Aug 2 & 3, 2014 - Minister's Island/Grand Manan

Started by psdunn, August 04, 2014, 03:29:33 PM

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psdunn

A group of 11 Corvettes set out on the drive from Moncton to Saint Andrews do drive our cars across the ocean floor to Minister's Island located offshore in the Bay of Fundy.  The island is only accessible at low tide when a sand bar emerges from the sea and can be crossed by car, but only until the tide again starts to rise at which time you must have crossed back to the mainland or be stranded on the island.  The island was once owned by William Cornelius Van Horne and his "cottage" and other buildings remain on the island today for tourists to enjoy and explore.  We approached the crossing with some concern whether it would be "Corvette friendly" but after being assured by Chanel that it would not be a problem, we all made it across with no incident at all - after placing Chanel in the lead!  We  spent a couple of hours exploring and touring the island, enjoying seeing how the moneyed class lived in those days.  Our tour ended just in time to travel back across the bar to the mainland before the rising tide made the crossing impossible.  We drove from there to Blockhouse Park in Saint Andrews and enjoyed a picnic lunch at the shore.  On our way out of town, we stopped at the Minister's Island crossing point to see that our road was gone, completely submerged, a wonder of nature.
From Saint Andrews we drove to St George and checked into our motel before heading out to the nearby car wash.  Unfortunately for a few of us, the directions we received at the front desk were not exactly accurate and so we spent about an hour travelling around St George looking for the elusive car wash - we eventually found it after (gulp) asking for directions, something guys do not do!!!  After all the cars had been cleaned, we headed to a local restaurant for a group dinner where we enjoyed huge servings of very good local seafood.  After dinner, we returned to the motel and gathered in a party room Angie had arranged for a few rounds of our favourite club game - LRC.  The evening was filled with MUCH belly busting laughter as Pat and Chanel developed a whole new relationship over the course of the game.
Sunday morning, we set out early for Black's Harbour and the ferry ride to Grand Manan.  We met up with a contingent from Saint John's Loyalist City Corvette Club at the dock and travelled with them while we were on the island.  The crossing was very smooth and uneventful and we were met by our host on the island, John Pattison, as soon as we disembarked from the ferry.  John led us to the very end of the island where we enjoyed the views from the cliffs that rise out of the sea and then we returned to a park where the holiday weekend festivities were taking place and enjoyed a wonderful BBQ chicken lunch.  Our time on the island was limited so we soon had to head back to the ferry terminal for our return trip to the mainland.  Please note that if you are taking your Corvette on this ferry crossing, be sure to insist on parking on the lower deck or you run the risk of scraping as you descend the ramp from the upper level.  On our return crossing, many porpoises and a shark were spotted by the eagle eyed among us.  After landing, we hit the road and made a speedy return trip to Moncton taking along lots of good memories.

psdunn

More pics.

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And more.

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Finally.

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