Peggy's Cove - Halifax, Nova Scotia

This morning we sailed into beautiful Halifax, Nova Scotia. After breakfast, Ronnie attended a talk by Dr. Allison Norrington entitled “Everyone Has a Book in Them.” According to our daily activities schedule, Dr. Norrington is "a best-selling novelist, screenwriter, playwright, journalist and story/script consultant." So Ronnie was most interested in hearing her talk. 

In 2022, Ronnie took some writing courses that helped him write and self publish a book “Run to the Greenhouse” (on Amazon) about his high school football coach, Jim Acree. A few years earlier, he worked with the sculptor Payne Lara to design and erect a statue of Acree in his hometown of Corsicana, Texas. More recently he has been studying screen writing and has started working on a screen play using the story of Jim Acree's life and the impact he had on his and many other young men's lives. So naturally he found her talk very interesting and plans to meet with her sometime in the next few days before she rotates off and another speaker comes on board.

Never having been to Nova Scotia before, we booked an excursion to go to Peggy’s Cove so we could see some of the island. Peggy's Cove is about an hour away from the cruise port by bus. Our guide kept apologizing to us about the unusually hot weather. “Hot” meaning in the low 70’s.😂 The 10 day Halifax weather forecast shows temps in the lower 70’s, only one day getting up to 75 degrees. So no apologies necessary!

where is Nova Scotia?

As we drove along, our guide gave us lots of information about Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia. It is densely populated with trees, with 1 million being cut down each year. But for every tree harvested, 2 more are planted, which means 2 million trees are planted each year. Lobster fishing is a billion dollar business. Lobsters need to be 7-10 years old before they reach "dinner" size, and you can find them anywhere. She talked about the difference between male and female lobsters. Tip: when ordering lobster in a restaurant, always ask for the female lobster. Why? It's sweeter (no joke!) 

 

fisherman of Peggy's Cove

carved Clawsby greets visitors

 

colorful houses dot the coastline at Peggy's Cove

steeple of the only church on the island seen on right

Peggy's Point Lighthouse sits atop granite boulders

Peggy’s Cove is a small fishing community on St. Margaret’s shore and many here still make their living from the sea. It is also a popular spot for visitors. There is a legend of how it got its name. Supposedly a little girl was found clinging to a piece of driftwood, the sole survivor of a shipwreck. The lighthouse on the island is one of the most photographed in Canada. According to our guide, in 1811 the king of England gave 6 fishermen and their families a land grant of 800 acres for “farmland.” However, it was pretty worthless for farming, as it is full of large granite boulders (see photos). So they mostly made their living from the sea. Some of the families today are descendants of those early settlers.

 

note the huge granite boulders along shore line as well

wooden bouys put in their time

a fisherman with his catch

metal lobster traps have replaced the old wooden ones

stacks of lobster traps, granite boulders, colorful houses dot the island

In 1912 when Titanic went down, Halifax was the closest major seaport with rail connections. 150 of its victims are buried on the island. 337 bodies were recovered, of which 119 were buried at sea. 209 were brought back to Halifax. Many years later, in 1998 the Swissair Flight 111 crashed approximately 5 miles off of Peggy’s Cove. All 229 people on board were killed. Both quite sobering to think about.

Our guide walked us to a busy restaurant/gift shop near the Lighthouse where we had gingerbread and coffee and chatted with other Insignia passengers. Afterwards we walked up the hill to see a carved granite monument built by Finnish painter and sculptor William deGarth. The large granite carving was built as a monument to the hundreds of fishermen have lost their lives to the sea. 

closer up portion of wall

William (1907-1983) and wife Agnes' remains are inside the granite carving

It was a beautiful afternoon; though super windy and chilly near the water. We enjoyed walking around the little fishing village and browsing through some shops before meeting the other passengers back at the bus for the ride back to the ship. We had dinner reservations at one of the two specialty restaurants on board but we were late getting back so we opted for a quick dinner at the buffet and headed back to our room.