We camped south of Halifax, Nova Scotia across the street from Margaret Bay of the Atlantic Ocean. At the tip of the bay is the picturesque town of Peggy’s Cove and its lighthouse. As we were driving down to see it, we came across a memorial for an airplane crash that had occurred a few miles offshore in 1998. Swissair 111 originated from Washington DC destined for Zurich when an onboard fire spread too quickly to be contained and the plane went down off the coast of Nova Scotia and all 229 people on onboard perished.
The lighthouse at Peggy’s Cove is built on and surround by giant boulders. The waves can really be whipped up in this area and we saw them come crashing over the rocks. It seems that despite warnings sightseers keep going out on the rocks too close to the ocean and some are occasionally swept out on the waves. We found a rather vivid warning plaque along one or the walks leading out to the lighthouse.
We also explored further south along the coast. We visited the seaport town of Lunenburg, which has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The seafront is lined with brightly-colored classic seaport buildings. The port is the home for the famed racing and fishing schooner, Bluenose which is a major symbol of the Province of Nova Scotia and is featured on the back of the Canadian dime (the ship now docked there is actually Bluenose II, a replica of the original and presently undergoing restoration).
And speaking of Canadian money…..the Canadian one-dollar coin features a picture of the Common Canadian Loon on the back, and therefore garnered the nickname of “Loonie”. As an extension of the nickname, the two-dollar Canadian coin came to be known as the Toonie. Just to prove that we are not making all of this up, here is a picture of a Dollar store in downtown Lunenburg.
We traveled on to Mahone Bay and saw their three famous water-front churches and also to the resort town of Chester.
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