Day 2 (August 16, 2020): PEI through New Eyes

In addition to me having lived in PEI for a year after university, we have both visited the Island on numerous occasions.  As a child, Pam's family came to PEI regularly on their summer vacations, and we have both come here for work and leisure reasons over the years.  But perhaps since we have more leisure time for this visit, or perhaps because we deliberately set out to visit some different parts of the Island this time, we are seeing the Province with a different perspective.  Our trip to Newfoundland & Labrador last month also opened our eyes to the amazing beauty and variety of Canada, so we are seeing PEI with a new appreciation overall.

The typical "help-yourself" breakfast at the Hampton Inn had a completely different COVID twist this morning:  everyone lined up and ordered their desired breakfast items from a server.  Not even the coffee was self-serve.  Undoubtedly, that's the way former buffets will be for the foreseeable future.

We left the Hampton at 9:30 and headed to a National Historic Site that seems like a stone's throw from downtown Charlottetown, but which actually took us over an hour to reach:  Port-la-joye (to the French), Fort Amherst (to the English) or Skmaqn (to the Mi'kmaq).  We had a wonderful hike at the site, visited the fort ruins, lighthouse and visitor centre before having a picnic lunch.

Then it was on to the northeastern part of the island to our next set of accommodations:  the Rodd Crowbush Resort near Morell.  We pulled in to the resort at 1:30PM, under beautiful skies and aperfect 25 degree afternoon.  We soon made our way to the stunning beach, just a few minutes' walk along the golf course to the sea, where we spent the afternoon.  Later in the afternoon, we took a visit to the lighthouse at St. Peter's Harbour and were fascinated by the dunes and many blue herons in the area.

We closed the day with a dinner overlooking the Crowbush Links golf course and reflected on what a wonderful Island this is.  The beaches are easily on par with any found in the Carolinas, Florida or California.

On the way to Port-la-joye, we got a surprise look at the historic Pump No.5 of the North River Fire Brigade.


Despite COVID, there were signs of Sunday morning life at many of the churches we saw enroute to Port-la-joye.


Bagpipes were coming from the Presbyterian Church in Canoe Cove.

The eroding red coastline at Canoe Cove.  


Ferric oxide in the PEI soil makes the soil so red.  And fertile.  The golden fields of wheat, barley and oats continued to impress on our journey today.





We finally arrived at Port-la-joye and were immediately taken by the tranquility of the opening to Charlottetown's harbour.  The city was not far across the water, and Nova Scotia seemed within reach, to the south.

The view of Charlottetown from Port-la-joye.

The foundational remnants of the British fortress at Port-la-joye (For Amherst) are still evident. 

The design of Fort Amherst.

The red soil of Warren Cove, which lies next to Port-la-joye.

The lighthouse at Port-la-joye.

Port-la-joye has one of the dozen or so Acadian Odyssey monuments scattered all over Acadie, to recognize important sites related to Acadian history.

 

2020 marks the 300th anniversary of the Acadian people in Ile Saint-Jean (Prince Edward Island).  A number of celebrations were supposed to happen this summer, but COVID has nixed them.  Yesterday marked 'la fete nationale de l'Acadie', or the Acadian national day, so it was very a-propos to be at Port-la-joye today.

While it's called Port-la-joye by the Acadians and Fort Amherest for the British, to the Mi'kmaq, the area is known as Skmaqn.  This Mi'kmaq birch bark canoe in the Visitor Centre is a great reminder of the Mi'kmaq role in the history of PEI.

This birch bark wigwam is also on display at the park.

We ended our time at Port-la-joye with a simple lunch picnic overlooking Nova Scotia to the south.

And then it was to the North Shore and our accommodations at the Rodd Resort at Crowbush Cove, near Morell.

While the resort is far from filled, the parking lot showed that some guests have a taste for fancy, high-speed convertibles!

The beach at Crowbush Cove is stunning.  The dunes, the ultra-fine sand, the small number of beach-goers all made for the most incredible beach afternoon we could have hoped for.

Mighty woman, mighty dunes!




Walking back to the resort from the beach, we realized just how dry the Island has been this summer.  The Island's lawns are known for being green and immaculately manicured in summertime.  But a green lawn is something we have not seen since arriving in PEI.

 

Before dinner, we set out to find the St. Peter's Harbour Lighthouse, down a red-dirt road at the opening of St. Peter's Bay.  We counted 15 blue herons in the lagoon behind the lighthouse.

Climbing the dunes at St. Peter's Harbour Lighthouse.

My James Bond sand-dune action pose! ;-)

No, that’s not a photo from the Mars Rover on the surface of the Red Planet. Rather, that's the dirt in the parking lot at the St. Peter's Harbour Lighthouse.  This entire island  is just soooo red!

The Clubhouse of the Links at Crowbush Cove provided an unbeatable second-floor view of the golf course and ocean.

Sixteen Canada geese landed as we were eating, and took over the green!

The view of our hotel - the Rodd Crowbush Cove Resort - at dusk.