September 14-15, 2013 Joggins Fossil Beach

we spent a couple of hours experiencing life before dinosaurs, at Joggins,  the fossils are 300 million years old

it was at low tide again when we arrived at Joggins, rocky fossil covered beach and cliffs

The Joggins Fossil Cliffs reveal the world's most complete fossil record of life in the Carboniferous Period, or "Coal Age".

this is the foot prints of a plant eating insect, that was one foot wide and 6 feet long, I can't remember the name of it.

all of the fossils that we saw was plant life

the tide uncovered this tree 4 months old

this is an old wharf, and part of a train track

the pattern is of the bark of a tree

some more plant life fossils

in this area also is 3 closed coal mines, the water here is emptying the mines of water,  the mines were constantly filled with water .. making life for the miners extremely hard

this is another tree trunk fossil, pointy at the top and wider at the bottom

the round fossil in the middle is the root of a tree that is not exposed yet

this is a tree trunk on the beach, the tides move them all around ... so when we had our guided tour on the ocean floor, some of the fossils had moved places .... the animal fossils are found in the tree trunks

not fossils, just periwinkle snails walking across the rocks

clam shells together in this fossil

this is 15 kilometres of coastal cliffs, which are eroded twice a day by the highest tides in the world, rare plant and animal fossils are revealed, preserved where they once lived.  That is Joe in the yellow jacket.

the cliffs have been studied since the 1850's by scientists from around the world.  Fossils of the first reptiles have been found here.  It is prohibited to remove fossils or any other natural material from the beach.  Much of the beach is inaccessible at high tide.

Then we headed off to Riverview to have coffee with our friends Dave, MaryLou, and Nikki Bath. Then spent the night in Moncton with Dave Robertson and Jess Hahling, we sailed with them to the Madeleine Islands ...... 

September 13, 2013 - walking on the ocean floor

last night we stayed at Marie and Henry's place out side Wolfville, Nova Scotia.  We had a good dinner and evening together.  We met them in Liscomb Mills, about a month ago, they got us connected with Gold River for haul out ...and thanks guys for keeping a box of goodies that can't freeze for use next year on Modaki ... see you in June  2013 !!!

these grape vines are not covered for the rain that is pouring down on us, but for the birds, there is lots of wineries in this area

then we came across some one that is all ready for Christmas

then off to Burncoat Head, area of the World's highest recorded tides ...

we planned this again for low tide, which works out well this time of the year because it is in the mornings ...

walking down to the ocean floor

the tide was still going out and it was raining a bit, so it was a bit slippery in the red clay

there is one Flower Pot here, it sure is a lot bigger than me

The first lighthouse was built in 1858 on land that later became an island due to the effects of erosion. The light house was dismantled in 1913 and the second one was built on the mainland from the salvaged lumber.  Then it was decommissioned in 1972 and in 1994 a replica of the 1913 lighthouse was erected.

twice every day the Bay of Fundy fills and empties its 100 billion tons of water creating the highest tides in the world.

there is  fossils here too, but we had no luck finding any

further down the road an old wharf

it is pouring rain now and we are looking at the Five Island Lighthouse Park, note a hole in the island rock (Left), and there is one Flower Pot in view (right), there is mud flats and a lighthouse that is 100 years old.

this day's adventures finished with this one of a kind fence, metal ironing board's, and there was one horizontal board  used as a swinging gate ... and an active windmill too (blades are the ironing boards) ... too cool

September 11 and 12, 2013 Annapolis Royal and Halls Harbour, Atlantic Ocean

Annapolis Royal was our next stop, we visited lots of local art galleries and museums, we saw some wonderful folk art ...  and the Sinclair Inn Museum built in 1710- 1781, the museum uses interactive computer technology and de-constructed sections of the building to exhibit almost 300 years of history. Joe loved this part.  You can also,  Meet the Ghosts of the Sinclair Inn ... ten people who lived in the building from the time of its construction in 1710 to its last days as a hotel in the early 1950's. You can watch and listen as these "ghosts" unfold the history of Annapolis Royal through their stories and struggles.

we arrived at low tide which was about around 11am

a neat fence gate, to a children's play ground

 friend's of Joe's mom bought this beautiful 1800 century building down town Annapolis Royal, and we managed to have a visit with them.  Arthur and Lizby, live on the 2nd floor of this beautifully decorated one bedroom loft, with a fireplace, and a covered back room, with  a frog water fountain, and tons of beautiful plants.

Harriet (Joe's Mom) met them many years ago in Antique, Caribbean.

we did a tour of the Annapolis tidal Generating Station, this same system is used in Ireland, when the tide comes in, and the sea level reaches the level of the head pond, as in picture. The gates are opened and the water fills the head pond. When the tide begins to go out and the gates close, the head pond remains higher than the sea.  When this difference, called "the head" is about 1.8 metres or more, water is allowed to flow through the turbine at a rate of 400 cubic metres per second.  This cycle lasts approximately 5 hours.  The predictable 12 hour and 25 min tide cycle allows Annapolis to operate twice a day.

the next day we drove to The Lookoff, (not Look Out), and viewed the Annapolis Valley, below is the rows of vineyards

some other areas are growing peach trees, we just had to buy a some, along with varieties of apples that we have not seen in our area

again the tide is out, and an old wharf is exploded, we think that the ocean is 1/2 mile from shore

picture is not good, it was too foggy, but if you look close you can see the tide going out !!!

next was Hall's Harbour

note the small entrance to this fishing village, and no water

this is outside the harbour and the area that is the deepest to come into the harbour ... the two dots in the centre of the picture are people walking the ocean bottom ... the tides are about 30 feet here

no sea glass here, but lots of fantastic looking stones, I wanted to bring a few home with me !!!

September 10, 2013 .. 4 car ferry rides and sea glass hunting !!!!

today was exciting ... we headed off early morning and went to Briar Island ... the Bay of Fundy on one side and St. Marys Bay on other .. out a Peninsula that was a hour and a half drive ... low tide here at Sandy Cove ... when we returned the fishing boat was floating ...

all this area was also under water , on our way back to the main land ... the tide is 26 - 30 ft here

waiting on our first ferry from the mainland to Long Island ... note the school bus on the ferry

it was at low tide and the ramp was so steep ... we are wondering how they do this in the winter months

heading down 26 feet to the ferry .... on the way back it was high tide and we were level to the loading dock

there was quite a current thru the islands, we said if we were on our sail boat we would rush right thru ..

there is only one sail boat that we saw in this area ... no power boats ... only huge fishing boats

heading into the Tiverton, on Long Island

the ferry's run once an hour ... and it did a double shift once ... a fuel truck had to get off one of the islands, and they don't allow cars on with the fuel truck ... we wondered about this and a resident said for safety reasons it has to travel alone

 

heading up the 26 foot tide ramp

we arrived at low tide, which is what we wanted to do

oh my another ferry ride, to Briar Island 

this green bouy was out of place and tied to the wharf wall

what we saw was fantastic, and it is hard to show in pictures with an instant camera

lots of bouys, amongst flowers ... this is the fishing area's and there is tons of lobster cages, lines and rope ... the season starts around the first Monday in November ...these fishermen have the coldest season to fish in

we just love low tide, it shows everything that water hides

 ... I didn't realize that Joshua Slocum grew up here at Westport, Briar Island ... there is a monument here on the southern end of the island ...  he was the first to sail alone around the world

I am at the monument,  Joe down at the car, Peter Island and a bird sanctuary, to the right, which is the next picture

this area is very rugged and suited for back packers, whale watchers, bird watchers, and sea glass hunters

we happened to run into another Ontario man, that moved here 4 years ago and he told us were to go for sea glass .. we did have to hunt around sea weed, but it turned out okay ... pictures of the find at the end of this day's blog

we explored Pond Cove too, but only found 20 seals in the harbour and about 10 bald eagles on shore ... that was even better to see 

Joshua Slocum's dad's boot making shop was closed when we arrived, but we found out that at age 10 Joshua was forced to leave school, and work in his father's shop, a job not to his liking. His interests were sailing and ship building of which his father disapproved.  After his mothers death in 1860, Joshua ran away to the sea.  Thirty five years passed before he returned to Westport.

next we headed back the Digby Neck Long and Brier Islands road ... to discover the Balancing Rock

from the parking lot, we walked for about 15 - 20 minutes, thru bogs, clear cut areas (another forestry lesson, it was only cut a year ago, the skipper said "AND.. right next to a nature trail !!") .. 

this is what we saw ...

some 3 or 6 or 12 sided towers have already fallen, it is a columnar basalt sea stack, that rests on it's end .....  

the sea was really rolling in, this is looking the other direction

there was a 15-20 min walk and 235 steps to get down to the rocks ... it was well worth the effort

this is some of the special pieces of sea glass that we collected today on Briar Island 

  

the little red piece is a real find, the skipper found the red, the blue green piece above it and the part of a handle ... I found the purple piece and a marble .....

sea glass hunting is tons of fun, but lasts Friday I started climbing down a 6 ft, boulder/rock break wall , and I miss  a step, and I fell head first down to the rocky beach ... I did not break any bones, but I'm supporting a grape size bruise on my right hip, and right shoulder, and right leg all scrapped up, face scrapes are now clearing up ... I still can't raise my right arm ... the skipper has to do all the driving in his standard car ...  accidents happen and it did ... getting better every day !!!