They say history repeats itself and in our case, some of the campgrounds we are visiting in the Maritime region of Canada are repeats - in fact, June 2007 saw our first RV trip in to Canada. On that trip we went to Kiwanis Oceanfront in St. Andrews By The Sea, NS, Ponderosa Pines in Hopewell Cape, NS and Crystal Beach in Summerside, PEI.
Five years to the month we returned to Canada (we’ve crossed the border with the RV yearly, but this time it’s special - remember, we’re full-timing now). Our first stop was back the Kiwanis Oceanfront in St. Andrews By The Sea. They’ve made some changes to their campground in terms of the layout of some spaces - redesigned a few and added some others. Because our first trip was in a 21’TT (travel trailer), our site back then seemed fairly large. Now that we’re in a nearly 36’ 5er (fifth wheel) with slide outs, the space is more confining. We only stayed 1 night there this year as we wanted to get on to new destinations.
Next stop was Ponderosa Pines, closest campground to the famous Hopewell Rocks, geologic formations of stone. The “flowerpot rocks” as they are dubbed, have been eroded near their bases over the years as the tidal Chocolate River flows past them. With the tide rising and lowering over 40’ twice a day, these delicate natural wonders should be on bucket lists. Because of the timing of our travel, we stopped at the Rocks before we arrived at our campground, which allowed us to walk on the ocean floor due to it being low tide. The next morning, as we departed the area, we stopped back at the attraction to view them with the water covering the bases.
Ponderosa Pines had not changed any from what we recalled of 5 years prior. A few sites near the office under tree cover, with the rest out in a large field with views of the water.
From Ponderosa Pines and the Province of New Brunswick, we made our very first RV journey into Nova Scotia. This Province is extra special to us as it’s where we honeymooned, taking the overnight ferry from Portland Maine to Yarmouth NS and then driving around the region for a week before taking the ferry back. Our last visit to Nova Scotia was in 2002 as the ferry stopped running the following year.
Our first destination in NS was Five Islands RV Resort on the northern side on the Minas Bay. Because we’ve recently extended our discount RV club membership from yearly to lifetime, we chose Five Islands as they are a member campground. While the view from the campsite was spectacular, and the park was very quiet, it was not the best of campgrounds for me. Most of my issue is with their write-ups in various publications. Things they claim are there or have been done, really don’t measure up to what I was agree with. Example, they say they recently renovated the bathrooms. Maybe there’s new paint on the walls, or lights that sense someone entering and turn on, but old toilets and sinks, as well as stained drop ceiling panels with holes cut in them allowing one to see the cobwebs on the rafters does not match my definition of renovated.
Because we signed up for 4 nights when we first arrived, we tried to make the best of our situation. Needing groceries we asked the owner where a store was - he said 20 minutes up the road. More like 45 minutes and it was more a convenience shop then what we wanted. We drove another 15 minutes and found what we needed. A suggestion given to us Mrs. owner at Five Islands was to go to some of the waterfalls in the area. We decided we’d try that one day. As soon as we turned off the highway to the falls, the road was no longer paved, but dirt. We drove and drove, through forests and blueberry barrens, worried about what we had gotten in to - there was no place for us to turn around. Finally we saw a sign that indicated the falls were another 2km. We got to the parking area and started to follow the trail to the falls. Then we found the stairs, leading down to the base of the path and the falls. 40 or 50 stairs, then packed dirt for a further descent, another steep staircase, more dirt descents. Got the the base and found a so-so waterfall. (A rockslide a few years back has affected this location and it’s no longer as spectacular as it was in the photos we were shown). Now we have to climb the hill and drive all the way back through the dirt and mud. Needless to say, we should have realized what we were getting in to when we learned the name the waterfall, “Economy Falls”. These falls are located in the community of Lower Economy, NS.
Leaving Five Islands, we headed to Cape Breton, an island that makes up the eastern portion of the Province of Nova Scotia. We chose Adventures East for our campground, again because it was a member of the discount camping club. We were allowed to pick our site as they were not busy yet. Once again we decided to stay 4 nights. While at Adventures East we got to kayak on Baddeck Lake a few times, we also drove the Cabot Trail, a very scenic drive along the coast and through the forests over mountains. Because we loved the campsite we had, as well as the location of the campground, we extended our visit another 6 nights. It was hard to leave when we did as the weather had been so nice, we were enjoying our style of camping and our camp hosts was a terrific person - both in terms of information on the region as well as someone I would want to have as a friend.
Not wanting to overstay our welcome and to get back on the road, we headed over to Prince Edward Island and returned to Crystal Beach Campground. This campground is at the foot of Malpeque Bay as the sunsets over the water are amazing. The tides have been a bit tricky in terms of figuring out when high tide is. Seems they get a high tide and a half tide - as well as 2 lows a day. (Easy way to know it’s high tide is when the water surrounds the marsh right across from our camper. Half tide the water starts to close in on the marsh, but doesn’t cover the bar completely.) We’ve gotten out on the kayaks again, and are staying for 1 week before we pick up and move along.
There’s still 2 opportunities for us to repeat Canadian campgrounds, but neither one is from our original Canada RV trip of 2007 (Hawkshaw NS and Niagara Falls ON). Will we make it to either one? Are they on the discount priced RV list? Only time will tell.
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