Halifax to Lunenburg, Monday, 5-Jun-2023
/We took to the road today. The first stop was Peggy's Cove, then Lunenburg to spend the night. Went through the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic, trying to time our activities around the rain. Mostly successful.
Knowing that there was going to be rain for the whole day, we tried to get an early start to avoid the worst of it. After checking out, we put everything into the car and headed out.
There was very little rain, so we were hopeful. We figured we would go to the lighthouse at Peggy's Cove, but skip wandering around the town since rain was supposed to pick up later in the day.
Peggy's Cove
As we started getting closer to Peggy's Cove, it started to sprinkle. Still not too bad. By the time we got to the parking lot, there was a light drizzle. Since we were on the coast, there was quite a breeze coming off the water.
We walked along the path toward the lighthouse, and the rain was light but continuous. There are large, flat-ish rocks all around the lighthouse. We were able to walk up to the base, but when I started stepping around to another side, the wind was pretty strong, so I stood there until it died down a bit before going back.
There was an observation deck not too far away, so we went up to that and got a good view of the lighthouse, rocks, and water. By this time, we were getting pretty wet, so we headed back to the car.
Lunenburg
As we drove towards Lunenburg, the rain started to pick up. We scored a free parking spot less than a block from where we were staying. Our room wasn't ready, so we went down to the water to go to the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic. Our admission fee gave us in/out privileges, so we figured we would start looking through the museum, get lunch, check in to our room, then go back to the museum.
The museum had three floors, so we started on the first one. The first thing you see is an aquarium with fish in it, but there was a sign saying they needed to take it down. At least we got to see it before they did so.
There was also an exhibit that showed old Singer sewing machines used to make sails. Nearby was a collection of tools used to make ships.
We went up to the second floor and looked at some ship models which included schooners and dorys. After that, it was time for lunch. We went to a fish counter to get some fried scallops.
Ready to finish the Fisheries Museum, we went back but decided to go out to the Theresa E. Connor, a fishing ship on the wharf and part of the museum. There was supposed to be a tour of the deck (work was being done in the hold so they weren't letting people go down there). We showed up a bit early, but the two guides were inside the cockpit. They're retired fishermen and were happy to chat and answer questions, They didn't seem inclined to give tours on the deck in the rain, however.
Back inside to finish going through the museum. The third floor had even more ship models. Another part of the third floor was dedicated to the Bluenose, a fishing and racing schooner based out of Lunenburg. We saw the replica, the Bluenose II, next to the Theresa E. Connor.
Done with the museum, we braved the rain and found some dessert, then back to the room. We watched when the rain would slow down, and it didn't look like it would until late, so we went ahead and got dinner, bought some groceries, then came back to the room to dry off and call it a night.
