Nova Scotia, Newfoundland & Prince Edward Island

ITINERARY: STAGE 5

Yes, it has been a few months since the last post. We have been through the holidays, to Tahoe, and back to New York to celebrate a January Christmas with Elissa and Jonathan.

And we have been waiting for the Marine Atlantic ferry system (http://www.marine-atlantic.ca/) to post its summer schedules from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland. There are two ways to get to Newfoundland. The shortest and year round crossing (6 hrs) is from North Sydney, Nova Scotia to Port-aux-Basques, Newfoundland. The longest crossing (15 hrs) is from North Sydney to Argentia, NL, near the capital of St. John's. This crossing is only sailed during the summer months. The ships that cross are large ocean going ferries with ice-breaker status! http://www.marine-atlantic.ca/en/company/fleet.shtmlThis latter crossing occurs only three times weekly.

Because of that we are reversing our Newfoundland itinerary from what you read on a prior blog. We will take the night crossing from North Sydney to Argentia and arrive in St. John's in the early afternoon. We will spend the night there, and may head out at 5 am to Cape Spear en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Spear , the easternmost point of North America to watch the sun rise, and see the whales play and 10,000 year old icebergs float by.......that is, if I can get Linda out of bed. I did get her up many years ago to see the sunrise at the top of Haleakala on Maui.

Then it is off across Newfoundland, past Gander (see post of 9/9/09 ) and on to Gros Morne National Park www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/nl/grosmorne/index.aspx, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. whc.unesco.org/en/list/419 (see photo above)

We will spend two nights in cabins in the park at Rocky Harbour, then travel down to Port-aux-Basques where we take the morning ferry back to North Sydney. From there we drive to Halifax, considered to be a very pretty city and a party town!

And then off to Charlottetown, PEI for two nights in a wonderful B&B, the Elmwood Heritage Inn http://www.elmwoodinn.pe.ca/While we are there we will eat our share of world famous local mussels and attend the theatre. It is the musical season in Charlottetown and the world tour of the Buddy Holly story is there then, and we have tickets! www.confederationcentre.com/en/home/onstage/charlottetownfestival/buddy.aspx

Next post: Charlottwtown to New York City!