Cape Breton Visit - August 31st to Sept. 4th

On Saturday Wayne and I went into town to stock up and I had lunch at the Black Spoon in North Sydney with Johanne, my friend and colleague from my days at the CG College. We caught up on College news, books, families, food, and all the good stuff, but I forgot to take a photo, drat!  Thanks Johanne for a delicious lunch and for driving me back to the cove.

Later in the afternoon we took in one of the ballgames.  It was cold and windy but they won soundly (unlike their first game in the morning for which they hadn’t had time to down enough beer).  We had supper with Joe and Vanessa and family (Wayne was treated to the promised feed of fried bologna) and Father Patrick who kindly invited us to stay at his Glebe home in North Sydney.  Mark (seven years old) is still asking us about moving back and has worked out a plan for us to stay at Lionel and Georgina’s (his grand-parents) place in Main-a-Dieu in the summer when they are at the cottage here and then stay here on the cove during the winter when they move back.  In the meantime he said we could all look for a place for us to buy.  We have told him a couple of times that we will need to talk about it and maybe come for a summer visit first.  I’m not sure how many more times he will accept that for an answer!

Sunday was a better day.  We kayaked around the cove in the morning and out into our old route out on the Mira.  It brought tears to my eyes seeing again how pretty it is and how much I miss being able to paddle at our doorstep. When we moved we left the kayaks here for the neighbours to use. We didn’t have the space to pack them or the ability to take them on the car and figured they would get more use on the cove than in Ottawa, but I sure miss getting out on the water with them. 

Kayaks nestled ashore at Joe and Vanessa's

 

On the Mira

 In the afternoon we cycled to watch a couple more ball games and the team won the tournament!! 

The McDougall Team champs

We had a lovely evening dinner with Joe and Sabrina and girls, then we stopped in to see Mark’s new home (Sabrina’s brother) two doors down.  It was a late night on the cove!

 

Monday again dawned warm and sunny and we all headed out to Main-a-Dieu for a boat trip to Scatarie Island. It was simply an awesome day, and we owe a huge thanks to Tony (Vanessa’s uncle and Georgina’s brother) for taking us out on his lobster boat.  We skirted around to the end of the island where the MV Miner ran aground last fall.  It is a sight to see, quite a blight and incongruous against the pristine shores of the island.  It has taken almost a year to resolve the uncertainty about who has responsibility for removing the vessel, and although a salvage company has agreed to undertake removal, it doesn’t look like anything will be accomplished in the near future.

Enroute to Scatarie

Capt. Tony was also the team pitcher yesterday

I'd like to arrive this way on my next trip to Scatarie

Anchoring

Going ashore

Tom and Olga

Lionel and Georgina

Wayne and Lacey surveying the wreck

(More photos are posted on my FB page)

We took the skiff ashore and had lunch on the beach before prancing around the grassy dunes to get a closer at the wreck.  Mark, Wayne and I also made the trek to the nearby lighthouse.  It is all automated now, of course, and sad to see the dilapidated state of the light-keeper’s homes. Along the way we passed three very old and unmarked grave stones.  Lionel answered many queries for me that day about Scatarie, and this one in particular has stayed with me.  During a stormy night the lighthouse keepers thought they heard voices out on the water, and in the morning they found three bodies in a lifeboat.  I guess it was unmarked, for the identity of the sailors and the ship wreck they came from has never been ascertained.  Someone’s family member, perhaps from afar, sailed off on a ship of some sort and was never heard from again.

Unmarked grave stones

Trekking to the lighthouse

 

I pestered Lionel and Georgina for more historical info on Scatarie, and learned that they both have ancestors who lived on the island permanently at one time.  In fact, Georgina’s grandmother Eliza Campbell was a lighthouse keeper on her own for twenty-three years after her husband passed away and Georgina remembers going up to light the light with her when she was a little girl staying for a week in the summer.  It seems many of the present inhabitants of Main-a-Dieu have roots on Scatarie.  No one lives there now, but at one time there was a village, a dock, a fish plant and regular shipments of goods and a priest to the island.  I think this is what I treasure about the folks I’ve met in Oyster Cove and Main-a-Dieu.  They are firmly rooted to their place on the earth and know where and who they’ve come from. How very fortunate they are in this day and age to have that certainty!

Back in the cove we finally made reservations for the ferry to NF tomorrow and returning on the 14^th.  Vanessa and Joe and everyone hosted dinner again – wow, we have been so well taken care of!  Unfortunately we never got Mark and Lacey for a sleep-over (too busy socializing in the evenings) but we’ll remember that commitment.

Mark and Lacey in our upper bunk

We then made one last round of the neighbourhood to see a few folks we hadn’t yet touched base with.  As we passed by our old home we were invited to come in for a look.  It really looks lovely and well taken care of, but was emotionally difficult for both of us. 

90 Paradise Rd

We ended the evening back at Joe and Sabrina’s to say farewell.

And the RV nestled in at Joe and Sabrina's

Wayne and Molly

Joe's lobster boat, the "Danica and Morgan"

The weekend was simply wonderful and I think we are both searching for an answer as to why we left three years ago. We extend a huge thanks to everyone for opening their homes and hearts to us.  Oyster Cove is the finest!

Oyster Cove early in the morning of our departure