Seeleys Cove NB

Day 30 Seeleys Cove New Brunswick

Distance traveled: 166.3 km

Cumulatived distanc: 5103.9

Temperature range: 16 - 26

Maxumum speed: 138 kph (mom, don't worry; that was just passing some big trucks we quickly returned to sub light speed once we werr around them).

At my high school buddy's Darcy's after an easy ride today.

We keftnour German-styled inn promptly at 9:00 am in order to get to the Digby - St. John ferry an hour in advance of departure, riding slab most if the way.

We arrived at the terminal at 10:05, 55 minutes in advance of the 11:00 departure. Because we didn't have a reservation (motorcycles can always find room on a ferry, right?) we were instructed to park and go inside to the ticket office to secure passage on the 2 1/2 hour crossing.

Inside, there was no line and we were immediately served. I asked for a ticket for a motorcxyle and two seniors and we were told we would be on a wait list. 'Even for a motorcycle?" I ask. She said "yes" but as she is processing the ticket she made a funny, friendly face, handed over the ticket and instructed us to get in line. She didn't actually say, "you are not waitlisted" or "you have tickets for the 11 o'clock ferry" but when we got in line with other motorcyclers, clearly our tickets were for passage at 11. Whew, dofged a bullet. It hadn't been possible to book our passage because our plans for the day were up in the air but once we made the decision, we just went, not really believing we would be at risk of missing the sailing. I don't know if the ferry was actually full or not, but if there was room, there wasn't much. I'm just to BC ferries where they always get motorcycles on board.

I and one other motorcycle were last to board, except for three cars that had guaranteed passage. If Nan hadn't been required to walk on separately, I would have been nervous. Once in the assigned spot, we were instructed to strap our bikes down to the deck. This surprised me because the only time I had to tie down the bike on a ferry crossing was when the ferry ride was 4 1/2 days and crossed through open ocean. Even on the St. Lawrence crossing, there were chock blocks to wedge under the bikes, and they weren't too concerned about whether motorcyclers actually used them, though I was.

The sailing was on glass and while i was scrambling to find a.second tie down strap, the ferry disembarked and i didn't even realize it. By the time I had the bike secured, there was nobody left on the deck. I didn't even see a staff member. I'm looking for the exit and find a.bulkhead door but I couldn't get it open. It was big and heavy - clearly to keep water on one side of it if the ferry was sinking. I looked around briefly for another exit without result and i had a moment thinking I was going to be stuck down there for the entire passage but upon return to the original door, I realized there was a button to realease the latch and slide the door open. It wasn't until inwas on an upper deck that I realized we were at sea. Then it took about 15 minutes for Nan and me to find each other.

Once we were ashore on the other side, our first planned stop was at the Reversing Falls, at the mouth of the St. John River. This is a set of falls that are below the high tide water level and creates an interesting phenomena. As watesmr spills out of the river into the bay, it flows over the falls in a gentle cascade but when the tide is high and the water level is higher than the waterfalls, it actually cascades the other direction. Unfortunately, we would have had to sit there for two hours to see this happen so we elected to push on. What we did see happen though, was the river water spilling into ocean water forming huge and dangerous-looking whirlpools.

It was another easy ride to our next destination of Seeleys Cove, where my friend Darcy lives. We had met in high school and we marveled at the number of times and remote places we had come across each other by chance, including at a hostel on Cairns, Australia.

Darcy lives on a beautiful beach in New Brunswick so we promptly took his dogs for a walk down that beach. We speculated about swimming in the ocean.