5AM, No emails, so it looks like the puffin tour is a go. So looking forward to it.
The tour leaves at 7:00Am and we need to be there for 6:30, no problem for us as we are both morning people. The weather looks great today, Wendy is hoping for a calm day.
It is only a 10 minute ride to Seal Cove from the cottage. We register for the tour and are soon on our way to Machias Island.
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Not fancy but a great place to stay
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High tide this morning
Panorama of Seal Cove with lots of very old fishing buildings |
I love the names that the fishermen give to their boats
We get a security information and are told to wear masks unless you are eating. So if you don't want to wear a mask just eat and drink something for 90 minutes.
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Boats for the salmon farms, big business here in the Bay of Fundy
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Unloading bags of pellets food for the salmons
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We are on our way to Machias Island which is a 90 minutes boat ride, only small swells today 2 to 3 feet. Not much to see on the way there but that is ok as we are both excited that we are going. A few birds along the way but they fly so fast that you can not take pictures.
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The small dory that will take us to shore.
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Flock of sheep, glacier stone. We did not hike far enough last time we were here to see them.
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Lots of space for social isolation
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Machias Island. We unload in 2 groups because of social isolation . The first group get to go in the blinds while we, the second group, wait on the landing slip. Each groups gets 45 minutes in the blinds. Lots of birds flying by while we wait for our turn to go in the blinds. They come is all directions, some of them their becks full of small fish.
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Where we unloaded and waited for our turn to go in the blinds
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| Lots of birds in the water |
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Our tour boat, the Daily catch
Two female Eiders and their chicks were near the landing slip for us to watch.
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From the blinds we mostly see puffins but we also see Razorbill and Common Murres.
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Our blind for the next 45 minutes, once inside you could hear the puffins landing and walking on the roof.
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Back on board we sail around the island. The fog is rolling in.
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The blind we were in is on the left and you can see all the common murres and razorbills. The puffins were mostly near the blinds as this is where their burrows are.
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We sail to a small island next to Machias Island where 2 types of seal rest on the rocks.
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Hundreds of seals
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Back at Seal cove, here is the same panorama I took earlier but this time at low tide.
We stopped at Food for Thought for lunch. everything is homemade here. We also got homemade jam & pickled beets to take home. One lady with a car that had an Ontario plate had signs in her windows that said: "I finished my 2 weeks quarantine".
We decide to go to Stanley Beach which is near the ferry terminal and look for sea glass but did not find much. The fog is very thick now
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Slide and swing that people can use at high tide
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A small gift shop near the ferry terminal, did not go shopping.
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On board of the ferry now, very foggy, will not see much going home.
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View of the harbour from the ferry
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Back at Blacks Harbour, the fog is still thick.
On the way home, we stop in Penfield to pick up wild blueberries and pies.
View of Foggy Saint John from the harbour bridge.
