Five Islands {Nova Scotia}

Because we hadn't made advance reservations, the campgrounds at Kejimkujic National Park were full for the weekend. We decided to wait it out at Five Islands Ocean Resort and it was such a great decision. This campground is beautiful!

It's location on the Bay of Fundy allowed us to experience the World's largest tides for a little longer. We explored the beach finding crabs, shells and even an 18" eel washed on shore! But the best part was meeting our camping neighbors and trying clamming for the first time!

To find Atlantic Bar Clams, you wait until low tide then walk way out onto the mud flats

 looking for small holes in the mud. When you find one, dig below it and look for a clam. 

We only found a few. We watched as others drove ATVs out onto the mud and just started digging a line with a short handed rake-type tool. It seems like those tools are much more appropriate for this situation than our shovel. We also learned we should have gone even farther out in the mud. 

Found some Green Crabs too.

And a large eel washed up on shore!

Our neighbors returned from clamming after collecting 300 clams in 40 minutes!  They boiled a pot for us.  I figured we'd all try one, just to try it, but they were so tasty, it was hard to stop. Boiling makes their shells open, so you just crack them open the rest of the way, pull out the creature then remove the dark "skin". Dip in vinegar, then butter and eat. We didn't have any vinegar but they were still delicious! We ate the whole pot and the kids still wanted more. He actually cooked up a second batch for the kids just before lighting the campfire. We sat around the fire grateful for dark skies revealing the most stars we've seen in years, a couple shooting stars all while fellow campers shot off fireworks and sang together a few sites down. It was a truly lovely introduction to Nova Scotia.

On our way to Kejimkujic National Park, we stopped at Masstown Market, the busiest grocery store I've ever been inside. Then after reading about Canada's #1 rated blue cheese being made at an Amish farm along our route, we had to stop and try it for ourselves. The Dutchman's Cheese Farm makes their award winning Dragon's Breath Blue then coats it in thick wax. Cut off the top and if there's any left over, the top fits back on for later. We also grabbed a pack of waffle cookies which were different than anything we've tried before.

World famous Tides and Migration

Maybe you've seen photos of Hopewell Rocks before. I had, but there's so much more to it than just this one view. First of all what makes this area special is the record tides reaching up to 52ft that shape these rocks everyday! During low tide, you could walk for miles before reaching the water. At high tide you can't even see light under the rock formation. In the visitor center we watched a time lapse video showing an island 6.5 miles from shore, 6 hours later, you could walk all the way to it! Another video demonstrated how quickly the water rises by having three rangers stand in toe-deep water without moving. Three minutes later it was up to their chin.

But first, a short hike.

We arrived to the rock formations about 90 minutes AFTER low tide (so the water has already been rising for an hour and a half) and this is what it looked like.

We explored the beach, the caves and the rock formations and just as we were about to start heading back towards the stairs, a Peregrine Falcon flew right over us! It landed in a crevice in the rock wall and treated us to a couple more flights before the rangers started clearing everyone off the beach. The water level was already getting too high.

After a picnic lunch, we hiked back out a couple hours later at high tide and 

this is how it looks now. People are kayaking where we were just walking on dry ground!

We'd heard about the stairs costing nearly $1,000,000, and now I understand why. The bottom section must be able to withstand the pressure of being completely covered in water and waves for hours each day.

Next, while Daddy took the kids to the playground, I walked to the beach to look for birds. I was watching some shorebirds amongst the tall grass on the water's edge when I noticed THREE Peregrine Falcons flying overhead! It looked like they may be giving the young one flying lessons! I stood and watched the World's fastest bird as long as I could before heading back to my family.

On our way back to the campground, we stopped at Mary's Point National Wildlife Area as I'd heard this was THE spot to see the Semipalmated Sandpipers gearing up for their migratory flight south. I arrived a bit after high tide and was disappointed to hear I missed it. One needs to be here just before and AT high tide to see the birds get pushed up close to you. Argh! So, my husband, being the sweet, supportive spouse of a birder, drove us back the next day for high tide. It was absolutely amazing! By the time high tide came around, we had around 10,000 birds on the beach in front of us. Most were Semipalmated Sandpipers and the rest were Semipalmated Plovers. 

They come from the Arctic, stopping here for approximately three weeks to refuel before flying non-stop to South America. While we were watching, a Peregrine Falcon kept flying in looking for a tasty snack which led to some wonderful aerial displays from the shorebirds.

A man there was explaining that in the 50s, the birds only stayed 15 days, but by that time the Falcons had been killed off as a result of DEET. Falcons were reintroduced in the 90s, and now with a thriving population, the shorebirds must expend energy flying away from them many times a day. So that is the theory on why they stay longer now.

Magical Fundy Falls

Fundy National Park's Dickson Falls is an easy waterfall trail that is absolutely magical. 

Brightly colored green moss blankets the riverbed and both sides of the trail.

Asher and Journey love cairns (stacked rocks marking a trail). 

These were exciting for them to discover.

All too soon we made it to the source, the waterfall. Our delightful hike was over way too quickly. And just like that, it made it into my top 10 hikes.