Cape Breton Island, Canada - 23 and 24 August

Our time on Cape Breton Island involved both disappointment and amazing luck during both days we were there. One of the main reasons we were visiting the Island was on recommendation from Chad and Lindsay to camp at the northern most tip of the island in a place called Meat Cove. Yes folks, that is its real name!

On our first morning on the island we were driving up to Meat Cove to check it out, only to hear over the radio that the bridge leading into the cove had been damaged by previous rains and the cove was no longer accessible. While disappointed that we couldn’t see it, we counted ourselves far luckier than all the campers who were stuck in there with no way out other than by boat.

Instead of seeing Meat Cove, we drove the Cabot Trail, which is a scenic drive that hugs the coast on the northern side of the island. There are hikes and scenic outlooks along the way that were teaming with wildlife. Without really trying our wildlife count at the end of our time there was 2 coyotes, 2 snakes, numerous pods of pilot whales, a seal, 3 bald eagles and 3 moose.

...oh and a dragonfly, that I (emma) managed to get a picture of.

Cape Breton Island, Smokey Point

A good photography assistant on the Cabot trail.

Baddeck Bay

Our second round of disappointment that turned into good luck was our encounter with the final moose we saw while walking on one of the most popular hikes on the Cabot trail, called the Skyline Trail. After seeing two young male moose previously from a reasonable distance away, we came upon a group of people who had spotted a large male moose eating in the coverage of the trees not far off the trail. He probably would have stayed there for a while had it not been for 20 something year old German tourist who yelled said very loudly what we think translated to “Papa, look there is a moose. Papa get your camera”. Not surprisingly the moose didn’t hang around. Disappointed we continued to walk along the trail, muttering under a breath about inconsiderate people who have little regard for their surroundings, however our luck was about to change.

While walking back to the car Daniel spotted the same large male moose grazing and quickly got out his camera with the long telephoto lens so he could get some close up shots from so far away. After a few clicks of the camera the moose looked directly at us started to move on. We moved a little up the path at a respectful distance from the moose and I watched him through the binoculars. He was a beautiful animal, standing about 7ft tall and if you included his huge antlers probably stood at 10ft. It was just wonderful to watch. As I continued to watch him through the binoculars I realized he was getting bigger and bigger. In reality he was walking directly towards us and there was no longer any need for the binoculars. We stopped in our tracks, in fact I think I even stopped breathing, and this massive moose crossed the path we were walking on 15ft ahead of us. Poor Daniel was backing up madly as he had his telephoto lens on the camera and was way too close at that point. He got some shots nonetheless. The best part about this, which all took place in about a minute, was that there wasn’t a single person around and it was totally quiet.

Hiking, driving and wildlife watching, builds up quite and appetite so we headed to a restaurant for dinner to try some of the local produce. It was here we tried our first lobster supper. For those who don’t know, it is currently lobster, mussel and oyster season in the north eastern states of the USA and Canada. A lobster supper usually involves a whole lobster and all you can eat of seafood chowder, steamed mussels, salad and dessert. It will not surprise any of you who know us well that we got our monies worth at this restaurant. To embarrass ourselves or brag (however you want to view it) I’m going to list the total food consumed that evening rather than split it by individual. The total consumed was:
- 4 bowls of mussels
- 1 bowl seafood chowder
- 2 side salads
- 2 1lb lobsters
- 2 pieces of lemon meringue pie
- 1 piece of chocolate cake
- 1 piece of blueberry pie

Did we feel full and disgusting by the end of the evening….yes. Was it worth it….absolutely!