July 18 at South Harbor, NS

This morning we made a reservation to take the ferry to Newfoundland next Saturday. Our preferred date would have been Thursday but that was booked. We didn't reserve farther ahead because of the difficulty estimating when we'll be when. Spending an extra couple of days in Cape Breton is not a hardship.

The body of water beside our campground is called South Harbor, from which the village takes its name. The 'harbor' is about two miles by three miles, sealed off from the ocean by a narrow sand dune with only a narrow tidal outlet. We launched the canoe in the harbor this morning and spent two hours exploring coves and islands in near-perfect conditions. Temp in the 60s, sky clear and sunny, and only a moderate wind. We really enjoyed it, one of our best canoe expeditions ever. One notable sight was a mother duck with 19 ducklings. At least she doesn't have to send them all to expensive colleges.

I may have mentioned it before, but the sea water up here is very clear. Water temperature about 65-70F.

After lunch we bought some necessities at a tiny local market, and then explored by car a couple of nearby fishing villages, including Bay St.Lawrence near Nova Scotia's remote northern tip. One surprise there was among the fishing boats, a replica of the Spray, Joshua Slocum's famous boat circa 1900. Slocum's book, "Sailing Alone Around the World" is a classic, not just for nautical lore but also for great writing. His style resembles Mark Twain's.
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Back at camp, same place as last night, we spent time talking with a man from Tennessee who with his wife lives in their travel trailer full time, moving with the seasons.

Grilled ribs in light rain. Much rain in the forecast for the next few days. Maybe our good weather luck has run out.

The Lemonade- This is a good one. While driving out from our campground we passed a table with a couple of kids evidently selling something. I would have slowed down but knew if we stopped we'd have to buy whatever they were selling. Especially since they were on a lightly travelled out-and-back road which didn't go much of anywhere except to the campground. After we shopped and were heading home we approached them again and could see a "Lemonade" sign. OK- no harm there. We stopped and a little boy (7?) asked us how many cups we wanted. Two. How much do we owe you? The boy looked puzzled and whispered to his (sister?), about the same age. She hesitated and told him something, and he said "Two twenty-five." We looked at each other: $2.25 for two lemonades? That's not even divisible by two. What? Are they charging tax? But of course, we were hooked. You can't negotiate with a child. So we forked over a 2-nie and a quarter. Whereupon the girl poured the last of the lemonade into two cups: about one ounce for each of us. When you're screwed twice by children you can only laugh, so we did. It wasn't until I was musing in the middle of that night that I realized "Two twenty-five" really meant they couldn't add so said "Two twenty-fives". When it hit me I laughed out loud and disturbed S's sleep.