This trip had so much to offer that I had to split it into two blogs. Please enjoy the second installment of my East Coast adventures; visiting Halifax, Nova Scotia, amongst other cool spots around the Maritimes.
Day Eight: Goodbye St. Andrew's
On our last night in New Brunswick, I walked into St. Andrew's to soak in the memories I had made thus far. Walking into town I saw a lovely sunset over the bay along with nearly 20 deer just wandering around. After the adventurous week, I didn't want to leave this new spot. The amount of new wildlife I've spotted in a short week meant there was so much more to discover if I had more time.
That being said, St. Andrew's is a lovely town but very small and quiet, which meant that most evenings were very similar since all the activity was on one street. I was excited to visit a new province and city, however, I was not excited for the 6:00 am departure to St. John, but it's all a part of the experience.
Day Nine: St. John to Digby
We boarded a ferry that took us to Digby, Nova Scotia. I was hoping to see some aquatic life during the ferry ride, possibly some whales or dolphins, instead, we saw a huge wall of fog for 3 hours. Once we made it to Nova Scotia, we took a scenic route from Digby to Halifax. Our first stop was at this old tidal energy station that was decommissioned. We talked about harnessing the energy from the ocean as a renewable source of power, but there are lots of complications involving the living ocean in energy generation.
During that discussion, there were plenty of cormorants chilling by the plant as well as an osprey nest nearby. Once the ospreys showed up, I was definitely still paying attention to our class discussion and not just watching the birds. My favourite from this shoot has to be when one osprey is slapping the other in the face.
Day Nine: Lunch with the birds
Our second stop was one I will never forget. Evangeline Beach is the location of possibly the coolest display of nature I have ever seen. As we got to the beach, we saw a cloud of birds that was a brownish colour at times, and white when they flashed their stomachs. This cloud was made up of roughly 20,000 sandpipers stopping by the bay during their migration.
They visit the bay because the tides go out so far meaning they have lots of time and space to feed. They fatten up enough to the point where they double their body weight before flying for 72 hours straight down south. These little guys have traveled far to get here, they originally migrated from arctic regions to feed in the bay. Seeing them all pack themselves into the small pockets of sand while the tide was in really showed the number of birds that were here and it was truly amazing. Everywhere you looked, there were sandpipers.
Day Eleven: Playing tourist in Lunenburg
Since we had a lot of learning and work packed into a short time period, our profs wanted to make sure we still got to experience the fun side of the East Coast. Towards the end of our trip, we all drove up to visit Lunenburg, a UNESCO world heritage site home to Bluenose (the ship on the dime), colourful houses and shops, and tons of lobster. We had a bit of free time to go explore this ancient town and it did not disappoint.
I'm not normally big on architectural photography, but I am always a fan of colour. The buildings were so vibrant and pretty, it added a fun spirit to the old town. The pier also looked so magical in the morning with all the boats out waiting for their catch with light fog lifting up. It felt like I was capturing a postcard.
Day Eleven: Grande finale in Peggy's Cove
Did you even go to Nova Scotia without visiting Peggy's Cove? This was a must-see on our trip that myself and my family were looking forward to. My mom has talked about wanting to bring our family on a trip out East for a long time but we've never been able to yet, so once we made it to the lighthouse, I gave her a call so she could soak in the view with me. Being by the ocean brought me so much peace and joy, it was the most beautiful thing to experience.
I was taken aback while we were in Peggy's Cove, talking with my friends about how long we'd waited for this trip to come, and now in shock that it was almost over. I saw the most amazing wildlife and met so many knowledgeable people during this course. Everything about this trip has been so memorable, and I can't wait to go back someday either on another trip or for work potentially (manifest for me). Thank you for the memories, Maritimes.