Life is just beachy on Prince Edward Island

No more classes, no more books

No more teacher’s dirty looks!

Let me tell ya, I was mighty sick and tired of giving dirty looks. So, when the last of the school submissions were emailed in, Morgan and I both let out an enormous cheer of relief. Time for a well-deserved vacation! (Sure, I hear you all rolling your eyes. But, school really has been a lot of work, and now we’re free for the summer!)

School is done. Let's go to the beach!

Cavendish

Ah, the beach. There’s nothing quite like the magical pull of sand and water and potential ocean treasures that encourages my children to get outside and stop begging for the electronics (unless it’s dirt and water, which is pretty much the same thing!). 

Confederation Bridge memorial

PEI, has great beaches, so it worked out perfect that we were planning to come here right after school finished. (Well, actually, we came because Bob wanted to spend Canada Day in Charlottetown, but hey, I’m telling the story and can spin it whatever way I want, and the province has lots of beaches, so it all works out!) To get to the island, we drove across the engineering marvel, the Confederation Bridge (longest span over ice-covered waters in the world).

Unlike the other Maritime provinces we have seen, Prince Edward Island (or PEI), is much more given over to agriculture. Gently rolling farmland (lots of potatoes and dairy farms) mixed with forest, and coastline with rugged red cliffs, and lovely white or red sand beaches is the scenery that awaits a visitor. It's almost park-like. The soil here is red, which contrasts prettily with the greens of the plants and trees and blues of the ocean, which is never far away. Red dirt with green fields. Red cliffs letting down to the ocean or to a beach which stretches on forever. It's very pretty. (That lovely red dirt also permanently stains anything white – especially little boys socks!) 

The island isn’t that large, but driving from place to place can take some time. The majority of the roads are narrow, and winding – around the coast or across the countryside – with slower speed limits than the freeways of elsewhere. Of course, it all depends on what route you take. (Take for instance the day we toured around the southeastern coastline, checking out various sites and beaches, driving for maybe an hour and a half to reach the town of Montague. We then went the direct route back to our campground, which took 20 minutes.)

There are many roadside farm markets with fresh produce, eggs, and meat, plenty of artisans, and many harbours to get a taste of the sea culture. A general feeling of peace & contentment permeate the island. People are happy to be here. 

Ah, but back to the beaches…

behind the dunes at the beach

Cavendish Beach, on the north shore is a beautiful white sand beach, great for swimming, playing on the sand and relaxing. We stayed at Cavendish Campground (in PEI National Park), which gave us access to our own beach area (rather than the busy public area), and a variety of trails. Our camp spot was in the trees, and I was envious of the tent spots which backed onto the low bluff that ran along the edge of the beach. What a view!

Cavendish is a resort area, so there are plenty of other activities to choose from, as well. We took a break from the beach to visit the local waterpark, ‘cause sometimes you want your water fun without getting sand in everything. 

Six days at Cavendish beach was lovely. The sun shone every day. It was hot, humid, and the water was perfect, but it was time to leave the region. We booked our ferry to Nova Scotia, and said goodbye to the beach, moving closer to the ferry landing  on the east side of the province, in anticipation of our early Sunday morning ferry crossing.

Nature had other plans. Post-tropical storm Arthur blew in Saturday, creating havoc all over the Maritimes, and causing power outages and downed trees in PEI (We were fine in our protected camp spot.). It also caused ferry cancellations, including ours. Rebooking for a 55 foot truck & trailer combo does not generate instant ferry access (unlike cars!), and so we were granted three extra days to explore the island (and find more beaches!)

Pamure Island Beach, another white sand beach on the eastern side of the island was fun, but the Atlantic red jellyfish floating just off shore kept the kids from playing in the water. (I learned something new on this beach stop. The Atlantic Red have a mild sting, and the white moon jellies don’t sting at all.)

The beach along the Murray River (which we accessed at King's Castle Provincial Park) was the most interesting spot for me. There were lots of beached jellies (which we left alone) and starfish (which we threw back in the water) and shells of mussels, oysters and clams to examine.

Northumberland Provincial Park, right near the ferry crossing at Wood Islands, has a nice red sand beach. As we waited for our evening ferry, we spent some time relaxing, watching the tide come in. And I realized that we were all kind of done with the beaches.

Guess it's a good thing we're moving away from them, towards the highlands of Cape Breton Island.