Nova Scotia is known for coastal beauty, that’s not news to anyone. But what may surprise people is the amount of wildlife that can be accessed from the coast. Nova Scotia features a wide variety of options for wildlife tours, from watching puffins in Cape Breton to spotting massive humpback whales off Brier Island. From end to end, this province has something for all wildlife lovers.
The journey from Cape Breton to Brier Island took was a long 8 drive but the scenery along the way beautiful, the highways were clear and traffic was light. The real highlight was getting to show my family how beautiful the province is along the way. I had to make a detour into Wolfville before travelling through the Annapolis Valley. I haven’t been in Wolfville since graduating from Acadia University and it was great to see this small town, how it changed and what’s stayed the same.
When you travel to Brier Island you have to take two separate ferries, one short ferry ride from the mainland to Long Island and another slightly longer ride from Long Island to Brier Island. Be sure to show up close to the departure times, these ferries operate on a schedule and leave on the ___ every hour. I took in a quick hike while I was on Long Island. I’ve seen photos of Balancing Rock year ago in a Nova Scotia magazine and wanted to see it for so long, I was finally able to see it and how it actually stood there. The hike was pretty short on a well groomed trail that lead us straight to the coast. It’s a stop definitely worth taking if you have a little bit of time to spare.
When you arrive on Brier Island you have the choice to either immediately turn left or right, if you’re staying at the Brier Island Lodge take the right. The Lodge is only a few minutes away from the ferry. In fact, everything on Brier Island is only a few minutes away. The island is 6.2km long and 2ish km wide. Most of what the community of Brier Island offeres is found along the main street. This community made its living off fishing in the Bay of Fundy and what is synonymous with the Bay of Fundy? Tides! The priers stretch out into the coast where you can see just how extreme the tides rise and fall. Photographing the island alone was great. It’s a such a unique island setting. Any type of photographer would have a field day here.
While the island itself is worth a few days of photographing and exploring, the real reason I traveled here was to see humpback whales! I booked a few tours with Brier Island Whale and Marine Bird Tours. Since I was travelling with a 5 year old, I felt like a zodiac tour may be a little too long for her handle. The boat, the Mega Nova, provided ample places to sit, stay social distanced and to of course view the whales. After the crew introduced themselves and gave a safety talk we left the island to explore the Bay of Fundy.
When you’re looking for humpbacks you scan the horizon and watch for spouts of water shooting up from the whales after they surface and exhale. On foggy days you can even rely on the sound of their breath to pin point their location. It didn’t take long for the crew to spot our first whale. I always knew humpbacks were large creatures, but I don’t think you can appreciate actually how large they are without seeing them in person. We saw at least 7 whales, hundreds a phalaropes, a puffin, multiple shearwaters and gannets on our tour but the real gem of the tour was when we saw two humpbacks side by side when one lifted its pectoral fin and slapped it back down against the water. The humpback’s pectoral fin is considered to be the largest appendage in world and this was easily reached over 2/3 meters.
I booked an another tour that to see what evening light could offer. I was really hoping to see a humpback breach in a with a jump out of the water. I wanted to book as many tours as I could take in. The evening tour started off with a bang, instead of seeing a humpback first, a north Atlantic Right Whale surfaced next to the boat barely after leaving the island. These whales are critically endangered with less than 300 existing. Honestly, I could’ve turned around after seeing that whale, it was a real gift!
The evening tour didn’t have any whales that breached unfortunately but I was still very satisfied with all I got to see. It’s impossible to have a bad time when you’re cruising for whales on the Bay of Fundy in the evening light. I can’t wait to come back to try and see a whale jump, I’ll be using this as motivation to get back to Brier Island!
Before finishing my time in Digby county, we visited Bear River and what a gem this community is. It’s a short drive off the highway and the winding road leads to a small community centre that features two galleries, some restaurants, cafés and even a coffee roaster! We did a tour of the Bear River winery, the owner Darren, showed us the old barn that is the center-piece of the winery. When the grapes are collected from the vines, and brought in for crushing where they use the lay of the land and gravity to feed the juice from the grapes through the barn to the fermenting vats and after that, gravity is used again to feed the wine to the bottling and labeling stations. Bear River was a real hidden gem that my wife and I are still talking about. I’d love to go back in the fall. The foliage and landscape will be incredible.
From end to end this province is gorgeous and I can’t wait explore so much more of it.