Along the coast to West Point

It looks wild and untamed, an area of beach on Prince Edward Island left to nature. We’d headed to the southwest coast of the island to Brae Harbour and driven along the coastline from the small community over a dirt road. We passed a few off-grid cottages and eventually arrived at a place where we’d need an off-road vehicle to go further.

This is an exposed area of coastline along the Northumberland Strait. A sand bar off shore breaks the waves and the water looks like it is boiling. 

Sandy red sea rushes to shore. However, there aren’t any sand dunes along this shoreline. Trees, shrubs and other vegetation border the beach while driftwood in abundance shows how many trees have been claimed by the onslaught.

This area of coastline is without a village or even a cottage. It is a part of the island coastline we have rarely seen, without cliffs or dunes either. A cottage here would be risky, without a border between it and the sea.

During a walk along this beach, we crossed one familiar island feature, a brook crossing the beach, a small one we could easily jump over. Walking east, one could see homes or cottages kilometres away along the shoreline. One cannot imagine the same in this area.

We returned to the main road and continued on to West Point. This area has been settled and like so many areas of the island, has a boat basin along the shoreline to offer protection to fishers, their boats and gear. 

There wasn’t much activity in the basin this time of year as fishing season was winding down. The ubiquitous sentinels of the sea, the cormorants, had one lone bird on duty that day, 

while along the breakwater side of the basin, others of the species commune with gulls and enjoy the autumn sun. 

Damage in the basin walls allows one to look west towards the West Point Lighthouse, one that stands out among lighthouses on the island for its black and white striping. This area has received much damage over the last number of years and revetments along the shoreline and lighthouse are strategically placed so as to reduce the same in the future.

We had our favourite lunch of the autumn thus far, sheltered from the on-shore breeze at a picnic table at the park there. While we ate our delicious chicken stew, we watched the robins nearby 

and listened to the chickadees, our most vocal woodland bird of autumn, as they flitted among the trees around us. We watched with interest at what we thought initially to be a crow but later identified as a Turkey Vulture, an unusual bird for the island. It was a thrill to watch it circle the area for its food, animals which are already dead, such a road kill.

We walked through the park and along the shoreline after lunch before we headed home. Another great day exploring the island! 

A visit to the Cape

It was hot with the usual Prince Edward Island breeze making the temperature bearable. My husband and I drove along the French shore of the island, just west of Summerside, with the windows open, the breeze flowing through the car as we enjoyed the sea view. We were headed to Cape Egmont.

The Cape is a headland jutting into the Northumberland Strait and just off-shore, attached to the shoreline via a stoney umbilical cord,

a sea stack is visible below the cliff. The red sandstone in this area has a thick layer of soil above which is easily eroded. 

The stone takes a bit longer.

The sea stack has two holes these days, a larger one on the landward side. 

Above is a great perch for birds, especially cormorants on this particular day. One with damaged feathers makes a curious sight as it approaches for a landing. 

Some on the perch dry normal looking wings in the breeze.

Walking along the headland, one can look east along the coastline as far as Union Corner. 

Looking west, there is my husband on the narrow strip of land opposite the sea stack taking photos.

I could not stand in that narrow place myself and cannot watch my husband there. Instead I focus on the lighthouse and beyond, 

the wharf where lobster boats leave today as the second lobster season begins on the island.

Off-shore, jet skis or sea-doos zip along the coastline. They always remind me of snowmobiles, a common sight in winter in Canada. These summer versions don’t require as much clothing.

Leaving the Cape, we saw a hare crossing the road. I had to settle for a photo through the car window.

On that hot Sunday afternoon, on the way home we stopped for ice cream at a dairy bar in the area. A horse watched from its trailer as the driver lined up to order. The horse wants some too!

P. S.

Bloggers, 

Are blogs you once followed not appearing on your blog feed any longer though you haven’t made any changes and those blogs are still active? Is there a fix for it?

To the Cape

At North Cape on Prince Edward Island, the lighthouse keeps its silent vigil at the tip of the western end of the north coast.

A small flock of Common Eider ducks hangs out on a sand bar formed where the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Northumberland Strait meet but the birds are difficult to photograph in the high winds.

Offshore, boats are on the water again after months in storage. Preparation is underway for the lobster season.

Along the shoreline, a wind farm turns its vanes into the wind, generating electricity without major environmental impact.

The shoreline itself is sculpted by the wave action, the sandstone giving way to the rhythmic action and constancy of the sea in this exposed area. 

A gully to the beach 

is bordered by a sea arch well on its way to becoming a sea stack.

At Tignish Shores, a lone walker is looking for sea glass. She searches there every day the weather conditions and tides allow. 

Gulls are her only company most days.

In a field along the road, horses graze while the wind turbines work nearby and the sound of the sea is carried on the breeze.

One’s senses awaken with a visit to the North Cape after what feels like a long winter sleep!

A walk on the beach

It feels wild and untamed, this beach on the northeast coast of Prince Edward Island. Savage Harbour lives up to its name on this day after a storm. The wind is high enough today to keep the sea agitated, roaring into our senses as we walk the beach, only the gulls and a few small shorebirds to keep us company.

The waves break a bit off-shore on the sand bars that constantly shift position around this Prince Edward Island, making navigation of fishing boats a constant challenge around the ever-changing shoreline.

The sky is a character in this performance as well. Sometimes she teases us with blue, as if she will don her best costume any minute. 

Other times, she presents a hint of blue through thick white pillows. 

This character affects how the sea looks as well, and its blue is particularly appealing. 

Just beyond the nearby inlet to the wharf, the sea looks particularly rough today sending mist onto the beach. 

The gulls are in their element. Gliding on the breeze or foraging on the beach, they ignore the roving audience which stops to admire them on occasion. 

The young Herring Gull showed its marking as it floated on the breeze. 

Another had its mouth full as it prepared to drop a shell, breaking it on the beach below. Such clever birds!

Meanwhile, the small shorebirds go about their foraging along the water’s edge, oblivious to the gulls.

Sanderlings and Semi-palmated Plovers don’t mind the audience either, though they run along the shoreline as we advance up the beach. 

They do a lot of running though they can fly.

Along the beach, Bladderwrack, also known as Fucus has latched on to a rock via its holdfast. 

Further along, a piece of driftwood has been home to shipworms and Gribbles, leaving their impressions in the wood. 

There is much to take in as we watch and listen.

This theatre is one which will draw us back every year for a repeat performance.

 

Along the coast

After a colder, wetter July than usual, our weather has turned hot and humid for the last two weeks. My husband and I have kept our biking to a minimum, unless we know there is a strong breeze. Our one ride this past week was in Cavendish, along the coastline of the Gulf Shore Parkway West, which we visited numerous times last fall and this past spring. Sometimes we were the only people in the area.

Visitors explore the park now, with lots of cyclers and hikers on the trails and along the parkway. It was wonderful to see so many people enjoying the places we love so much. 

The breeze off the water was a perfect balance for the heat, and the waves breaking along the shoreline almost made the wind visible. 

While Cavendish Beach was busy, other areas along the parkway were almost empty, making it a great area to explore.

Gulls are interesting this time of year. While we spoke with another couple on Rad E-bikes, I was distracted by the sounds of several gulls which appeared to challenge a Bald Eagle circling over an area the gulls were protecting. They flew at the eagle and made their best threatening sounds until the eagle flew off.

Further along the Parkway, at Orby Head, it looked like there weren’t any birds on the point until I walked to the far end of the Head. Below was a flock of Great Cormorants. 

I had never seen never so many of these cormorants together. The orange on their beaks resembles a chin strap.

At the end of the Parkway, at the beach at North Rustico, a flock of gulls enjoyed the beach. 

Across the parkway in a small pond, members of the flock dropped in to play. Here, the Black-backed Gulls, mature and immature, dabbled, splashed and did wing displays. We enjoyed seeing their fun on the water on a hot summer day.

We had lunch at Cavendish Grove again, one of our favourite picnic areas. The trees provided shade and nature’s fan through the trees was perfect. It was quiet except for the birds chatting as they went about their day. 

A hot day along the northern coastline of Prince Edward Island is perfect!

 

Favourites

We were the only car in the parking lot at Cavendish Grove with only one car parked at the Beach. Early morning on a sunny day in the national park on Prince Edward Island, the only sound came from the birds and the sea. The sky and sea were a perfect backdrop.

While cycling the parkway, it is easy for my husband and I to be distracted by the coastline. The breaking waves and the red coast anchor the blues. We watch for several minutes each time we stop.

Sometimes, looking directly out to sea, evergreens are the anchor.

Other times, blues are muted by the sun.

On setting day as we cycled along, we could hear the fishing boats off shore, the sound carried on the wind. A few were close enough for photos as they set the traps that first day of the lobster season. Photos of working fishers are among my favourites.

Fishers of the feathered kind float on MacNeills Pond. That hook at the end of the beak is handy for fishing.

The old fence behind the dunes at Cavendish Beach and the weathered trees are highlighted by the sky.

A new walkway to the beach blends with the dunes and vegetation. 

Every time we are at the park, new favourites greet us.