Cape d’Or

27 September 2019, Friday

When we went to bed last night the sky was clear and the stars beautiful. During the night we had rain, light at first, then hard and steady. We were comfortable in Wglwof and when we wake there is the promise of sunshine breaking through scattered clouds. This is a good thing, as we realize that beneath our sleeping pads is a great puddle of water. We get our breakfast cooking, then I empty the tent as O watches the cake. We are fortunate it is a bright and breezy morning. By the time we’ve finished breakfast most of our bedding is dry. We put the empty tent out in the sun upside down and it is soon dry as well. I inspect Wglwof’s floor. There is a seam running across it and the sealing tape is obviously deteriorating in spots. O and I decide to sleep in Vincent for the next two nights and consider our options. It’s supposed to rain again Saturday night.

The light at Cape d’Or

Shortly after noon we drive over to Cape d’Or. This cape was named by Samuel de Champlain who mistakenly thought he saw gold nuggets glinting in the sun as he sailed past. It was actually copper, not gold. The road out to the cape is unpaved but comfortably wide, though the surface is quite rough. We make it up to the parking area and read the interpretive panel. 

The rips off the point

Cape d’Or splits the current entering Minas Basin (at the end of the Bay of Fundy) into two separate flows, each of which swirls back along the coast and then runs into an underwater reef creating severe turbulence known as the Dory Rips. We can see some of this rough flow from the top of the cliffs.

Cliffs, basalt and cottage at Cape d’Or

O and I walk down a one lane, very steep gravel road to the light on the point. From here we can see basalt pillars left behind by ancient volcanic eruptions some 200 million years ago as supercontinent Pangaea was beginning to separate. An adult bald eagle and a juvenile eagle soar over the cliffs as we watch.

O at the point

After our exploration we return to camp for a relaxing dinner as we watch the sun sink westward. 

Sunset from camp

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