Day 6 - Ferry Challenge

Today was mostly a quiet day, spending most of it on the Ferry from Saint John, New Brunswick to Digby, Nova Scotia. The day started with Herman capturing a beautiful sunrise. The time is one hour ahead, so we lost one hour, but it didn't affect us from waking up bright and early.

On the beach outside our motel room. Skip Shipp is an excellent motel and can be recommended for the budget traveller! It is just off highway one outside St George, Nova Scotia.

Travelling from our motel to the ferry took only a little time, so once we picked up our tickets at the dock, we headed to the "tower" that Denise could see from the harbour. Once there we discovered the Mortello Tower, and the video made by Tourism Canada that we watched prior to entering the tower was absolutely entertaining and gave us an appreciation for this "fort" that was built by the British to protect again the invasion which never came. The story of the tower is interesting and one of the only towers of its kind to still be in tact.

Herman barely fit into the stairs leading to the top.

The beds where the soldiers slept look really short, and perhaps all the soldiers who worked there were midgets, but alas, the beds pull out to full length...

Denise was sneaking into the gunpowder room.

Off to the ferry... We met two guys on bikes from the States who were travelling around the Maritimes for a few weeks. One (Rob) had a scooter which he switched to from a luxurious voyager, but he loves biking and enjoyed the scooter. Mike (the other rider) had a Guzzi and since it's his second one, he really loves these bikes. We had a nice chat with them until it was time to board. Motorcycles go on first, and it's quite the hair raising experience to cross the long iron bridge onto the boat, and then enter the hull of a ship that can accommodate giant cranes (which was also on our ferry) and to manouver through giant steel hooks on the floor which is not just whet but quite slipper from the oil of the cars. We then had to tie our bikes with ropes to the hooks on the ground to ensure they don't fall over if the ship hits some rough weather. Denise was very sad to leave her baby all alone in the hull, but you are not allowed to stay below deck...

From the top deck you could see the nose of the ferry still up in the air before departure.

On the three hour ferry ride, we just relaxed, chatted with a German back packer and saw a few seals - then we carefully exited the wet steel ship and ramp to head off to the next stop.

Once off the ferry we headed to Annapolis Royal for the camp site we selected for the night. On the way there we detoured through Bear River to have a look at the houses built on stilts to accommodate for the Bay of Fundy tides, that even effect communities on the river.

Our tent was still soaked from the storm in Adirondack, so we rented the Gypsy Wagon for a few dollars more, and it was an excellent way to end our day of ferrying.


Welcome to the funnest sleeping quarters ever!