AIROSMITH

  A visit to Fortress Louisboug takes you back in time to when the French controlled what was then  Île Royale as a part of New France.  Established in 1713 due to the cod fishing and adjacent deep water port it became a primary commercial port for the French.  Here you get a taste of the French and Acadian influences across Cape Breton. The entire Historical Site is a reconstruction of about a quarter of the town.  The story of the reconstruction is as interesting as the site itself. The French kept meticulous records.  As this was one of the first planned French communities in North America, those records survive to this day.  Every building in the site is constructed on it’s original foundation, according to the architectural plans, furnished and decorated according to inventories completed at that time.  An official inventory of personal possessions was taken at the death of the owner, to ensure that all outstanding debts and taxes were paid.  Reconstructionists used these plans

    How do you hunt for Whales when the Bay of Fundy is shrouded in fog?  We found out when we joined Mariner Cruises  in Westport for the morning.   The day began at 5AM for an hour and half drive, and two ferry crossings to Westport on Brier Island.  This island is located off the Digby Neck on the Bay of Fundy.  There was a warm wind blowing, enough to create a heat index warning for the region, and to maintain a solid fog bank over the cold waters of the bay. Captain Chad, of the tour boat  Chad and Sisters Two,  navigated into the bay towards shallower shoals where whales prefer to feed.  The whales of the Bay of Fundy migrate here to feed for the summer, before returning to their breeding grounds in the Caribbean.  They spend May to November here eating a ton of food a day.  This is the only feeding they will do, until they return next year.  The shoals in the bay force the plankton and krill higher to the surface, concentrating them, making it easier for the whales to get bigger