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Most people think of the Bay of Fundy
and its extreme tides when they hear the words "Nova Scotia". At
least, that is what I always thought of, until I made this
beautiful, diverse Canadian Province my vacation destination. My
first step was to send for the "Doers and Dreamers 2008 Guide",
published by the Nova Scotia Department of Tourism. This is probably
the most comprehensive guide you could ever find, bar none. It is
color coded by regions and
 lists accommodations, campgrounds,
restaurants, museums and historic sites, attractions, and shopping
for each region. There is more than a lifetime of things to see
and do in Nova Scotia, and this guide lists them all! It even
comes with a map which is color coded to match the guide. When we
got to Halifax and started our journey, we discovered that all the
signage along the highways matched the same color code and signage
as the map and the guide! What a treat to arrive in a new place and
almost feel like you have been there before. In addition to that,
the signage throughout the rural areas is just as good, with place
names and mileage listed at every corner, in all four directions. It
is almost impossible to get lost here! To get one of these guides
for yourself, go to
www.novascotia.com. As
usual, my first thought was to research the rockhounding potential
of the Bay of Fundy and adjoining areas. However, the guide did not
cover this topic directly, so I went to the Internet to do my
research. This search, along with the article in the February 2008
issue of Rock and Gem Magazine about rockhounding in Nova Scotia,
helped me choose the Cape Blomidon/Cape Split area of the Minas
Basin as my destination. When we arrived in Kentville, we looked up
Rob Beard, the owner of Rob's Rock Shop, which is located in the
basement of his house. He spent two hours with me showing me
examples of the rocks we would be looking for on the beaches, at low
tide, and allowed me to photograph the specimens which are shown in
the magazine article. The large, odd-shaped amethyst geode shown on
page 94 of the magazine has a wonderful bowtie of stilbite about 2
inches long in the cavity, which is not obvious in that photo.
He gave us maps and directions to
several of his collecting sites (the more accessible ones, suited to
the average person), then graciously loaned us backpacks in which to
carry our treasures. Scot's Cove, Ross Creek, Cape Blomidon, and
Davidson's Cove were some of the beaches he sent us to, each of
which has at least a mile of collecting beach accessed at low tide.
The most important thing to remember about this area----make SURE
you know what time the high tides are each day, and leave the beach
at least an hour before it comes in. These extreme high tides
ranged between
 36
and 40 feet the week we were there in Nova Scotia. Each beach has
its own tide table, so be sure you are well informed before you
start out each day. We had a collecting window of five to six hours
each day, which was more than ample to collect lots of nice
specimens. Many of the gemstones here are coated with seaweed,
green algae, or have a dull gray crust, making them hard to see and
identify. That makes it especially important to talk to a local
rock shop owner before you start, to see the actual rocks you will
be looking for. You can contact Rob Baird at
www.robsrockshop.com or call him at (902)678 3194, if you
get to Kentville.   Most
of the rocks we collected from Ross Creek were fossilized cycads, a
type of petrified wood, in shades of red and brown. There were some
large chunks of gray agate with some patterns visible as well.
Scots Cove yielded the biggest variety of rocks, with more cycads,
various kinds of agate and jasper, and several small pieces of
light-colored amethyst, the classic color for amethyst from this
area. At Cape Blomidon, we found a lot of orange selenite in one of
the rock slides, plus a small amount of agate. By continuing on for
another mile, we came to another rock slide which contained a nice
but small pale amethyst geode, with a number of calcite crystals
crisscrossed inside the cavity, looking just like a miniature cave.
We have had a lot of fun looking at this one with the 10x loupe. We
did not get to Davidson Cove, as we neglected to get complete
directions, but plan to do that one first if we have the good
fortune to return to Nova Scotia and the Bay of Fundy. It is
supposed to have a high concentration of all different kinds of
agate and jasper, two of my favorites. We
did some sightseeing when the tide was in, and took advantage of the
Farmer's Markets and local orchards as well. The area we stayed in
is the fruit basket of Nova Scotia. Due to the rich soil here and
the milder climate of the Cape Blomidon area, we partook of
tree-ripened freshly picked apples and peaches, as well as
blueberries, strawberries, and heirloom tomatoes, all ripe at the
same time! Also ripe and ready were the winter squashes, pumpkins,
and Indian Corn, the most colorful you can imagine. In the nearby
town of Windsor, we visited the farm of Howard Dill, the 4-time
record holder for giant pumpkins---800 plus pounds! These giant
pumpkins are carved out and rowed across a lake in the annual
October Pumpkin Regatta. You can buy seeds to grow your own giant
pumpkin and view the pictures of past Regatta winners at the Dill
Farm, now being run by Howard's family.   If
you like lobster, you can pick out a live one from the lobster
pound at Hall's Harbour to be cooked for your dinner by the
restaurant staff. Hall's Harbour is located about 10 miles from
Kentville, on the coast. It is a great spot to observe the dramatic
tides--the boats are left high and dry on the red mud in a matter of
about three hours. The fishing boats can only go in and out of the
harbour at high tide! As is common with most of the Nova Scotia
shoreline, the balsam spruces grow right down to the water's edge,
very similar to the New England Coast. This makes for a very scenic
drive, as you go from small town to lighthouse to harbour, seeing
islands in great multitudes along the Southern Shore. Each small
town has at least one picturesque church, if not five or six, great
for photo-ops, along with the old houses with wonderful bright
colors and gingerbread trim. The people there are so friendly and
eager to help tourists get the most out of their stay.  There
are wineries here as well as cheese factories, upscale restaurants
and small family-run eateries which are real food finds. Museums
abound, as well as historic old Acadian sites, some of which date
from the early 1600's. If you like history, the signage is right
there at each site with pictures and text---making it easy to
visualize just what the area looked like "way back then". There are
art galleries, second-hand and antique shops, small boutiques and
pubs located near the University in Wolfville, along with corn
mazes, plant nurseries and more museums all within a five mile
stretch of road----something for everyone! The Visitor's Center
there in Wolfville is an excellent place to start your journey, as
they have all the brochures you could want, all designed to be used
with the "Doer's and Dreamer's 2008 Guide". I
think that I will have to return to Nova Scotia again soon, as I
only saw a very small portion of this wonderful peninsula. I didn't
even get close to the world renowned Fossil Cliffs of Joggins, or
the rugged beauty of Cape Breton with its 200 pairs of breeding bald
eagles, or see the whales at Digby Neck. I could go on and on, but
I think you get the idea---Nova Scotia is truly a vacationer's
paradise! Sure hope you get to go there soon!
by Marilee J. Strech
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Nova
Scotia----