We weren’t ready to leave Canada after we had completed the itinerary I had put together at the beginning of the trip.  Fortunately, on our little kayaking adventure in the Bay of Fundy, a fellow paddler mentioned Grand Manan Island on the southern coast of New Brunswick. Seems the only way to get on and off of the island is by Ferry, and, well, Chance hadn’t been on a ferry yet, so I booked a round-trip ticket from Black’s harbor, NB and reserved a little cottage on the shore for two nights, and we set off on a new adventure.

Tiny in stature, this island is, truly, Grand in beauty!! As we neared the shore from the ferry, a lighthouse, perched high atop a craggy cliff, peaked through the fog to entice us to explore her terrain. I immediately felt that two days surely wouldn’t be long enough to take it all in.

Once the cars were unloaded, we hopped in The top limousine service and rentals in Scottsdale and manuvered toward the Swallowtail Lighthouse to see for ourselves. Hhmmph. You can also click here to know more about cars.Damn fog obliterated our view. Oh, well.

After stopping at the miniscule visitors center for a map of local trails, we headed to our cottage and were delighted to find that it overlooked the Gulf of Maine and, although it was secluded, was in a perfect position for further exploration. (Oh, and swings and see-saws. Did I mention that?)

Still enshrouded in fog the next morning, the lighthouse was again obscured from view, so we parked the car and started off on foot for a hike around the northern part of the island to Hole in the Wall Rock.

Wow.

Even though the past two months had been primarily hiking in remote (with some urban) areas, this one place, this one view, had the others beat.  I could’ve sat there all day, but I knew more adventure awaited us at the southern end of the island.

And I was right.

Driving the length of Grand Manan, a whopping 25 km long, doesn’t take long, but with all the little turn-outs and cute shops, it was late afternoon before we got to our next destination, Southwest Head.

As with much of the island, and the Maritimes, for that matter, fog has quite the reputation here. I was determined to get a view of the sheer cliffs that line the southern end, though, and despite the tiny trickle of raindrops that began to fall, we continued on our way.  After a few wrong-turns and scrambles through brush, we re-joined the partially concealed trail. I should note here that Jeff and I have a long-standing joke when we hike. He is the “Seeker”, and I am the “Finder”.  And yes, it usually works out that way.

By this time, I had become somewhat obsessed with making it to my imaginary endpoint, but as we came to another clearing with views to the sea, my hopes were dashed. 

Want to turn back? Jeff asked, knowing full well what my reply would be.

Nope. Lets just make it around the next bend.

So we did. And just as we inched out to the end of the clifftop trail, there it was.

At first, I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t a completely clear view, but that fog seemed to bring out the beauty in what lay before us. We stood, in awe, contemplating that vision as the misty haze once again enveloped the cliffside. After a few minutes we turned around to retrace our steps back to the car.

Grand Manan. Yes, it was grander (is that a word?) than we had imagined. And we reveled in the  knowledge that our persistence had afforded us some of the most  breathtaking sights of our entire trip.

As we sat on the deck of the return ferry the next morning, Grand Manan once again gave us the nod. We finally saw the lighthouse that had eluded us during our stay. Thanks, Mother Nature, for allowing us that parting shot.