Cheticamp is a wonderful place to visit for many reasons. I have a memory of the town that I won’t forget easily. I’ll tell you all about it in a little bit. Many visitors decide to stay in the lovely town for whale watching. An event that brings in tourists from all over the world.
Cheticamp and Me: A Time I Won’t Forget
After our insightful conversation, we decided to keep going. We had about 20 more minutes to go until we reached our destination. As we drove through the town, a memory sprung up that would stay with me forever.
About two years ago, our family paid a visit to Canada. We had a wonderful time driving out East and made many memories. Of course, one of the items on our collective bucket list was to experience the famous whale watching.
We booked a day ahead for $50/person to guarantee a spot. As expected, the boat was pretty full, and all on board were excited to see some ocean friends. The tour was to be about 1.5 hrs.
To give you some context on the geographic location of Cheticamp, it is obviously on the coast. However, it is protected by a peninsula, giving the water of the harbour calm and peaceful waters.
Out On Sea
After about 15 minutes on the boat, the waters became a little angrier. Now, I have to confess, I’ve never been a fan of swings, merry-go-rounds, or any of the sorts that you can find on fairs. As a result, I have issues keeping everything inside after a while.
It goes without saying that I do not have sealegs. After about 20 minutes of bobbing up and down, my wife asks me if I am ok. Of course, I say, “Yep, no problems, I’m just a little queasy.” However, after 40 years of marriage, you get to know a person quite well. I couldn’t hide from her that I was, as a matter of fact, not ok.
The waves became rougher and rougher, as well as my stomach. I looked around me and saw another gentleman with his head overboard and a few others looking a little green. Their loved ones were rubbing their back in a poor attempt to comfort them. Spoiler alert: It didn’t.
I heard somewhere that bananas are a good cure for seasickness, but where does one find bananas on the Nova Scotian shore? You don’t. I asked my wife if she had anything to eat. Now, those who know my wife know that she always carries a purse full of handy items. Toothpicks, chapstick, some wet wipes, after five kids, she’s learned a few tricks.
She came to the rescue with some “Fisherman’s Friends.” An appropriate candy for this situation, right? I kept eating them, one by one, hoping that we would see something so that we could head back to shore.
In the meantime, an hour had passed, and the only animals we saw were the seagulls screaming for some attention around our boat. We were a little disappointed because we expected a little more. We spot seagulls in every fast-food parking lot of North America.
Thankfully, shortly after, the other folks on the boat got excited and pointed towards a group of brown whales. We were told that they were pilot whales. A playful type of whale that is a little bigger than dolphins. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any big whales, as expected, but we had fun nonetheless.
Back to Shore
At this point, I had gone through the bag of Fisherman’s Friends in an attempt to keep everything down. Thankfully, we headed back after our whale friends moved on.
A short, or long for some, 30 minutes later, we arrived back in the harbour of Cheticamp. There was at least one person that was happy to be back. You guessed it; it was me!
Opting Out This Time
This time around, my wife and I decided to forego this lovely experience and just enjoy the shoreline on solid ground. So we kept going towards our destination, “The Skywalk Trail.”
You can take two routes on this trail, the shorter 3.5 KM and the 7.5 KM. We chose the latter. After a little while, we arrived at a bay with a beautiful view. We were on a plateau high on the cliffs, about 500 meters. De plateau is connected with wooden stairs for tourists to take their time and enjoy the view.
As we were sitting there, looking over the stunning view, we saw a family of pilot whales! We made the right choice not to repeat the past. We were able to enjoy the view, the whales, and everyone kept their meals inside them that day.
A Brief History Lesson
Just as we were about to leave, we met a few ladies who came out to enjoy the view as well. We quickly discovered that one of the ladies was a granddaughter of a chief of the indigenous population in Nova Scotia.
The history between the indigenous and early immigrants is a painful one. However, she explained that the indigenous peoples helped the newcomers when the first settlers arrived, and mutual respect was established as both people groups learned to live with each other.
Nova Scotia: Canada’s Ocean Playground
Once we rested a little, we headed back to the car. We made some beautiful memories, remembered some old ones from Cheticamp, and were refreshed and rejuvenated to continue on.
I hope that you enjoyed this little taste of both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me. Also, don’t forget to sign up for the next blog!