Day 13 - Wednesday July 12 - Port Hawkesbury, NS

Our First Ferry - Hello Nova Scotia

We thought we had to burn time until 1:00 today. We thought our ferry, booked for 11:15, was postponed until after lunch due to maintenance. So...we headed out of the cottage in Georgetown at about 9:30, right around when Hannah usually goes to sleep, and decided to tour the Eastern shore. Our time at Panmure the da pay before had acquainted us with the roads to some extent, but we still wanted to get to the ferry terminal vicinity so we could then decide what to do in the timer between. We drove across an island we had come to enjoy with little to worry bout as we had plenty of time, or so we thought.

Driving. We see this a lot.

We got to Wood Islands PEI at about 11:00 and had two sleeping kids in the back, so we decided to slide over to the small provincial park right next to the ferry terminal. It was full of retirees painting! Small hatchbacks, pulled to the side of the narrow lane, with an  haired man or woman standing at an easel, busily pushing paint around a canvas or board. It was T who noticed cars going on the ferry. On my was convinced it was just Nova Scotians disembarking - I mean I had spoken to a NFL (Northumberland Ferries Limited) employee yesterday after hearing about the problems they were having with one of the ferries. They had cancelled the 11:15 am crossing. The one I had booked in March. The lovely customer service worker had switched my crossing to the 1:00 pm because she old me it could take "some time" to get the other ferry running again. We decided that the profincial park wouldn't keep the kids untested anyway, so we made our way to the ferry to get in line. They had a cafeteria we could enjoy if they got grumpy. 

Wood Islands Provincial Park - picturesque, but not fun for kids. 

So we were surprised when the ticket lady asked if we wanted standby for the 11:15! "It's running?" I inquired. "Yup, fixed this morning." She told me. We were the second last car on the ferry, and had 2+ hours added to our day in Port Hawkesbury. 

This ferry sure looks like it's functional.

The first 'city' once you cross over to Cape Breton Island, and our destination tonight. We enjoyed the ride and disembarked with lots of extra time. Hopefully the Maritime Inn in Port Hawkesbury would let us in a bit early. 

Fortunately, they did. We unpacked, stowed perishables in the fridge, and T took the kids to the pool while I headed to the nearest laundromat to provide us with a fresh set of changes before we got to our next camping experience at Cape Breton Highlands National Park, tomorrow. 

Where would you rather be? 

Here? Or...

Here?

Another lovely day of laundry, but there isn't much else to do in Port Hawkesbury and we needed to look our best before plunging into Cape Breton!

Fortunately our luxurious hotel also had the nicest restaurant in Port Hawksbury, The Miller's, so once our clothes were cleaned and the troops were dried we headed down for some civilized fare. It was fine, if expensive, and as a bonus, G got to pick out some treasure as part of his kids meal. This kid was making out like a bandit so far! 

Living it up at The Millers, the best restaurant in Port Hawkesbury.

Cleaned, laundered, and fed we headed to sleep in some plush beds, preparing for a plunge into Cape Breton tomorrow. We were headed for the beech, and more Otentiks, so we enjoyed the luxury of the Maritime Inn as much as we could. Gord had a great bath, and we watched some Moana, and then hit the hay. Bring on the highlands!