The Acadian Peninsula

On Friday, we rode the bicycles into Charlottetown.  We really didn’t want to pay to have them picked up in Murray Harbor.  So, we broke the ride into 20km segments with a meeting point at each one.  One person drove the car ahead to meet us with snacks and water.  I am proud to say I biked the first three legs!  While PEI is relatively flat, there are rolling hills, and the bike gears really made them easier to do.  I ended up in “granny gear” a couple of times, but I did not have to get off the bike!

Saturday morning, we loaded the car and headed back to New Brunswick. Our first stop for the evening was Kouchibouguac (Coo-she-boo-gwak), a beautiful Canadian National Park on the Northumberland Straight just south of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  The name comes from the Mi’kmaq word river of the long tides.  We went to one of the beaches that was reached by a boardwalk over the salt marshes for an evening stroll.  There were herons, osprey, and a bunch of terns successfully fishing in the marsh.  It was so much fun to watch the birds dive and come up with the little fish they were catching.  The terns were making a lot of vocalizations, which I interpreted as, “I got one! I got one!”  The jelly fish were washing up on shore and Lynn had some fun trying to get them to go back out.  The sunset was beautiful there.  On our way out of the park back to our motel, we were hopeful to have a moose sighting, but we were not so fortunate.

We left early the next morning for Caraquet on the Acadian Peninsula.  We were fortunate to be here during their Acadian Festival.  The day we arrived was the day for the Blessing of the Boats.  Many of the large fishing boats were decorated with flags of Canada, New Brunswick, and Acadia.  The houses down the main street were also proudly decorated with the Acadian Flag, a gold star in the blue portion of the French flag.  Down on near the wharf, there is a fisheries school, and the blessing of the boats has been an event for about two hundred years.  Fishing is the backbone of this community.  We were told that the captains of the boats would invite visitors on board for a ride before the ceremony.  Lynn and Steve were fortunate to land a place on the Praga, the boat chosen for the blessing.  They had a ride and a personal tour of the boat by the boat’s captain, a woman justifiably proud of her accomplishments. 

We are staying in a lovely Bed & Breakfast, L’Heureux Hasard, which translates into a happy chance, or serendipity.  The owner, Manon, is a cheerful, friendly woman.  Like the B&B proprietors we have encountered, she is a font of information about the area and what is going on so we can make plans for the day.  The breakfasts are beautifully presented and delicious.  We highly recommend this place to anyone traveling to this area.

On Monday, we visited the Acadian Village.  This is a living history museum where they have moved houses and barns from around the area to depict Acadian life between 1775 and 1940.  Farm houses, fishing, churches, a grist & carding mills are on the premises with people dressed in period costumes there to tell you all about the building and the people who lived there.  They demonstrated cooking and baking using wood fired clay ovens, making netting & rope, farming, preparing and spinning wool and flax, making shingles, wooden buckets, tubs and barrels.  There was a printing press and a restaurant featuring Acadian food.  

I love these types of museums as they can really give a sense of the community we are visiting.  Moving into the 20^th century, there was even a gas station with oil in glass bottles!  We spent most of the day there.  At the end of our tour around the village, they had the baked goods they were making throughout the day for sale in the gift store.  We bought some of the bead and cookies they made... very tasty!

Tuesday, we drove to the nearby island of Miscou.  There we spent time on a beach all to ourselves that was recommended by Manon.  We noticed the water draining into the Atlantic ocean was tinted brown.  We later discovered this was most likely due to the peat bogs that cover almost half of the island.  We walked a boardwalk through one of them that had interpretive signage.  We discovered pitcher plants that were flowering!  

We were directed to Steve's Canteen on the island by three separate sources.  So, we went, of course.  He has a sign that says he has the freshest seafood around.  He showed us the fish pens where he kept the lobsters and shellfish.  Talk about fresh, these creatures were alive moments before they were cooked up and served to you! The support beams to the shed that covered the tables were made of driftwood.  He has his visitors sign their names and places, so we left our mark!

In Shippagan, we were amazed at the fishing boats that had been hauled out of the water for winter storage already.  Their fishing season ended and to keep the boats safe during the winter, they take them out of the water.

All in all another good day of discovering new places.  I love traveling.  Today, we travel to Quebec City!