I woke up the early in the morning after the storm grateful that the air temperature had fallen enough for me to get a few hours of good sleep. I blinked the sleep out of my eyes and got packed up, opting to skip breakfast. I had to catch a ferry and there seemed to be some discrepancy online on how often the ferry actually ran. Rather than missing the boat (literally), I figured the safest course of action would be to get to the ferry as soon as I could.
As I drove down Digby Neck, a peninsular stretch of land that juts into the Bay of Fundy, the fog seemed increase in intensity until it was hard to see more than a few feet in front of me. After 40 minutes of driving through the mist, I arrived at the ferry crossing. A small vehicular ferry that probably held less than 20 cars had just reached capacity as I arrived. The sign indicated that we should stay in line on the shoulder until the next ferry arrived. I was slightly concerned that it appeared that the ferry only ran once an hour, based on the signage. But there was nothing more to do than to shut down the engine, grab my Kindle, and wait. You could hear the noise of the waves, the foghorn of the boats on the water, the sea birds – but you couldn’t really see anything except white mist. It was interesting to realize how much you can focus your hearing when you don’t have sight to overwhelm everything else. I didn’t quite realize how much we are a species that is so vision-dominant.
Luckily, another ferry pulled up only 10 minutes later. After waiting for the few cars to disembark, we proceeded onto the boat. I wasn’t sure how long the ride was going to be since I couldn’t see the other side through the fog, but I barely had time to hand over the $7 CAD toll before we were docking on the other side. In addition to putting an address into the GPS, I had a general idea of where I needed to go next. My GPS decided that the address I input wasn’t valid and instead provided directions to the center of Tiverton. Fortunately for me, I caught a glimpse of the Ocean Explorations sign in front of an older house right past the ferry ramp as I drove past.
Ocean Explorations is run by Captain Tom Goodwin, who’s been in business for 30 years. He has lots of experience as a conservationist, running whale watching trips and more importantly, he does it in a zodiac. This is important to me because the zodiacs are so much smaller than the average whale watching boat, meaning you are closer to the water and closer to the whales when you spot them. (And it means that you’re not stuck on a boat with a large group of people who make a ton of noise and scare the whales away. Best of all, it’s actually rare to get seasick on a zodiac.)
At noon, the rest of the 11 passengers started showing up and after signing the waivers, we got suited up in orange full-body floatation suits. I felt like the Sta-Puff Marshmallow Man trying to climb down the ladder to the floating dock but fortunately, I did not tumble down (because you know that it was a possibility with my clumsy ass). I took a spot in the boat at the bow and away we went, motoring in the persistent fog into the Bay of Fundy.
We picked up speed once we were in open water. Whipping through the foggy air, my hair and face were drenched in the first 3 minutes. The guy sitting on my left was joking around how windblown I was but it was exhilarating to be on the water. After about 20 minutes, Captain Tom stopped the boat and cut the engine so we could all listen for the telltale sound of a whale coming up for a breath. Well, we didn’t hear a whale but suddenly a pod of dolphins appeared right alongside the boat. I was so enthralled watching them cavort that I didn’t even think about pulling out my phone for photos until the teenager opposite me in the boat elbowed me aside as she was trying to take a shot.
After a few minutes, the engine turned back on and sped to another location that the whales apparently like. We listened again but heard nothing. Once again, we took off and at the third location, after the engine was cut off, what was that? Was that a whale? In the fog, we all strained to hear again. Yes, that was definitely a whale and coming nearly straight ahead. Captain Tom turned the engine on and we zoomed forward to catch a glimpse of a humpbacked whale surfacing to breathe. We followed the whale, watching it take a sequence of short breaths before one last huge breath and it dove down, showing us its tail as it submerged… It was really cool to experience, let alone only 10 or so feet in front of me.
After that, we picked up the trail of yet another humpback, following that one for 15 minutes. Then, the Captain looked at me and said, you haven’t taken any photos yet. You might want to on the next one since it will be our last before we head back in. Despite wanting to experience this without a screen in the way, when the whale came back to the surface, I did take video and a few photos. But I really wanted to imprint in my mind what it felt like, there in the fog and slowly seeing the whale rise to the surface for a breath and then watching the tail come up as it dove to the depths…
Humpback Whale Watching, Bay of Fundy, July 2018
Sadly, it seemed that all too soon we were heading back across the water at full speed, with a pod of porpoise trying to engage us in play. We pulled into the harbor and up to the dock. The ladder was actually easier going up than down and in a few minutes, I was stripping off the floatation suit and saying goodbye to my shipmates. I’ve done a whale watching expedition before, in Hawaii many years ago, but the thrill of being so close and watching these magnificent creatures never gets old. I’m so grateful that in researching this trip, I came across Ocean Explorations and had the experience of seeing whales in Nova Scotia.
Back on land, I got in line for the ferry and 15 minutes later, was loading onto the boat for the short crossing to take me back. (The ferry is $7 CAD round-trip and you only pay once when you are crossing to Long Island.) Soon enough, I was back on the road on Digby Neck but the fog over here was much less intense, having been mostly burned off. I pulled over and put the top down so I could enjoy the nice weather. I drove into Digby where I impulsively turned into the parking lot of a takeaway restaurant that was clearly a locals-only spot since everyone seemed to know each other. I grabbed a fish burger and fries and sat al fresco at a picnic table to enjoy my meal. (I was starving at that point but very glad I didn’t eat anything prior because there is no bathroom on a zodiac.)
Meal complete, I hopped back into the convertible and took Route 101 north, then east, then southeast all the way back into Halifax metro. The drive took about 2.5 hours through rolling hills but soon enough, I was cruising along in downtown Halifax – for my final night in Nova Scotia. I parked in the hotel parking garage and checked in. Although I was windblown to hell between the boat ride and having the top down, I was so anxious to get out to explore Halifax’s waterfront, I ran a brush through my hair and then headed out. I wasn’t going to see anyone I was looking to impress anyway, right?
Halifax’s waterfront is a great place to amble, which is what I did for a few hours. I was too full from my lunch to get dinner, but I did grab a snack from one of the waterside vendors. I watched a gorgeous sunset turn the waters of the harbor pink and orange. And then around 10pm, I made my way back to my hotel room to shower and get ready for bed. I had had a great trip, notwithstanding the Air Canada debacle. Yes, there were moments of sadness, irritation, and crabbiness. I think that’s to be expected on any adventure. But there were also moments of sublime beauty and reminder that in the midst of great grief, there can be joy and fun as well.