We left Mactaquac PP heading to the Deer Island ferry.  We stopped at the St. George fish ladder enroute. A local informed us it was a spectacular site to see in July when the Salmon were running;-)

When we arrived at the ferry there was very steep ramp because it was low tide so it looked like our Komo bike carrier might get stuck, therefore we opted to pass on Deer Island.  We drove around the fishing village of Back Bay where they had a lobster fishery.  Since it’s lobster season we headed to Comeau’s Seafood for a very tasty lobster roll and scallop roll before arriving at New River Beach PP.

Once set up we hiked the Chittick’s Beach Trail and the Barnaby Head Trail, a total of 7 km.  We explored Chittick Beach (named after the Chittick family from Ireland who lived here in the late 1840’s) at low tide, walked through the coastal spruce forest, viewed sea caves and rocky cliffs.  During prohibition the sea caves at Barnaby Head were where all the kegs of rum where hidden, no we didn’t find any.  Joel saw a seal at Barnaby Head.  We continued on the inland trail (just like the guy in front of us) only to find out that it was under construction and supposed to closed, I guess we missed seeing the sign.  A little tricky to navigate but it cut off a few kms.  There was some interesting rock art along the trail.  We liked the saying “Find The Good In All Things”. We had a relaxing dinner by our river view campsite.

The next day we headed to Blacks Harbour to catch the ferry to Grand Manan Island with a stop at Beaver Harbour to see the lighthouse.

We got a tip that there was good sea glass hunting along the rocks near the ferry terminal so checked it out while waiting for the ferry, we gathered a cup full of sea glass! We had to be careful though as the tide was rolling in all around us.

The ferry ride was smooth, always a tight squeeze with the RV.  It was interesting because they had jacks on either side of the ramp to enter the ferry so the ramp could constantly be adjusted based on the tides (which are over 20’ rise and fall). Exiting the ferry, we went to The Swallowtail Lighthouse which we could see as we approached Grand Manan Island.  It was the holiday Monday so you couldn’t climb up the lighthouse, but we could read all the history outside.

We drove to the midpoint on Grand Manan to The Anchorage PP where we would stay for 3 nights. We had never seen this before, but all the high school grads had banners up along the roadways and in front of houses. After we were setup, we walked down to the beach to look for sea glass and soon learned why they say the campground is rabbit infested😉

The next day we decided to ride our bikes around White Head Island so we got up early and drove to the ferry departure area only to find that the fog had really set in. We found out later that is fairly typical on Grand Manan where the south gets socked in and the north part of the island will be clear. The trip across was 28 minutes and then we started our ride by seeing the Fishermen Memorial. Next was the lighthouse which was a tough ride as the road was a combination of very large rocks and some sandy sections. The lighthouse itself wasn’t that spectacular, but it was mysterious bathed in the fog. We were glad the foghorn wasn’t blaring as we might have lost our eardrums. Some of the articles we’d read said you could do a full perimeter trail of the island but we carried on along the beach and some ATV trails but the path eventually disappeared so we decided to go back to the harbour, have our lunch and then complete the other section of the island on the road. One marsh area was quite interesting with a display of the birds seen there and when we came back the tide was rushing through a pipe under the road back into the marsh.

When we returned, we decided to go to a brewery, but they weren’t open until 5 pm so we first went to Seal Cove. The historic buildings in Seal Cove were from the Smoked Herring fishery which thrived here from 1870-1930. They used to have a museum in one of the buildings but it’s not open any longer. Some of the fishing sheds have been converted to Air BNBs.

The brewery was a combination of the Golf Course Clubhouse and the actual brewery. They were working on a new building but for now it was an old house. I tried a flight of their beers and they had a couple of good IPAs. The interesting thing though was that it was Men’s Golf Tournament night. So just after we sat down all kinds of locals came in to grab a beer before going out to play golf with their assigned partners. Lots of them struck up conversations with us since we didn’t seem to fit in. Once they had all gone golfing, we headed back to the PP, but it was now very tricky getting the RV out of the parking lot absolutely filled with pickup trucks!

For our last day on Grand Manan, we had a very active schedule with 4 different hikes to do. The first was the Red Point Trail and we found a good place to park just below the church. Once we reached the beach it was very steady climb through the forest until we reached the famous Hole in the Wall formation. It was quite spectacular to see but a little scary balancing on the thin edge at the top for Sharon to take the picture😉We carried on along the trail and climbed up the Fish Head lookout platform before returning the same way.

Next, we drove up to the Dulse Seaweed shop but there was nobody around. However, we were able to see some drying and the shop door was open so we could go in and look around and buy some product on the honour system. The dulse is harvested in Dark Harbour on the western side of the island and the dulsers would bring their product to the shop to sell. The temperature difference was shocking at the top of the island where the shop was since it was 37C there and only 24C along the coast.

After the shop we ventured to Dark Harbour on the west side of the island to see if we could see them harvesting the dulse. We climbed up and over the island and then had a very steep descend down to Dark Harbour. We were able to see the Wild Salmon Conservation Farm, but the dulse harvesting was on the backside of the rock wall so we couldn’t get there easily. However, it was cool to see an Eagle as we climbed back and over the mountain.

We wanted to go to Trapped for lunch (the entrance is like going into a lobster trap) but we found out they don’t serve lunches until July! We grabbed some sandwiches at the café and then headed to the southern most point of the island. There was a short hike there called Flock of Sheep trail that was by the Southwest Head Lighthouse, and it literally had the most spectacular coastline of the entire island. We were surprised that the Hole in the Wall got all the press when this area was so incredible. The cliffs were mainly basalt formations like we had seen at the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland and Scotland. The trail hugged the coast with large drop off’s until we reached the beach at the far end and then we returned the same way. Along the trail were primitive small cabins people had built. You’ll get a kick out of the last photo as it shows all the shoes we’d used on this day😉

We drove back to the PP and there we rested for a bit and then did the Red Point Trail within the park boundaries. This trail had recently been restored so the boardwalk was very large (10’ wide) which made for an easy walk. They also had lots of memory benches along the way to enjoy the views.

That will conclude our trip to Grand Manan Island and this blog. Next up will be St. Andrews.