The fog is thick here coming off the water in Nova Scotia. We’re supposed to be out on that water today and I can see from my vantage point that it’s going to be cold and damp, not unlike the fishing excursions I found myself on with my father and brother when we used to boat the rivers and levies of the California Delta. In those days, in the miserable dark, the fog was so thick that dad would be up on the fly bridge, I’d be standing next to dad and my brother would be out on the bow with a light on the look out for logs and rocks and other boats. That particular boat had one of those awful jet drives that were so loud and impossible to control at idling speeds. I think in all the times we went out on our late night fishing excursions we caught perhaps only two or three fish worth keeping. At least that’s the way I remember it. My brother and I had much better luck tying a piece of raw bacon to the end of a string and pulling up scores of crawfish in a quiet slough in the middle of the day.
We’re staying in a large antique filled house from another era. I’m told it didn’t have electricity until after World War II and the gas lighting fixtures are still attached to the walls of the third floor dormitories. The house sits on a finger of land that projects out into the Bay of Fundy where the tides further up the coast can be as large as fifty feet. Here they’re only about six feet but you can see how strong the currents are by the behavior of the sea weed and the way the current ripples around the rocky reefs.
Yesterday we drove up the coast to Digby and Annapolis Royal. A pleasant young gentleman in Digby gave us the quick tourist history of the town. It was named after a British Admiral who rescued British loyalists from “ethnic cleansing” by American revolutionaries during the war for independence. We were proudly shown one of the cannon manufactured by George III and used by the town folk to fire on American ships to protect their precious harbor.
In an effort to learn more about the town we wandered across the street into a used book store and ended up having a very spirited discussion with the proprietor on history, economics and the Wars of Southern Aggression, referring to the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.
We continued up the coast and had lunch in Annapolis Royal. Although our intention was to visit the French and English forts we only had enough time to tour the tidal power plant. If we have time tomorrow I plan on going back and taking some video footage.