Fun at Covehead

One of our outings recently included a visit to the National Park on the central portion of Prince Edward Island with our daughter and grandchildren. Our destination for the day was Covehead 

but we started with a picnic at the Babbling Brook and FarmLands trailhead where my husband and I have had wonderful picnics in all seasons. 

The area looks quite different from three months ago when skeleton trees harboured birds busy consuming what was left of the sumac berries.

Following lunch, we went to the wharf at Covehead, where the lobster boats are tied up for another season. 

However the wharf is still busy as swimmers flock to the area to jump off the wharf into the inlet.

There is a bridge at Covehead which was the original location for the jumpers in the area.

Young and old alike jumped from the bridge, checking to avoid boats going to or returning from the Gulf of St. Lawrence. New fortifications on the bridge 

have made jumping there more difficult so the majority of jumpers now leap or dive from the wharf.

Our daughter and granddaughters were eager to join the fun that day. The girls jumped numerous times from the wharf, 

while our daughter jumped several times. My husband and I were happy to watch them.

Our grandson isn’t ready for jumping yet. Instead he went for a swim and joined the girls and his mother as they floated past in the strong current that takes people under the bridge and into the Gulf if you stay in the water. 

Most swimmers leave the water earlier though to jump again.

It was windy that day and gulls nearby stood into the wind. 

I wondered if they, like us, felt sand blasted as they stood their watch. Meanwhile a lone cormorant floated around in the water, fished occasionally or floated along with the current farther from shore but parallel to the swimmers. 

He dives from the surface of the water and doesn’t mind sharing the channel with these fine weather friends.

Note:

I used several photos I had taken on previous visits to Covehead.

Along the Parkway

The national park on Prince Edward Island has three sections. We visit the western portion of the park most often but enjoy the other areas too. We recently visited the central area which runs along the eastern Gulf Shore Parkway from Brackley to Dalvay. We cycled the distance, stopping regularly to take in the sights. 

This area has abundant wildlife and a variety of birds are in and around the saltwater marshes, rivers and ponds just behind the dunes. Cycling along the parkway, one can see the birds and stop to observe them. We stopped a great deal.

The soft spring colours around them highlight the Greater Yellowlegs in the first photo and the Gadwalls, a female and a male, in the second photo, just left of centre.

While I was waiting for my husband at one point, two geese flew a few metres overhead. I was lucky enough to photograph one. 

A Northern Shoveler stood out among the dried grasses 

while a tiny Least Sandpiper was easy to miss. 

This beautiful Green-winged Teal looks shy floating around in the pond. 

We had lunch in a sheltered spot where a White-throated Sparrow dropped by.

Looking out to sea, one sees the lobster boats in the distance, 

the sound of the motors carried on the breeze. 

The lighthouse keeps a silent vigil as it has for decades.  

This area of the national park will draw us back numerous times this year.

Covehead

Spring activities are in full swing here. Barbecues, walks, hikes, picnics are on-going now any day the weather permits. On our most recent excursion, we went northeast to the National Park. We drove along the Gulf Shore Parkway, with sand dunes on one side and marsh land or ponds on the other and stopped at Covehead.

A lighthouse set in the sand dunes at Covehead

guides boats in and out of Covehead Harbour. Nearby a bridge allows the boats access to the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

The bridge has a pedestrian walkway on either side and a barrier with a sign, discouraging people from jumping or diving from the bridge. 

It overlooks the wharf where everything is ready for today, when lobster traps are set for the season.

The beach on the other side of the dunes has seaweed mounds, sand drifts accumulated on pieces of seaweed thrown ashore over the winter.

We have our picnic below the lighthouse in front of the dunes. The empty beach and sea stretch before us. Our homemade fare is perfect with switchel, unsweetened black tea. While there, tourists, speaking an unknown language, arrive to walk the beach and take photos by the lighthouse. As we watch, we feel lucky we can come here any time to enjoy the scenery and the lifestyle.