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travel / travel magazine / summer 2007
Island Getaways
The Grand Manan scheme of things
Amid the ups and downs of tidal life, Fundy's largest island
offers history, adventure and wildlife intrigue
By Alec Ross with photography by Brian Atkinson
IT'S A DRIZZLY, foggy afternoon on the Bay of Fundy, and
I tread carefully over the sharp, slippery rocks of a rugged little
peninsula known as Swallowtail. I'm here to photograph a
knot of seals, cormorants and gulls hanging around a fishing
weir a hundred metres offshore. A green and white herring boat
thrums in the distance, spreading thin ripples across the bay's
grey mirror.
Then I hear it: a breathy whoosh! rising behind me. I spin
around in time to see a glistening black back slip beneath the
water's surface. I fumble for my camera, but the moment, and
the whale, is gone. I wait, hoping it will resurface, and a few seconds
later, it does.
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I glimpse the humpback's tail and am thrilled beyond words.
Whale-watching — for the endangered North Atlantic right whales,
finbacks, humpbacks, minkes and harbour porpoises — is one of
the reasons I've come to Grand Manan, the largest of an archipelago
of 20-plus islands located 35 kilometres off the south coast of
New Brunswick in the Bay of Fundy. I've been here before and seen
whales from shoreline vantage points and on the leisurely two-hour
ferry ride from Blacks Harbour on the mainland. Still, the sense
of privilege at seeing one of these mysterious, magnificent giants
of the sea is as strong now as it was the first time. I'm scheduled
to go whale-watching on a sailboat during this visit, but the bay's
signature fog has postponed the outing.
Such a delay might drive you crazy if you were anywhere but
Grand Manan. This 137-square-kilometre island, home to a few
thousand permanent residents, offers no apology or artificial
stimulation to amuse you when the weather is uncooperative.
There is not one movie theatre, no designated "shopping district"
and only a handful of sit-down restaurants. Yet if you
travel as a way to experience Maritime culture and see natural
landscapes unspoiled by glitzy neon-lit commercialism, Grand
Manan is a place where you will always find something exciting
to do.
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