot on either side of the RV, with a 3 foot deep ditch on one side and a four foot deep trench in the road. But we made it.

Caribou Provincial Park, Nova Scotia

You may have noticed that we didn’t talk about our camping the last week and a half. We have stayed put in Caribou PP the whole time. It is on the Northumberland Straits, just north of the town of Pictou. It is probably the prettiest place we have had the privilege to camp at. We are on a bluff overlooking the Straits, with about 50 yards of grass between our RV and the edge of the bluff. There are also about 50 yards between RVs, so it is very secluded. The RV pad and shoreline is oriented such that we have views of the straits out of 2 directions and woods in the third. The front faces our closest neighbor, about 50 yards away.

The beach to the west leads for about 3 miles over a sand spit to an uninhabited island. There are deer on the island and seals just off shore. Around the west corner of the island is a harbor where the Prince Edward Island (PEI) ferry terminal is. The beach to the east leads one mile to an upscale resort.

The straits are not too busy, with lobster fishermen tending their traps and herring fishing for the roe. I’m told it is for export to Japan. The ferry makes a round trip to PEI every 3 hours. A few pleasure craft go by every day, but the straits can get quite rough. We have seen winds to about 40 knots since we have been here.

The locals think the water is warm and come out on weekends. A crowd can get over 30 people! Most of the time there is only one or two people out on the 4 miles of beach, which is red sand.

We have made friends of some of the long time campground residents here. One couple has been at the campground since June 16, the day it opened this year. They traveled all the way from New Glasgow, some 14 miles away. The other couple is from Montreal and has been here since July 3. They are about 800 miles from home. I asked them how they got around the 14 day limit and was told all you have to do is ask, since the place is almost always near empty.

Pictou, Nova Scotia

Pictou has been our home for the last 11 days. We arrived at this quaint northern Nova Scotia town, expecting to spend only 2 days here. We fell in love with this town of 3,800. Our campsite has been the biggest draw but the town also offered many attractions. The easy 4 mile drive to town was very convenient, and everything we wanted was available. The library offered free internet, as well as WiFi, there was a grocery store that was stocked as well as any in L.A., and nice restaurants and several pubs. The town itself has a small main street of only a few blocks, but it is situated right on the water with a lovely view of the harbor.

The town itself was settled by Scottish immigrants who sailed here on the ship Hector in 1773. There is a replica of the ship in the harbor that is available for touring. We couldn’t imagine that 179 people sailed to Nova Scotia on this ship. The Scottish influence is very much in evidence in this area. They have many fairs and festivals here celebrating their heritage. The shops in town sell many items from the different clans and the light posts each have a different clan symbol on them.

We have enjoyed the seafood, locally grown blueberries and fresh vegetables available from a nearby farm. We do most of our own cooking but we have sampled some of the restaurants, a coffee shop and a pub for the local beer. The liquor can only be bought from provincial liquor stores and is more expensive than the other provinces. They have a good selection of wines from many different countries, even California wine.

We have a suggestion to anyone traveling out of the states. Check your charge cards to see if they add on a fee for foreign transactions. We have been using our credit cards in order to keep track of our finances and only recently became aware of the extra fees charged to us. We have been able to use our charge cards everywhere and for everything.